Five Republican members of Congress voted against an otherwise unanimously passed non-binding resolution in the House of Representatives on Tuesday that expressed support for the peaceful transition of power between presidential administrations.
The five who voted against the resolution were Reps. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), Louie Gohmert (R-TX), Clay Higgins (R-LA), Steve King (R-IA), and Thomas Massie (R-KY), according to <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/house/518855-house-in-near-unanimous-vote-affirms-peaceful-transfer-of-power" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Hill</a>. The bill passed with 397 votes, with several of the 435 members of Congress either not present or abstaining.
Drafted by Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA), the resolution, which mirrored a similar one <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/518061-senate-passes-resolution-reaffirming-commitment-to-peaceful-transition-of" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">passed last week in the Senate</a>, said in part that the House “reaffirms its commitment to the orderly and peaceful transfer of power called for in the Constitution of the United States” and “intends that there should be no disruptions by the president or any person in power to overturn the will of the people of the United States.”
Swalwell said, &#8220;As the United States of America, the federal government has always had a peaceful transition of power. And it is a collective responsibility of this body to ensure that continues. Everyone in America knows that this is what makes us American. Everyone, that is, except President Trump.&#8221;
The contention against the resolution, according to its opponents quoted in <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-election/trump-lose-election-matt-gaetz-peaceful-transfer-power-result-bill-b719311.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Independent</a>, was that it was an indirect hit at President Donald Trump, who demurred when he was asked last week if he would accept the results of the 2020 presidential election. &#8220;Get rid of the ballots and you’ll have a very peaceful—there won&#8217;t be a transfer, frankly. There will be a continuation,&#8221; Trump maintained.
&#8220;This resolution was a disingenuous political statement meant to poke the president in the eye,&#8221; Massie said. &#8220;Isn’t it interesting that speaker Pelosi and leader McCarthy didn’t have the time or political willpower to take a recorded vote on the $2 trillion bailout package that passed in March, but they’re now happy to vote on this tripe?&#8221;
Higgins slammed the resolution as a &#8220;Democrat stunt&#8221; and &#8220;an attack against Mr. Trump that falsely asserts an intention to resist a peaceful transition of executive power after an uncontested election result.&#8221;
Gaetz also savaged the legislation, saying, &#8220;This resolution is a way for Democrats to attack the president and disguise the fact that they will refuse to accept the election results unless they win.&#8221; He claimed it is an attempt to lay the groundwork for &#8220;the ousting of an elected leader and calling it democracy.&#8221;
“But that&#8217;s not democracy,” Gaetz added. “It&#8217;s nothing less than the destruction of our cherished nation. I unequivocally support the peaceful transfer of power but will vote no on this resolution, and I encourage my colleagues to do the same. And I will pray that America survives the Democrats&#8217; mad and destructive lust for power.”
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/pelosi-doubles-down-says-biden-shouldnt-debate-trump-on-tuesday" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Pelosi Doubles Down, Says Biden Shouldn’t Debate Trump On Tuesday</a>

Matt Gaetz

‘Disingenuous Political Statement’: 5 Congressmen Vote Against Resolution Committing To Peaceful Transfer Of Power

Louie Gohmert

Steve King (Iowa)

