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In response to House speaker Mike Johnson advocating for a brutal form of vigilante justice to be performed on the Democratic California governor, Gavin Newsom, earlier today, saying he should be “tarred and feathered” for his opposition to immigration agents’ enforcement actions in the state, Newsom replied:

Good to know we’re skipping the arrest and going straight for the 1700’s style forms of punishment. A fitting threat given the [Republicans] want to bring our country back to the 18th century,” when what is now the US was ruled by a monarch.

This came after Johnson declined to say if Newsom and other California officials should be arrested – as Donald Trump and his “border czar”, Tom Homan, have recently floated – for allegedly impeding federal deportations.

Tarring and feathering, in which the recipient is stripped naked and wood tar is applied to the skin followed by feathers, is first recorded as being used in 1189 in orders issued by Richard I of England during the Crusades.

But it became a more common form of vigilante justice for tax evaders, customs officials and others in British colonies in North America and used by Continental forces against the British during the American revolutionary war. It is now most commonly used as a metaphor for the application of public humiliation.

In his comments today, Johnson repeated his position that any decision to arrest Newsom was not his to make, but the governor was “standing in the way of the administration of carrying out federal law”.

He is applauding the bad guys and standing in the way of the good guys. He is a participant, an accomplice.

I’m not going to give you legal analysis on whether Gavin Newsom should be arrested. But he ought to be tarred and feathered, I’ll say that.