Steve King Is Fundraising Off His ‘White Supremacy’ Remarks

Controversial racist U.S. Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) yesterday sent a fundraising email to his supporters asking them to give money to help him defend himself. King has been under fire since he made comments in a New York Times interview saying that terms such as “white supremacist” should not be considered offensive.

King said in his fundraising that he was being attacked by the “rabid leftist media” after the prominent newspaper published his inflammatory remarks.

King wrote in a campaign email obtained by The Des Moines Register on Thursday:

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“The unhinged left has teamed up with Republican ‘NeverTrumpers’ and is pulling out all the stops to destroy me.”

King accused The Times and “rabid left media” of coming after him because of his support of President Trump (another white supremacist) and his hard-line views on immigration.

King’s fundraising efforts came after he suffered an extreme backlash following his Times interview.

“White nationalist, white supremacist, Western civilization — how did that language become offensive?” King asked in the interview published last week. “Why did I sit in classes teaching me about the merits of our history and our civilization?”

King later said that he made a “freshman mistake” agreeing to the interview and claimed his quote was taken out of context.

“I regret the heartburn that has poured forth upon this Congress and this country and especially in my state and in my congressional district,” King said in a House floor speech condemning white supremacy.

“I’ve never been anti-immigrant. I have been anti-illegal immigrant, and I remain that way,” King said.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) later removed King from all of his House committee assignments following the media firestorm which resulted from the publication of King’s comments.

The Des Moines Register (Iowa’s largest newspaper) and The Sioux City Journal (the largest newspaper in King’s Iowa congressional district) have both called on the nine-term lawmaker to resign.

New Utah Senator Mitt Romney has also called upon King to resign, as has the Congressional Black Caucus.

Last fall a poll discovered that the majority of Americans believe that President Trump encourages white supremacists.

Leo Vidal

I am a lifelong Democrat with a passion for social justice and progressive issues. I have degrees in writing, economics and law from the University of Iowa.