Thomas Massie

U.S. House of Representatives

Voters in Iowa’s 4th Congressional District ousted longtime GOP Rep. Steve King on Tuesday.
State Sen. Randy Feenstra won the Republican primary contest against King, beating the incumbent congressman with 45.7% of the vote. King earned just 36% of the vote, losing by roughly 8,000 ballots to close out his nearly two-decade career in the U.S. House, according to the <a href="https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/politics/2020/06/02/steve-king-randy-feenstra-iowa-4th-congressional-district-primary-election-results/5259073002/">Des Moines Register</a>.
“I said from day one that Iowans deserve a proven, effective, conservative leader who will deliver results, and I have done that in the Iowa Senate,” Feenstra said in a late-night victory address streamed on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/FeenstraForCongress/videos/885071021974956">Facebook</a>. “I promise you I will deliver results in Congress.”
Feenstra will face Democrat J.D. Scholten, who lost to King by 3.4% in 2018, in the general. President Trump tweeted out a congratulations to Feenstra following his win.
“Congratulations to Randy Feenstra on your big win in the Iowa Republican Primary. You will be a great Congressman!” Trump said.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Congratulations to Randy Feenstra on your big win in the Iowa Republican Primary. You will be a great Congressman!
&mdash; Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1268139884700721153?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 3, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
King’s loss comes after Congressional Republicans stripped the nine-term representative of all of his committee assignments last year following some of his comments to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/10/us/politics/steve-king-trump-immigration-wall.html">The New York Times</a> on white supremacy.
“White nationalist, white supremacist, Western civilization — how did that language become offensive?” King said, according to the newspaper.
The comments triggered backlash from his House colleagues who voted on a bipartisan resolution condemning his language. King, who also voted for the resolution, claimed that The New York Times misquoted him. GOP House leaders also stripped King of his committee assignments, including one on the Agriculture Committee important to Iowa’s farming industry.
Throughout the campaign, Feenstra avoided attacking King for past statements on white supremacy or immigration but asserted that the incumbent congressman was an ineffective representative after losing committee assignments.
“Steve King couldn’t protect our farmers and couldn’t defend President Trump from impeachment. King lost his Congressional committees, can’t do his job, can’t protect us,” <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCaDefzzkCw">one of Feestra’s ads</a> began.
A significant fundraising advantage helped propel Feenstra to victory over King. The state senator received endorsements and financial support from several deep-pocketed GOP-aligned groups and donors such as evangelical leader Bob Vander Plaats and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, according to <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/gop-rep-steve-king-loses-his-iowa-primary-11591157600">The Wall Street Journal</a>.
In <a href="https://www.facebook.com/KingforCongress/videos/680477612498727">remarks</a> conceding the race, King jabbed at Feenstra’s outside support and noted the challenger’s line of attack did not include any of King’s past comments that cost the congressman much of his influence in the House.
“There’s some powerful elements in the swamp and [Feenstra] is going to have a hard time pushing back against them … I’m thinking of those Super PACs that came in in this race and how powerful they are. I don’t know that he or anybody has any idea of how powerful they actually are,” King said. “I would also point out that of all of the four opponents that I’ve had in this race, not one of them has raised an issue with a single vote I’ve put up or a single statement that I have made.”
The Daily Wire, headed by bestselling author and popular podcast host Ben Shapiro, is a leading provider of conservative news, cutting through the mainstream media’s rhetoric to provide readers the most important, relevant, and engaging stories of the day. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/subscribe">member</a>.

Steve King

Iowa Votes Steve King Out Of Congress After Nearly Two Decades; Trump Congratulates Primary Winner

