Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson, a former Democrat, appeared to urge the denunciation of the so-called “Muslim ban” issued by President-elect Donald Trump during his first term in the White House, according to an apparently-deleted post to the social media platform now known as X.
This is just one of many virulent anti-Trump postings on social media by the Dallas Mayor, who is now reportedly seeking the position of Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. Mayor Johnson not only attacked Trump’s ban, but he also sided with FBI Director Comey over Trump.
“I sent this letter to @GovAbbott this morning calling on him to denounce Trump’s #MuslimBan at his State of the State tomorrow #txlege,” a screenshot obtained by Valiant News shows Johnson wrote on January 30, 2017, just ten days after Trump assumed office for the first time.
The falsely labeled “Muslim ban” imposed by Trump specifically prohibited entry under the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP) from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Yemen, and Iraq, which were previously identified as problematic by the Obama-Biden U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
“Without a doubt, President Trump’s order to suspend the entry of certain refugees and other immigrants into the United States is an abuse of power and constitutes a most reckless immigration policy,” the screen shot shows Johnson told Abbott in the letter attached to his post.
He purportedly declared that Trump had not only “thrown the United States’ immigration system and international travel into chaos,” but it also “dismantled decades of relationship building and squandered the goodwill generated by the efforts of thousands of dedicated foreign service officers over many, many years.”
In a second screen shot obtained by Valiant News, which the date suggests was written by Johnson the next year, the then-Democrat complained that Trump was successfully undoing the legacy left by President Barack Obama as the Republican president demolished the previous administration’s controversial Iran deal.
“It doesn’t matter what it is: if @BarackObama accomplished it, @realDonaldTrump wants to dismantle it,” Johnson wrote, according to the screen shot. “The #IranDeal is the latest example.”
More posts obtained by Valiant News show Johnson expressing political agreement with Representative Adam Schiff, who the Congressional record shows presented lies about Trump as factual, and that the mayor declared he would “resist” the Trump administration.
An inquiry to Johnson’s team about his prior social media posts was not immediately returned.
While the Mayor of Dallas is a nonpartisan position, Johnson formally registered Republican after spending years as a Democrat in 2023, when he cited the Democratic Party’s “defund the police” rhetoric for his decision.
Johnson served as a Democratic member of the Texas House of Representatives from 2011 until 2019.
Though he would change his party affiliation just three years later, during the Black Lives Matter riots of 2020, Johnson blamed “outsiders” for causing violence at protests in Dallas, according to the Texas Tribune.
After condemning the crime and violence, the mayor claimed, “much of it was perpetrated by people who are not residents of the city of Dallas. They don’t pay taxes here. It’s not their property they’re destroying.”
Earlier in 2020, The Dallas Morning News reported Johnson celebrated the protests as a reason for optimism in the fight for racial justice.
“These protests suggest that maybe that has changed. It’s good to see the zeal and enthusiasm from the people who are now embracing this issue,” said Johnson, according to the outlet. “This fight has been going on a long time, and it’s good to have allies who don’t look like us alongside us.
Valiant News understands Johnson is currently under discussion by the Trump transition team to lead the Department of Housing and Urban Development for the second Trump administration. The position was held by Dr. Ben Carson during the first Trump administration.
