A recent interview with Texas Republican Rep. Brandon Gill and conservative podcaster Benny Johnson is making the rounds online, and not in a good way. The two traded a string of controversial claims about immigrants from Haiti and Somalia, including references to hotly disputed IQ statistics.
Gill, who represents Texas’s 26th Congressional District (and is the youngest Republican in Congress right now), showed up on Johnson’s podcast to talk about immigration and what it means for American culture.
In a clip that started circulating on April 20, 2026, shared by journalist Aaron Rupar on X, Gill said that “not all cultures are equal,” and some just don’t mix with American systems. He went on to say that some cultures “don’t have equal dignity” and called third-world immigration a process of bringing in people whose cultural practices don’t fit with American values.
That’s when Johnson jumped in with IQ stats, claiming Haiti’s average IQ is somewhere between 67 and 68, and Somalia’s is around 70, a number he said marks the “threshold for mentally handicapped.” He compared this to a U.S. average he put at around 105.
Now, mainstream psychologists and social scientists have rejected these kinds of national IQ averages for years, pointing out all the problems with them, with things like differences in education, nutrition, healthcare, and other factors that have nothing to do with actual intelligence.
However, Gill didn’t push back. Instead, he agreed with Johnson’s framing, suggesting those numbers relate to higher welfare use among immigrants. He argued that people unfamiliar with “the modern American world” become a “net drain economically” on society and said bringing these populations into American schools would drag down the quality of education for everyone.
Internet Reacts To Texas Rep. Brandon Gill’s Interview With Benny Johnson
The clip drew immediate and sharp reactions online, with many describing the exchange in stark terms. “This is unabashed white supremacy, an upsetting statement from the Texas Republican who is the party’s youngest serving member of the House,” one person wrote.
Others homed in on the specific framing around dignity. “Saying Somalis don’t have ‘equal dignity’ is one degree removed from saying Somalis aren’t equal as human beings and shouldn’t have equal rights under protection of the law,” a user commented.
Some responses pushed back on the framing of the debate itself. “Imagine the hundreds of thousands of people listening to it live, thinking this all makes sense and is normal, if a little harsh,” one person wrote.
Others disputed the classification of the remarks. “Actually Aaron, that isn’t racism. Neither are judging racially. They’re discussing lacking intellectual capacity of people from specific countries — which is a nationality — not a racial distinction. You, however, are assuming race informs intellect — which makes YOU racist,” a user commented.
A few offered more personal takes. “I worked with Haitians when I was 18 they were agriculture migrants on special visas. They aren’t compatible with America I’m sorry and yes they eat cats. I saw it with my own eyes,” one person wrote.
The clip shows a sitting member of Congress echoing rhetoric connected to white nationalist ideas. That’s sparking backlash not just from left-leaning voices, but from people all across the political spectrum who are taken aback by how openly the conversation played out.