Race

On January 10, The New York Times published an <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/10/us/politics/steve-king-trump-immigration-wall.html">article</a> titled, &#8220;Before Trump, Steve King Set the Agenda for the Wall and Anti-Immigrant Politics,&#8221; in which Rep. Steve King (R-IA) was interviewed.
The piece quotes King, who reportedly said: &#8220;White nationalist, white supremacist, Western civilization &#8212; how did that language become offensive?&#8221;
As The Daily Wire previously <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/42088/steve-king-frank-camp">reported</a>, King was swiftly condemned by politicians and media figures, both progressive and conservative.
Former presidential candidate Jeb Bush <a href="https://mobile.twitter.com/jebbush/status/1083799611121328129?s=21">tweeted</a>: &#8220;It&#8217;s not enough to condemn @SteveKingIA&#8217;s unconscionable, racist remarks. Republican leaders must actively support a worthy primary opponent to defeat King, because he won&#8217;t have the decency to resign.&#8221;
Town Hall&#8217;s Guy Benson <a href="https://twitter.com/guypbenson/status/1083566706122018821?s=21">tweeted</a>: &#8220;Steve King is a stain on Congress.&#8221;
Senator Tim Scott (R-SC) penned an <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/42088/steve-king-frank-camp">op-ed</a> about the interview, calling King an &#8220;extremist&#8221; who is harming the Republican Party:
<blockquote>
When people with opinions similar to King&#8217;s open their mouths, they damage not only the Republican Party and the conservative brand but also our nation as a whole. They want to be treated with fairness for some perceived slights but refuse to return the favor to those on the other side&#8230;
It is tempting to write King &#8212; or other extremists on race issues, such as black-nationalist Louis Farrakhan &#8212; as lonely voices in the wilderness, but they are far more dangerous than that. They continue to rip at the fabric of our nation, a country built on hope, strength and diversity.
</blockquote>
Daily Wire Editor-in-Chief Ben Shapiro even <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/42088/steve-king-frank-camp">called</a> for King to be &#8220;censured,&#8221; and asked his followers to donate to the congressman&#8217;s 2020 primary challenger.
King later <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/42088/steve-king-frank-camp">defended</a> himself in a speech on the floor of the House, claiming that his words had be taken out of context, and that he &#8220;made a Freshman mistake&#8221; by not recording his interview with The New York Times.
He apologized for &#8220;the heartburn&#8221; that his remarks had caused, but went on to claim that there is &#8220;nothing about my family or my history or my neighborhood that would suggest that these false allegations could be supported by any activity whatsoever.&#8221;
There is, however, a lengthy record of controversial remarks from the representative, including his <a href="http://www.dailywire.com/news/42088/steve-king-frank-camp">endorsement</a> of Toronto mayoral candidate Faith Goldy, who is on record having praised an article written by white nationalist Richard Spencer.
Just days after the piece from The New York Times was published, House Republicans <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/14/politics/mitch-mcconnell-steve-king-condemnation/index.html">announced</a> that Rep. King wouldn&#8217;t be allowed to serve on any committees in the upcoming congressional session. King had previously served on <a href="https://steveking.house.gov/committee-assignments">multiple</a> committees, and had been Chairman of the Subcommittee on the Constitution &amp; Civil Justice.
Despite the backlash, King remains resilient.
During a Friday-broadcast interview on &#8220;Iowa Press,&#8221; host David Yepsen asked the congressman if he was &#8220;sorry&#8221; for his remarks. King replied that he has &#8220;nothing to apologize for.&#8221;
He continued:
<blockquote>
We know what the news media has done continually, and the president has labeled The New York Times a dishonest entity. I think that&#8217;s pretty well been held up &#8211; not only The New York Times, but a number of other places.
So, if I look back through this, each thing starts out with some formerly credible organization that launches this, and then we have this phenomenon that America&#8217;s not ready for, and that&#8217;s this cyberbullying that unleashes &#8230; creating a firestorm. That&#8217;s what&#8217;s happened.
If you would just hold these publications to what is true, there is no story whatsoever.
</blockquote>
<div class="embed video fluid-video"><iframe loading="lazy" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen frameborder="0" height="385" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/LaBchuCIIEI" width="720"></iframe></div>
King then implied that a &#8220;false&#8221; article published in October by The Washington Post was the beginning of a smear campaign against him, and that The New York Times interview simply furthered the ongoing attack.
He added that &#8220;similar drama&#8221; was taking place in numerous other congressional districts during the midterm election.
King was also asked to describe the term &#8220;white nationalism,&#8221; and he stated:
<blockquote>
&#8220;White nationalism&#8221; is a term that&#8217;s used today &#8211; it really says &#8220;racist.&#8221; &#8230; and it meant a similar thing probably for a long time, but it&#8217;s not been utilized in our language in any way except [until] the last one, two, or three years.
&#8230;So, what I&#8217;m referring to is the weaponization of those terms again. I&#8217;ve said it multiple times, there is no part of me that believes in anything that&#8217;s advocated by folks that identify themselves as white nationalists or white supremacy.
And the Toronto mayor [candidate Faith Goldy] &#8211; been described as a white nationalist &#8211; so has the president by the Des Moines Register. And so, if we&#8217;re gonna run away from anybody that&#8217;s ever been labeled by somebody on the Left, we can&#8217;t talk to each other at all.
</blockquote>
<div class="embed video fluid-video"><iframe loading="lazy" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen frameborder="0" height="385" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/UzBTVx5JCe4" width="720"></iframe></div>

WATCH: Rep. Steve King Defends Himself, Says He Has ‘Nothing To Apologize For’

