Steve King in Congress: Obviously There is a Flaw in the System

In an amazing turn of events, it appears you can say something so stupid, vile, and racist members of the republican party will actually condemn it. At the moment no one is more shocked at this unexpected turn of events than Iowa congressman, Steve King.

After all, he has sat in the United States House of Representatives since 2003 and been saying crazed shit not only since the moment of his swearing in, but before. He's also been getting away with it. That's mainly because of the GOP code of Omerta, which officially began during the Ronald Reagan era when the Gipper told his party no republican should ever speak ill of another one. The wheels of his free ride were also greased because all republican presidential hopefuls must show up and do well in the Iowa caucuses. They therefore needed the support of one Steve King, who is wildly popular among the uber right dwelling in his district.

In fact, republican tolerance of his intolerance has been so pervasive Mr. King felt it was perfectly acceptable, earlier this month, to wonder aloud why terms such as, "white nationalism," and "white supremacy," were considered offensive these days. He even hinted, none too subtly, their current unpopularity was a direct repudiation of everything he'd been taught in school.

In reality the first crack in the levee appeared last fall. Just before the 2018 elections the National Republican Congressional Committee withdrew their financial support from his campaign because of a junket he took to Austria. While there he had a friendly chat with a web publication which is a front for the Austrian Freedom Party. The Freedom Party was founded by a former Nazi SS officer--you know, one of the same sort of guys who ran the death camps. These days rather than doing that sort of odious work, party members rail about things like, "The Great Replacement," a conspiracy hypothesis concerning white genocide perpetrated by people of color.

Given King's history none of  this should have been a surprise to anyone, least of all those of us with functioning brains.

According to the New York Times:

In 2005 King introduced a bill in congress which would make English the, "official language," of the United States. He also sued the Iowa secretary of state for posting voter information on line not only in English, but Spanish, Laotian, Bosnian, and Vietnamese.

A year later, in 2006 , a full decade before Don Trump started talking about it, Mr. King advocated for a 12 foot wall he wanted built along the border with Mexico. During his presentation he proposed it be topped with electrified wiring. Not enough to kill, mind you, but just enough to be a disincentive for those trying to climb over the top. According to the representative, "We do that with livestock all the time."

Then fast forward to 2010 when he explained to members of the house the thought process cops should go through to spot illegal immigrants. "What kind of clothes people wear," he said, "what kind of shoes people wear, what kind of accent they have...sometimes it's just a sixth sense they can't put their finger on."

Five years later, in 2015, he made an appearance with Dutch politician, Geert Wilders at the U.S. capitol. Brother Wilders, among other things, claims Islam isn't a religion, the Quran is worse than Mein Kampf, and all mosques in the west should be shuttered. King thanked Wilders, "for having the guts to speak out."

At the GOP convention in 2016, while speaking in praise of white folks he said, "Where did any other subgroup of people contribute more to civilization?" Later he told the Washington Post, "The idea of multiculturalism, that every culture is equal...that's not objectively true. We've been fed that information for 25 years and we're not going to become a greater nation if we continue to do that."

After endorsing Wilders Dutch political campaign in 2017, King told Breitbart radio, "(Muslim immigrants in Europe)...are supplanting Western civilization with Middle Eastern civilization and I say and Geert Wilders says, Western civilization is a superior civilization--it is the first world."

Finally, during last year's campaign a reporter from an Iowa TV station asked King, "What is a white nationalist? The congressman opened his response with, "First of all I think you have to be white..." He finished with, "It is a derogatory term today. I wouldn't have thought so maybe a year, or two, or three ago. But today they use it as a derogatory term and they imply you are a racist."

I hate to tell you Congressman, but we really aren't implying it. We're flat out saying it.

And now even people like, Kevin McCarthy, Liz Cheney, Mitt Romney, and others are too--at last.

Mr. King has been denied a seat on every congressional committee which effectively kills any real political influence he might have. Earlier today the House voted 424-1 to, disapprove of  his latest round of bullshit. The single no vote was cast by a democrat who wanted more drastic action than, disapproval.

In response to the vote, King was quoted as saying, white supremacist ideology, "never shows up in my head." He also said, "I don't know how it could possibly come out of my mouth."

Well, many of us don't know how you ever became an American legislator, Steverino. Or, how you've managed to stay one this long.

Obviously, there is a flaw in the system.



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