On April 6, 2026, with the United States and Iran on the edge of a massive escalation, Clay Higgins posted this to X:
"I'll support a ceasefire in Iran when the Iranian terrorist regime of disgusting jihadist fanatical men are all dead, their weapons are destroyed, their homes are rubble, and their lustful dreams of world domination have been pounded into the dust of history. Wipe. Them. Out."
And then:
"Hit them harder than ever Mr. President. Hit them so hard, the Angels in Heaven nod in wonder."
The post included an image that appeared to show a knight with angel wings carrying a flaming sword.
What he was cheering
This wasn't posted into a vacuum. Trump had given Iran until 8 p.m. Eastern on April 7 to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, and had written on Truth Social:
"Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran. There will be nothing like it!!! Open the F——in' Strait, you crazy bastards, or you'll be living in Hell."
The next morning he escalated further, warning that "a whole civilization will die tonight" if there was no deal.
Power plants and bridges are civilian infrastructure. Power plants run hospitals, water treatment and refrigeration. "A whole civilization" is not a military target list.
Higgins's answer to that was harder.
Two people who said the opposite
Iran's representative to the United Nations, Amir Saeid Iravani, said the threats "constitute incitement to war crimes and potentially genocide," and warned Iran would take "immediate and proportionate reciprocal measures."
You can discount that as the adversary talking. Here's the one you can't.
Pope Leo XIV, speaking to reporters outside his residence south of Rome:
"Today as we all know there was this threat against all the people of Iran. This is truly unacceptable."
The Pope went further. He urged people to contact their political leaders and their congressional representatives to demand they reject war and work for peace.
In south Louisiana, that congressional representative is Clay Higgins. The day before the Pope said it, Higgins had posted a flaming sword.
Read the sentence again
"...their homes are rubble."
Not their bases. Not their weapons — he listed those separately. Their homes.
Whatever you think about the Iranian government, the people who live in Iranian homes are civilians. A sitting U.S. congressman set the condition for a ceasefire as their houses being reduced to rubble.
This is the same member who, in June 2017, hours after the London Bridge attack, wrote of terrorism suspects: "Hunt them, identify them, and kill them. Kill them all." He wrote that as a freshman with a Facebook page. He wrote "Wipe. Them. Out." as a nine-year incumbent who chairs a House Oversight subcommittee.
He also voted to make sure Congress had no say
Rhetoric is one thing. Votes are another, and Higgins's line up behind the posts.
The war with Iran began in February 2026 and Congress never authorized it. On July 23, 2026, the House voted 214 to 208 to order U.S. forces out. Higgins was one of 207 Republicans who voted no — voting, in effect, that the president alone decides how long this goes on and how far it goes.
So: no congressional check on the war, and "hit them harder" from the outside.
Pro-Israel PACs, led by AIPAC, have given Higgins $19,546.
What Louisiana gets out of this
Nothing.
Louisiana's 3rd District has real problems. Higgins himself has spent 2026 pressing on one of them — the crawfish industry's labor shortage, which he called urgent in March. That's the job. Angels and rubble are not.
And the district sends its own to these wars. The people who would carry out "Power Plant Day," and who would come home from whatever followed, include his constituents' sons and daughters. He voted to take away the one check Congress had on how long they stay in it.
We deserve better.
Source
Matt Phillips and The Associated Press, "'Wipe. Them. Out.' Rep. Clay Higgins cheers on Trump's threats of Iran's destruction," KPLC, April 7, 2026. Photo: AP via KPLC.