Racism

Republican Party

The most interesting thing about the recent kerfuffle over conservative Congressman Steve King is the scandalous truth it reveals about the Left.
King, a strong proponent of border security, was stripped of his committee appointments after he was quoted in The New York Times as saying, &#8220;White nationalist, white supremacist, Western civilization &#8212; how did that language become offensive? Why did I sit in classes teaching me about the merits of our history and our civilization?&#8221;
This is a stupid, racist thing to say and if he said it, King deserves the congressional kick in the ass.
There&#8217;s no recording of the interview, however, and King claims the Times changed the meaning of his remarks with dishonest punctuation. He believes he was asked if he was a white nationalist or white supremacist and responded along the lines of, &#8220;White nationalist? White supremacist? Western civilization&#8212;how did that language become offensive?&#8221; This actually makes some sense since schools don&#8217;t generally teach classes in White Supremacy and because the Times is a dishonest leftist mouthpiece that can no longer be trusted to tell the truth.
Still, King has made some suspect remarks in the past, and my point is not to defend him.
My point is to highlight the disgraceful, offensive and deeply uncivil reaction from the Left and how it unmasks their hatred of everything that makes this country unique and great.
The Left and the press &#8212; but I repeat myself &#8212; immediately rushed to use King&#8217;s remarks to attack Donald Trump and the entire Republican Party. In a representative comment, CNN Commentator Kirstin Powers said, &#8220;One of the questions that we should all be asking when we&#8217;re talking about Steve King is really what&#8217;s the difference between him and Donald Trump. There&#8217;s not that much difference &#8230; So this is a much bigger problem for the Republican Party than just a few comments.&#8221;
The creepy, ugly and hateful tactic of calling your political opponents racist at every opportunity would probably work a lot better if congressional Democrats didn&#8217;t regularly congregate with and excuse virulent anti-Semite gay basher Louis Farrakhan. But leftists are one-trick ponies at this point and no wonder. If they didn&#8217;t ceaselessly accuse the Right of racism, they would have to explain why their policies turn everything they touch to crap.
In order to drive home the image of King &#8212; and thus Trump &#8212; and thus all of us deplorable non-elites &#8212; as racist, the Times and other venues published what they claimed were lists of King&#8217;s previous &#8220;racist&#8221; remarks. Most of these had nothing to do with race but were simply in support of the English language and opposed to anti-Western Islamism.
But the so-called &#8220;racist&#8221; remark that really leapt out at me was this comment King made to the Washington Post: &#8220;The idea of multiculturalism, that every culture is equal &#8212; that&#8217;s not objectively true.&#8221;
Not only is this not racist, it&#8217;s indisputable. Does the Times think the culture of the slaveholding American South was equal to non-slaveholding cultures? Does it think cultures that grant no rights to women are as good as cultures that do? Multiculturalism is virtue-signaling nonsense.
Western culture, with its unprecedented freedoms, tolerance and diversity, is unique in its greatness and finds its greatest political expression in the founding documents of the United States. These were the creation of white males whose thought was shaped by thousands of years of Christian civilization informed by classical wisdom. These men were flawed and sinful and all people who are not flawed and sinful may throw stones at them, but their ideas were a blessing to the whole world nonetheless.
Part of that blessing, and part of America&#8217;s greatness, is that any American of any race can sign on to the founding ideas and be counted as One of Us. This was not always true in fact, but it was always true in principle and the inner logic of the founding won out over time as logic tends to do.
If King believes our founding ideas are threatened by their own unique spirit of welcoming inclusion, he is spouting gibberish and deserves to be the target of moral indignation. But if The New York Times thinks that defending those founding ideas and admiring the genius of the Christian white men who came up with them is inherently racist, they are spouting gibberish that undermines the very source and logic of that moral indignation.
In using King to smear everyone on the Right, the Left has once again revealed that it&#8217;s not racism they hate. They hate Western Culture and the freedom it provides to those who oppose their search for more and more government power. Republicans should give King his slap and get back to work defending us from the true opponents of the American idea.

