When news emerged last week that Iowa Congressman Steve King displays a Confederate flag on his desk in his official office, most had a pretty good idea why. King removed all doubt in an interview today on MSNBC.
The seven-term Congressman from Western Iowa, well-known for often using racially-charged language, joined Chris Hayes for a panel discussion about the Republican convention. They began with King talking about his past support for Ted Cruz, but how the Congressman was encouraged by the people Donald Trump was starting to surround himself with, and how they might influence his thinking on policy.
Then the discussion turned to race. Hayes noted how few people of diverse backgrounds would be addressing the Republican convention. Charles Pierce of Esquire Magazine suggested this would be the last time it would be a nearly all-white speaker lineup for Republicans, and also pointed out how those delegates chanting for Trump today were a bunch of “loud, unhappy, dissatisfied white people.”
King clearly took offense to that.
“This whole white people business does get a little tired, Charlie,” King said. “I mean, I’d ask you to go back through history and figure out where are these contributions made by these other categories of people that you’re talking about. Where did any other subgroup of people contribute more to civilization?”
“Than white people?” Hayes asked.
“Than Western Civilization itself,” King continued. “It’s rooted in Western Europe, Eastern Europe and the United States of America. And every place where the footprint of Christianity settled the world. All of Western civilization.”
After some crosstalk with the other panel members disagreeing forcefully, Hayes brought the conversation to an end.
So, there you have it: Steve King, a leader in the Iowa Republican Party, just said on live TV that he thinks only white Christians made a major impact on civilization. This is the Republican Party of today.
King’s Democratic opponent in Iowa’s 4th Congressional District is Kim Weaver.
by Pat Rynard
Posted 7/18/16
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