On July 17, Center for Immigration Studies Senior Policy Analyst Stephen Steinlight spoke to The Highlands Tea Party in Sebring, Florida. There, he expressed a desire not only to impeach President Obama but also to have him publicly lynched.
In discussing House Speaker John Boehner’s plans to sue the President, Steinlight lamented that “there’s no court that’s going to stop Obama from doing anything.” He then added,
“We all know, if there ever was a president that deserved to be impeached, it’s this guy. Alright? And I wouldn’t stop. I would think being hung, drawn, and quartered is probably too good for him.”
Video of Steinlight’s speech was first uploaded to YouTube by Highlands Tea Party Chairman John Nelson on July 20 (it has since been removed). Based on the video’s introduction, it also appears CIS gave Nelson permission to use its logo for the video.
This is not the first time Steinlight has made bigoted and racially charged statements before Tea Party and other far-right groups. He has previously claimed Hispanic immigrants will bring about “the unmaking of America.” In March of this year he also proposed a moratorium on Muslim immigration because “Muslims believe in things that are subversive to the Constitution.” As bigoted as these statements are, they are not as extreme as a leader within the anti-immigrant movement calling for the lynching of the first African-American President of the United States.
CIS has a long track record of standing firmly behind Steinlight, who is infamous for issuing racially and ethnically charged remarks beyond what’s above (here, here, and here).
Furthermore, as this summer House Judiciary Chairman Rep. Bob Goodlatte has called two committee hearings at the behest of CIS and its research, Steinlight’s remarks again raise serious questions about elected officials who entertain the group’s work and/or maintain close ties with its principals.