KLAVAN: The Left Is Much Worse Than Steve King

Constitution

Democratic Party

New York Times

On Thursday, The New York Times published a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/10/us/politics/steve-king-trump-immigration-wall.html">piece</a> titled, &#8220;Before Trump, Steve King Set the Agenda for the Wall and Anti-Immigrant Politics,&#8221; featuring an interview with Rep. King (R-IA).
During the interview, King reportedly stated: &#8220;White nationalist, white supremacist, Western civilization &#8212; how did that language become offensive?&#8221; He later added, &#8220;Why did I sit in classes teaching me about the merits of our history and our civilization?&#8221;
After the piece went live, numerous politicians and political commentators condemned King&#8217;s alleged statement.
The following are merely a sampling of the condemnations:
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
It&#8217;s not enough to condemn <a href="https://twitter.com/SteveKingIA?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SteveKingIA</a>&#8216;s unconscionable, racist remarks. Republican leaders must actively support a worthy primary opponent to defeat King, because he won&#8217;t have the decency to resign. <a href="https://t.co/MRAMnuJaym">https://t.co/MRAMnuJaym</a>
&#8212; Jeb Bush (@JebBush) <a href="https://twitter.com/JebBush/status/1083799611121328129?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 11, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
<blockquote>
It&#8217;s not enough to condemn [Steve King&#8217;s] unconscionable, racist remarks. Republican leaders must actively support a worthy primary opponent to defeat King, because he won&#8217;t have the decency to resign.
</blockquote>
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-cards="hidden" data-lang="en">
These comments are abhorrent and racist and should have no place in our national discourse. Steve King asks how terms &#8216;white nationalist&#8217; and &#8216;white supremacist&#8217; became offensive | TheHill <a href="https://t.co/yL23avpNFB">https://t.co/yL23avpNFB</a>
&#8212; Liz Cheney (@Liz_Cheney) <a href="https://twitter.com/Liz_Cheney/status/1083438039995699201?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 10, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
<blockquote>
These comments are abhorrent and racist and should have no place in our national discourse.
</blockquote>
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Steve King is a stain on Congress. <a href="https://t.co/NUiSaY9Tqu">https://t.co/NUiSaY9Tqu</a>
&#8212; Guy Benson (@guypbenson) <a href="https://twitter.com/guypbenson/status/1083566706122018821?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 11, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
<blockquote>
Steve King is a stain on Congress.
</blockquote>
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
I know <a href="https://twitter.com/SteveKingIA?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SteveKingIA</a>. I served with him in Congress. He&#8217;s a strong Conservative. But what he said about white supremacists was terrible. It was racist, plain &amp; simple. He shouldn&#8217;t run for re-election.
Besides, he&#8217;s been in Congress for 16 years. That&#8217;s too damn long.
&#8212; Joe Walsh (@WalshFreedom) <a href="https://twitter.com/WalshFreedom/status/1083816099479805952?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 11, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
<blockquote>
I know [Steve King]. I served with him in Congress. He&#8217;s a strong Conservative. But what he said about white supremacists was terrible. It was racist, plain &amp; simple. He shouldn&#8217;t run for re-election.
</blockquote>
Senator Tim Scott (R-SC) <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/01/11/tim-scott-republicans-can-no-longer-be-silent-bigotry/?noredirect=on&amp;utm_term=.d8acc05fbad9">penned</a> an op-ed regarding King&#8217;s statement, which reads in part:
<blockquote>
When people with opinions similar to King&#8217;s open their mouths, they damage not only the Republican Party and the conservative brand but also our nation as a whole. They want to be treated with fairness for some perceived slights but refuse to return the favor to those on the other side&#8230;
It is tempting to write King &#8212; or other extremists on race issues, such as black-nationalist Louis Farrakhan &#8212; as lonely voices in the wilderness, but they are far more dangerous than that. They continue to rip at the fabric of our nation, a country built on hope, strength and diversity.
</blockquote>
Former House Majority Leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) also rebuked Rep. King, <a href="https://twitter.com/killoughcnn/status/1083500608299171841?s=21">stating</a>: &#8220;Everything about white supremacy and white nationalism goes against who we are as a nation. Steve&#8217;s language is reckless, wrong, and has no place in our society. The Declaration of Independence states that &#8216;all men are created equal.&#8217; That is a fact. It is self-evident.&#8221;
Daily Wire Editor-in-Chief Ben Shapiro called for King to be censured:
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Congress ought to vote to censure him, and then he ought to be primaried ASAP. <a href="https://t.co/W2qRdWvAjj">https://t.co/W2qRdWvAjj</a>
&#8212; Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) <a href="https://twitter.com/benshapiro/status/1083390098366914560?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 10, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
Shapiro then asked his followers to donate to King&#8217;s 2020 primary challenger, Randy Feenstra.
