A heated discussion erupted Monday night on CNN over a racially charged attack on Haitian immigrants Wednesday by Rep. Clay Higgins (R-LA).
The Louisiana lawmaker quietly deleted a social media post dubbing Haitians pet-eating "thugs" after the House's Black Caucus chair told him to take it down.
"These Haitians are wild," Higgins wrote. "Eating pets, vudu, nastiest country in the western hemisphere, cults, slapstick gangsters... but damned if they don't feel all sophisticated now, filing charges against our President and VP."
Panelists on CNN's "NewsNight" condemned the comments, including Frank Luntz, a conservative pollster and communications strategist.
"We have to be willing to call out members when they do things like this," he said. "It's one of the reasons why I enjoy this show."
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Luntz also called for halting the use of such rhetoric.
"It's gonna be offensive to everyone," he said, later adding: "It's a horrible thing that was said. It should not have been said."
Fellow panelist Gretchen Carlson, a journalist, said Higgins would've been expelled and forced to resign before the Donald Trump era of politics.
"Sorry, I'm really angry about this because we are now at a state in our culture where we just brush this off — even the speaker just said tonight, 'Oh, it's all about redemption. Bygones are bygones,'" she said, mocking House Speaker Mike Johnson. "No, it's not! This is so serious!"
Tara Setmayer, co-founder and CEO of The Seneca Project, agreed with Carlson.
"You know why. Because if they hold these people accountable for the things they say, they have to explain why they support Donald Trump, to your point. And they're all cowards and unwilling to do that. Because it's then revealed for the hypocrites that they are."
Setmayer said she was a Republican Party member for nearly three decades, and people in the party would've stood up and condemned Higgins' comments before Trump.
"That party is dead and gone," she said. "And Clay Higgins is a racist. And has been his entire career, all the way back to when he admitted he voted for David Duke, who at the time was a known Grand Wizard of the KKK."
Setmayer continued laying into Higgins, and urged the party to "call a spade a spade."
Madison Gesiotto, a Trump ally and former RNC National spokesperson, joined the panel in condemning the comments, calling them "wrong" and "quite racist," said, "We can't sit back and say, 'It's ok.'"
The panel shouted at Gesiotto over her comment that she knows no Republicans who stand by the comment, with Setmayer demanding to know if they've spoken out publicly.
Anchor Abby Phillip and Setmayer later strongly pushed back on Republican Bryan Lanza, a senior adviser to the Trump campaign, who tried to say that an influx of temporary status migrants started the saga.
"That's not what started this," Phillips and Setmayer replied, in unison. "What started this was a racist lie that Haitian immigrants were eating pets. That is what started this."
Later in the segment, Setmayer blasted Republicans for perpetuating falsehoods.
"You just repeat the lies and stay on message whether it's true or not," she said, directing her attack at Lanza.
She added that "Neo-Nazis are marching in the streets because of this lie, that you are out here perpetuating," again directing her statement at Lanza.
"That is unacceptable. It's un-American," said Setmayer, later adding that the MAGA perpetuation of the racist theory is "disgraceful."
Watch the heated clips below or at this link.