Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) is being steadily brow-beaten by his fellow Republicans because he asked how the terms “white nationalist” and “white supremacist” became offensive.
And yes, he really did ask this, notes The New York Times.
Specifically, he’s catching heat after saying this:
“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?”
In an effort to boost white people, he crawled out on a rather ham-fisted limb by comparing “nationalist” and “nationalism,” The Hill reports”
“Under any fair political definition, I am simply a Nationalist,” he said in a statement posted on Twitter. “This conviction does not make me a white nationalist or a white supremacist. Once again, I reject those labels and the ideology that they define.”
“I condemn anyone that supports this evil and bigoted ideology which saw in its ultimate in its ultimate expression the systematic murder of six million innocent Jewish lives.”
My statement on the New York Times article. pic.twitter.com/IjBHgZYgRD
— Steve King (@SteveKingIA) January 10, 2019
But the man is pulling out oranges when he’s talking about apples. And he fails to mention the enslavement of African-Americans in the New World. PBS notes that between 1525 and 1866, 12.5 million Africans were transported to the New World. While the U.S. gets most of the notoriety on this, most African slaves were transported to the Caribbean and South America. About 388,000 were taken to North America, according to The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database.
The reason why phrases like “White Nationalist” and “White Supremacist” are offensive is that they have been used to cause great harm. That’s why they are offensive. But that’s lost on King.
He’s even complaining about the record numbers of women and people of color joining the ranks of House Democratic Caucus and contrasting this against the largely white male GOP conference that was sworn in earlier in January.
“You could look over there and think the Democratic Party is no country for white men,” he told The New York Times.
Even conservatives like House GOP Conference Chairwoman Liz Cheney are smacking him for his comments.
“These comments are abhorrent and racist and should have no place in our national discourse,” she tweeted.
These comments are abhorrent and racist and should have no place in our national discourse. Steve King asks how terms 'white nationalist' and 'white supremacist' became offensive | TheHill https://t.co/yL23avpNFB
— Liz Cheney (@Liz_Cheney) January 10, 2019
King has been criticized in the past for supporting a racist and anti-Semitic agenda.
He’s claimed diversity isn’t what makes America strong. And he’s tweeted “we can’t restore our civilization with someone else’s babies.”
Last year, he drew the ire of Rep. Steve Stivers (R-Ohio), who was the chairman of the House GOP campaign committee at the time because he supported white nationalist politicians from other countries. King has even gone so far as to meet Austrian far-right members of a group linked to the Nazi Party.
King is right in line with President Donald Trump, who described himself as a “nationalist” during a campaign stop last year.
“You know, they have a word. It sort of became old-fashioned. It’s called a ‘nationalist,'” Trump said at a stop in Houston last year. “And I say, ‘Really, we’re not supposed to use that word? You know what I am? I’m a nationalist. …Use that word.”
And that appears to be what King is doing. Then he tries to claim he’s not a racist. The evidence, however, suggests otherwise.
If you’re curious to know more, The New York Times video below is informative.
Featured image by The New York Times video
