Trump and Mike Johnson promote ‘great replacement’ theory to unveil election bill at Mar-a-Lago

House Speaker Mike Johnson travelled to Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate to promote a bill that would ban noncitizens from voting, which is already illegal.

Mr Johnson, behind a lectern bearing the club’s logo, claimed that “election integrity” is tied to a “lack of border security,” which he claims is the most important issue facing American voters.

With theformer president at his side on Friday, Mr Johnson promoted legislation that would require citizenship to cast a ballot, alleging that Democratic officials’ “designs” for an “open border” intend to “turn these people into voters.”

The “many millions of illegals in the country” could “turn an election,” he said.

Friday’s event – featuring the man who is third in line for the presidency alongside the presumed Republican nominee for the presidency – echoed the baseless far-right “great replacement” conspiracy theory that appeared to be designed to sow doubt about election outcomes in the event Mr Trump loses a second time.

The so-called “great replacement” theory posits that Democratic officials are intentionally allowing nonwhite minorities into the US to replace voting populations.

Mr Johnson played a central role among members of Congress in rejecting Mr Trump’s loss in the 2020 presidential election, and he took the lead in a brief to the US Supreme Court with 125 other House Republicans to support Mr Trump’s failed legal challenge to overturn President Joe Biden’s victories in several states.

He later voted against certifying Mr Biden’s win during a joint session of Congress on 6 January 2021, even after the Trump-fuelled riots at the US Capitol.

In the months after Mr Trump’s election loss in 2020, GOP officials began promoting so-called “election integrity”