I can understand that some racists would believe that. It’s difficult to believe that they would articulate it outside a trusted group of fellow racists. It’s totally incredible that a U.S. congressman would be the one doing the public articulation. I just can’t imagine anyone that clueless.
For the record:
A supremacist is one who thinks one group is superior to another. Therefore a white supremacist is one who thinks the white race is superior to others.
A racist is one who believes that one race is superior to another.
In other words a white person who is a “racist” is precisely the same as a “white supremacist,” by definition.
I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that might be why white supremacism is recognized as offensive.
This clown is also one of the mainstays of that raid on the Treasury known as the Ethanol Program.
My favorite version of this trope is “I’m not a racist, I’m a racialist.” If you ever hear that, you want to change the subject real quick or you’re in for a half-hour of verbal diarrhea