Republican lawmaker blasted for asking how ‘white supremacist’ became offensive
Steve King slammed by own party members for his comments, which he later insisted were not advocating ‘evil ideology’ of racism
A Republican congressman from Iowa who has been accused in the past of racism asked in an interview published on Thursday how the terms “white nationalist” and “white supremacist” became offensive to Americans.
“White nationalist, white supremacist, Western civilization — how did that language become offensive?” Representative Steve King asked in the interview with The New York Times.
“Why did I sit in classes teaching me about the merits of our history and our civilization?” King asked.
He insisted in the interview that he was not racist and directed the Times to pictures on Twitter of him meeting people of various religions and races.
The conservative lawmaker later put out a statement denying what he said were suggestions in the Times article that he was “an advocate for white nationalism and white supremacy.”
“I want to make one thing abundantly clear; I reject those labels and the evil ideology that they define,” King said.
“Further, I condemn anyone that supports this evil and bigoted ideology which saw in its ultimate expression the systematic murder of six million innocent Jewish lives.”
King described himself — “like the Founding Fathers” — as an advocate for Western values and “simply a nationalist.”
“One of my most strongly held beliefs is that we are all created in God’s image and that human life is sacred in all its forms,” he said.
Leading Republicans slammed King’s statements.
Jeb Bush, the former Florida governor and for a short time the frontrunner in the 2016 Republican presidential nomination stakes, said on Twitter Friday that the party should primary King. “Republican leaders must actively support a worthy primary opponent to defeat King, because he won’t have the decency to resign,” he said.
Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., the party’s sole African American in the Senate, said King was a phenomenon because the party did not do enough to marginalize his like. “Some in our party wonder why Republicans are constantly accused of racism — it is because of our silence when things like this are said,” Scott wrote in a Washington Post Op-Ed.
Republican Jews also excoriated King. “Once again we are appalled and disgusted by his views and comments,” Republican Jewish Coalition director Matthew Brooks told Jewish Insider. “He doesn’t represent the values of the RJC or the Republican Party.’
King is known for espousing hard-line views on immigration and has long backed building a wall along the southern border with Mexico.
President Donald Trump is currently engaged in a standoff with the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives over its refusal to provide the $5.7 billion he is demanding for a border barrier.
King, 69, has been criticized by some Republicans for past remarks and narrowly won re-election in November after easy victories in previous years.
A Republican member of the Iowa state senate announced on Wednesday that he would challenge King in the 2020 Republican primary.
