Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah is calling on fellow Republican lawmaker and proud white supremacist Steve King to resign from Congress.
In an interview with CNN, Romney said, “I think he ought to step aside and I think Congress ought to make it very clear he has no place there.”
The former GOP presidential nominee’s condemnation comes after King told The New York Times, “White nationalist, white supremacist, Western civilization – how did that language become offensive?”
Romney isn’t the only high-profile Republican to go after King. Earlier on Monday, Sen. Mitch McConnell said he has “no tolerance” for the Iowa lawmaker’s rhetoric.
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“There is no place in the Republican Party, the Congress or the country for an ideology of racial supremacy of any kind,” McConnell said. “I have no tolerance for such positions and those who espouse these views are not supporters of American ideals and freedoms.”
The Senate majority leader added, “Rep. King’s statements are unwelcome and unworthy of his elected position.”
You know you crossed the line as a Republican when even the spineless Mitch McConnell is forced to take a stand against you.
The New York Times also reported on Monday that Republican leaders in the House will try to “remove Representative Steve King of Iowa from the powerful Judiciary Committee and his other panel assignments.”
This type of rhetoric thrives in Trump’s GOP
In the Republican Party of old, there would be no room for a man like Steve King to utter even a syllable of the white supremacist trash he frequently spews.
But time and again, King has gotten away with racist rhetoric. Only some of the time do leaders in the GOP offer their half-hearted condemnation before brushing it under the rug.
That’s because, in the Donald Trump era of Republican Party politics, this is the type of rhetoric that stirs up base GOP voters. It’s why this president sits in the White House today.
Steve King should resign immediately, but the fact that he feels comfortable peddling white supremacist nonsense as a sitting member of Congress says all we need to know about what the Republican Party has become in the Trump era.
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Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.