On Friday, King attempted to defend himself on the floor of the House of Representatives. King began by claiming that he made a mistake:
<blockquote>
I regret that I made a Freshman mistake a week ago today when I took a call from a reporter from The New York Times. That was a 56 minute interview without a tape. That resulted in a long article. In that article were snippets of the 56 minute interview. Part of that inquiry was about the history of immigration policy in this country for over the last, say, 18 or so years, of which I have been a significant part &#8211; especially in Iowa&#8230;
One phrase in that long article has created an unnecessary controversy. That was my mistake, Mr. Speaker&#8230;
</blockquote>
It&#8217;s unclear if the mistake to which King refers is his speaking to The New York Times without a tape, or the words he used in the interview.
King continued by claiming that what he said was taken out of context:
<blockquote>
What was that conversation? It was about how those words got plugged into our dialogue, not when the words became offensive, which is what the technical interpretation of this is. &#8230; I looked at that, and I think, &#8220;Well, what was that conversation?&#8221; It&#8217;s how did that offensive language get injected into our political dialogue? Who does that? How does that get done? How do they get by with laying labels like this on people?
</blockquote>
King then read from a prepared statement:
<blockquote>
Today, The New York Times is suggesting that I am an advocate for a white nationalism and white supremacy. I want to make one thing abundantly clear: I reject those labels and the evil ideology that they define. Further, I condemn anyone that supports this evil and bigoted ideology which saw, in its ultimate expression, the systematic murder of six million innocent Jewish lives. It&#8217;s true that like the Founding Fathers, I am an advocate for Western civilization&#8217;s values, and that I profoundly believe that America is the greatest tangible expression of these ideals the world has ever seen. Under any fair political definition, I am simply an American nationalist.
America&#8217;s values are expressed in our founding documents; they are attainable by everyone; and we take pride that people of all races, religions, and creeds from around the globe aspire to achieve them. I am dedicated to keeping America this way. This conviction does not make me a white nationalist or white supremacist. So, once again, I reject those labels and the ideology they define, and as I told The New York Times, it&#8217;s not about race; it&#8217;s never been about race. One of my most strongly held beliefs is that we are all created in God&#8217;s image and that human life is sacred in all of its forms.
</blockquote>
King concluded by saying he regrets the &#8220;heartburn&#8221; caused by this incident, and claimed that nothing in his life suggests that he is a white nationalist or white supremacist:
<blockquote>
I regret the heartburn that has poured forth upon this Congress and this country and especially in my state and in my congressional district. &#8230; There&#8217;s nothing about my family or my history or my neighborhood that would suggest that these false allegations could be supported by any activity whatsoever. I reject that ideology. I defend American civilization, which is an essential component of Western civilization.
</blockquote>
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Rep. Steve King: &#8220;I regret the heartburn that has poured forth upon this Congress and this country and especially in my state and in my congressional district.&#8221; <a href="https://t.co/vkFgVYD9Z4">pic.twitter.com/vkFgVYD9Z4</a>
&#8212; CSPAN (@cspan) <a href="https://twitter.com/cspan/status/1083797657150205958?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 11, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
Despite King&#8217;s claim that &#8220;nothing&#8221; about him suggests &#8220;that these false allegations could be supported by any activity,&#8221; the congressman is no stranger to racial controversy. In 2018, King <a href="https://twitter.com/stevekingia/status/1052390445735706624?s=21">endorsed</a> Faith Goldy in her race for mayor of Toronto, Canada.
Approximately a year before King&#8217;s endorsement, Goldy praised an article written by white nationalist Richard Spencer titled, &#8220;What It Means To Be Alt-Right.&#8221;
In a video exchange with Stefan Molyneux, Goldy <a href="https://www.haaretz.com/world-news/.premium-we-should-be-glad-a-white-supremacist-stood-for-mayor-in-toronto-1.6592972">stated</a>:
<blockquote>
The evening before this set protest, they released something called the &#8220;Charlottesville Statement.&#8221; It was 20 points, and basically their umbrella ideas on everything from race to the JQ [Jewish Question], the economy, globalization, women and sex, nature. It was actually rather robust even though it was simple. If you&#8217;re BLM; if you&#8217;re antifa; if you&#8217;re one of these hippy dippy churches; knock &#8216;em down, get their 20 points, and you write your version; you write your counter-statements. But they&#8217;re not interested in that. It&#8217;s just so much easier to spray someone with dog mace than have a conversation with what are, I think, well though-out ideas.
</blockquote>
There&#8217;s more. <a href="http://time.com/5441739/steve-king-iowa-election/">TIME</a> has a detailed list of King&#8217;s troubling language, behavior, and associations from the past several years.
The Daily Wire reached out to Rep. King&#8217;s team for comment, but as of publication, we have not received a response.

