I’ve long thought, after occasionally hearing Rob Simmons’ extremist right-wing rants on local radio, that his family ought to conduct an intervention and spare him from further tarnishing his legacy as a former congressman representing eastern Connecticut.

I was reminded of that again Thursday when I tuned in on my drive to work to hear Simmons make a race-based smear, calling Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic leader in the House, the “Black guy,” instead of affording him the dignity of using his name or well-earned title.

Simmons’ slur against Jeffries was part of his general defense of the Republican minority of obstructionists in the House, as he suggested one possible end to this week’s impasse over electing a new speaker could involve moderate GOP representatives crossing the aisle and voting for the “Black guy.”

It was certainly not an outcome he was promoting, as he praised the small minority of Republican obstructionists as “fighting for freedom.”

Simmons had earlier injected race into the conversation, suggesting that the latest impasse over choosing a House speaker was historically not that unusual, in that it happened in sessions in the 19th century, because, Simmons said, of the polarizing issue of slavery.

I’m sorry that the former Congressman from eastern Connecticut sees the color of Jeffries’ skin as the most appropriate way to identify him. Clearly, he needs to get out of the study of his waterfront estate in mostly white Stonington more often.

The Jeffries “Black guy” remark was just one of the rudest things I heard Simmons say on the radio Thursday but by no means not the only offensive one.

And I don’t think you have to be a hard-core liberal Democrat to cringe at many other parts of his rant, as he lambasted former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, rambled on about the “Wuhan virus” and suggested, without any evidence of course, that Anthony Fauci, former national infectious disease director, personally profited inappropriately from his government service.

Staying on the race-oriented spin to his rant, Simmons complained that Democrats are happy to embrace diversity when it comes to skin color and sexual orientation but not when it comes to policy and ideas.

He even managed to defend the embattled lying congressman-elect from New York, George Santos, who made up big swaths of his resume.

Simmons called Santos “a guy who got away with a lie but didn’t do damage to anyone else.”

I would say Santos did damage to every single voter he sold his fictitious biography to, and he may well pay a significant price as resulting criminal investigations unfold.

The notion of possible criminal deceit doesn’t seem to worry the former eastern Connecticut congressman, who is apparently mostly obsessed by the color of politicians’ skin.

The radio host, Lee Elci, was apparently happy for Simmons’ race-oriented, offensive rants, telling Simmons at the end of his appearance Thursday: “You’re the best.”

Please, for everyone’s sake, may Simmons’s family organize an intervention and stop the embarrassment.

This is the opinion of David Collins

D.collins@theday.com