The Iowa Republican, who has repeatedly expressed xenophobic sentiment and cozied up to politicians affiliated with white nationalist sentiments and movements, offered this doozy of a quote in an interview with The New York Times earlier this week.
"White nationalist, white supremacist, Western civilization — how did that language become offensive? Why did I sit in classes teaching me about the merits of our history and our civilization?"
When did white supremacy, an "ideology" behind the centuries of hate, oppression and murder both here in the United States and abroad, become a bad word? Sort of always. (King later clarified that he is "simply a Nationalist." Uh, OK.)
That King even thought this -- much less decided to say it in an interview with The New York Times -- is both not at all surprising and deeply troubling.
Not surprising in that King has repeatedly dabbled -- and more -- in deeply anti-immigrant rhetoric and white nationalist rhetoric over the years. In just the last few years, King has:
Endorsed a white nationalist candidate for Toronto mayor (he said he didn't know her views)
Met with a far-right Austrian party and said, "What does this diversity bring that we don't already have?"
Retweeted a British white supremacist and neo-Nazi sympathizer
Tweeted: We can't restore our civilization with somebody else's babies"
You get the idea. (If you don't get the idea, you need to make sure you are still, you know, alive.)
In a statement on the House floor Friday, King said the Times article "has created unnecessary controversy."
He added, "There's nothing about my family or my history or my neighborhood that would suggest that these false allegations can be supported by any activity whatsoever. I reject that history. I reject that ideology. I defend American civilization which is an essential component of western civilization."
King has come under increased scrutiny -- and criticism -- in recent years. In 2018, National Republican Congressional Committee Chair Steve Stivers of Ohio condemned King for his comments and said he would no longer support the Iowa Republican.
Money poured into the campaign of Democrat J.D. Scholten despite the clear Republican lean of the western Iowa district King has held since 2002. In the end, King won -- albeit narrowly.
edition.cnn.com/2019/01/11/politics/steve-king-iowa/index.html