Rep. Steve King Defends Himself After Reportedly Asking How Phrases ‘White Supremacist’ And ‘White Nationalist’ Became ‘Offensive’

Congressional leaders have praised the testimony of former FBI agent Lisa Page in recent days and have said that they found her testimony to be very credible as some of them claim she gave a very different account of events than her former lover, disgraced FBI agent Peter Strzok.
Rep. John Ratcliffe (R-TX) told Fox News&#8217; Maria Bartiromo that there were &#8220;significant differences&#8221; in Page&#8217;s testimony compared to the testimony given by Strzok and that she gave congressional investigators new information they did not previously have.
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When I questioned Lisa Page on Friday about the anti-Trump text messages that were sent between herself and Peter Strzok, there were significant differences in her testimony and Strzok&#8217;s as it relates to what she thought some of these text messages meant. <a href="https://t.co/H73LfRFzUc">pic.twitter.com/H73LfRFzUc</a>
&#8212; John Ratcliffe (@RepRatcliffe) <a href="https://twitter.com/RepRatcliffe/status/1018880451564498945?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 16, 2018</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;In many cases, she admits that the text messages mean exactly what they say, as opposed to Agent Strzok, who thinks that we&#8217;ve all misinterpreted his own words on any text message that might be negative,&#8221; Ratcliff told reporters on Monday, according to <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/republicans-leads-interview-fbi-lawyer-lisa-page/story?id=56632046">ABC News</a>.
Rep. Steve King (R-IA) agreed with Ratcliffe&#8217;s statement, saying, &#8220;She&#8217;s certainly more cooperative than Peter Strzok was and the pieces of information filled in some blanks along the way, but we&#8217;ve got a huge jigsaw puzzle to put together.&#8221;
Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) told Fox News&#8217; &#8220;FOX &amp; Friends&#8221; that Page gave Congress &#8220;more insights to who was involved in what.&#8221;
&#8220;She&#8217;s a more contrite person,&#8221; Gohmert said. &#8220;But make no mistake, she&#8217;s a Democrat, she wanted Hillary to win and she did not want Trump to win, and that&#8217;s been obvious.&#8221;
Gohmert then took a shot at former CIA Director John Brennan and former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, saying, &#8220;When I hear Brennan or Clapper either saying the kind of things they&#8217;ve been saying recently, then it tells me, wow, we must be getting close to them. Those guilty dogs are barking pretty loud.&#8221;
Gohmert noted that Page answered questions before FBI lawyers had an opportunity to prevent her from talking, adding, &#8220;I think she&#8217;ll be a good witness.&#8221;
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
.<a href="https://twitter.com/replouiegohmert?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@replouiegohmert</a> on what he learned during Lisa Page&#8217;s closed-door meeting on Capitol Hill <a href="https://t.co/6YNUtoqRuS">pic.twitter.com/6YNUtoqRuS</a>
&#8212; FOX &amp; friends (@foxandfriends) <a href="https://twitter.com/foxandfriends/status/1019219997175017472?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 17, 2018</a></blockquote>
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Rep.Matt Gaetz (R-FL) also gave a positive assessment of Page, <a href="https://nypost.com/2018/07/13/gop-lawmakers-lisa-page-more-credible-witness-than-peter-strzok/">saying</a>, &#8220;I found Lisa Page to be more credible than Peter Strzok.&#8221;
&#8220;I didn&#8217;t agree with her characterization of every text message and every piece of evidence,&#8221; Gaetz added, &#8220;but we did not see the smug attitude from Lisa Page that we saw from Peter Strzok.&#8221;

Lisa Page Gave Significantly Different Testimony Than Peter Stzrok, Congressman Says

Peter Strzok

Controversial Rep. Steve King (R-IA) says he fears America may be headed to another Civil War.
&#8220;America is heading in the direction of another Harpers Ferry,&#8221; King tweeted on Sunday. &#8220;After that comes Ft. Sumter.&#8221;
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">America is heading in the direction of another Harpers Ferry. After that comes Ft. Sumter. <a href="https://t.co/5PmwlwcdSQ">https://t.co/5PmwlwcdSQ</a>
— Steve King (@SteveKingIA) <a href="https://twitter.com/SteveKingIA/status/1011030489182932994?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 24, 2018</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;Harper&#8217;s Ferry, Va., was the site of an 1859 raid on a federal armory led by militant abolitionist John Brown,&#8221; according to <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2018/06/25/steve-king-america-civil-war/733226002/">USA Today</a>. &#8220;Brown&#8217;s attack was aimed at sparking a massive slave uprising and the violent act helped push the divided country toward civil war.&#8221;
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Rep. Steve King Fears Another Civil War

UPDATE
On January 10, 2019, Rep. Steve King (R-IA) reportedly stated, &#8220;White nationalist, white supremacist, Western civilization &#8212; how did that language become offensive?&#8221; In light of those statements, this article gave far too generous an interpretation of King&#8217;s words. As I stated in the article, there were two ways to interpret his statements. His later open embrace of the terms &#8220;white nationalist&#8221; and &#8220;white supremacist&#8221; suggest that the first interpretation described below was not as implausible as it seemed at the time.
ORIGINAL
On Sunday, Rep. Steve King (R-IA) tweeted about the upsurge of Muslim immigration to Europe by citing the growing electoral popularity of Dutch right-winger Geert Wilders. Here&#8217;s what he tweeted:
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Wilders understands that culture and demographics are our destiny. We can&#8217;t restore our civilization with somebody else&#8217;s babies. <a href="https://t.co/4nxLipafWO">https://t.co/4nxLipafWO</a>
&#8212; Steve King (@SteveKingIA) <a href="https://twitter.com/SteveKingIA/status/840980755236999169">March 12, 2017</a></blockquote>
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There are two ways to read this tweet.
The first is the most obvious: as racism. The idea that babies from abroad cannot be civilized to Western values &#8211; that &#8220;somebody else&#8217;s babies&#8221; are unfit for assimilation &#8211; is racist. If that&#8217;s what King said and meant, he should immediately be censured by his Republican colleagues on the floor of Congress, and we should all pray that he loses his Congressional seat.
The second way to read the tweet suggests that it&#8217;s badly phrased but not racist: it could be argued that King was stating that multiculturalism, combined with high levels of immigration from non-Western cultures, shapes destiny. King could have been saying that high levels of foreign immigration to Europe in an attempt to prop up their ailing economies, without any sort of assimilation, will destroy the fabric of European civilization. That&#8217;s an argument that&#8217;s been made by European politicians ranging from David Cameron to Angela Merkel.
Fortunately, King cleared up which angle he meant on New Day on CNN. &#8220;It&#8217;s the culture, not the blood,&#8221; King said. &#8220;If you could go anywhere in the world and adopt these little babies and put them into households that were already assimilated into America, those babies will grow up as American as any other baby with as much patriotism and as much love of country as any other baby. It&#8217;s not about race, it&#8217;s never been about race &#8230; It&#8217;s a clash of cultures, not a race.&#8221;
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The media ignored these words, however. Instead, they insisted on interpreting King in the first way. CNN&#8217;s Chris Cuomo accused King of trying to &#8220;white cleanse our population&#8221; in contravention of the &#8220;melting pot&#8221; concept &#8211; even though King&#8217;s claim is apparently about assimilation to Western culture, not racism with regard to birth. King said, &#8220;We&#8217;re a country here, if you take a picture of what America looks like, you can do it at a football stadium or a basketball court, you see all kinds of different Americans there. We&#8217;re pretty proud of that,&#8221; King said, going on to rip &#8220;enclaves&#8221; being created that resist assimilation.
King then said, &#8220;I think there&#8217;s been far too much focus on race.&#8221; When Cuomo explicitly accused King of stating that white people needed to raise their birth rate, King replied, &#8220;I never have said that &#8230; I tell them go back and watch the tape.&#8221; King continued, &#8220;If you go down the road a few generations or maybe centuries with the intermarriage, I&#8217;d like to see an America that&#8217;s just so homogenous that we look a lot the same.&#8221; The media immediately clipped the second half of that sentence, making it sound like King wanted to stop interracial marriage and instead maintain white purity.
That&#8217;s a lie.
King&#8217;s phraseology is awkward, no doubt. But the point he&#8217;s trying to make is not one that the Left attributes to him. Here&#8217;s Angela Merkel circa December 2015: &#8220;Multiculturalism leads to parallel societies and therefore remains a &#8216;life lie,&#8217; or a sham &#8230; The challenge is immense. We want and we will reduce the number of refugees noticeably.&#8221; Is Merkel a white nationalist or white supremacist?
The deep desire to paint Republicans as racists rather than defenders of Western cultural superiority leads the media to lie. People should read and listen to King&#8217;s actual words before jumping on the bandwagon.

Media Accuse Rep. Steve King (R-IA) Of Racism. They’re Lying. Read His Actual Words. [UPDATED]

On Sunday, Rep. Steve King (R-IA) <a href="https://twitter.com/SteveKingIA/status/840980755236999169">took to Twitter</a> to express agreement with Dutch politician Geert Wilders’s opposition to the status quo of demographic change across the broader West.
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Geert Wilders&#8217;s Twitter profile&#8217;s banner reads: &#8220;STOP ISLAM.&#8221; He regularly describes Islam as a destructive social force across Western Civilization amplified by multiculturalism and culturally destructive immigration and refugee admission policies.
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Assorted leftists and Democrats were quick to register their hostility towards King’s positioning.
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">Yikes. David Duke celebrating Steve King&#8217;s comments. This is why we need organized <a href="https://twitter.com/oppstn">@oppstn</a>: <a href="https://t.co/dAvPFsPTSn">pic.twitter.com/dAvPFsPTSn</a>
— Jordan Uhl (@JordanUhl) <a href="https://twitter.com/JordanUhl/status/841003754430291968">March 12, 2017</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">.<a href="https://twitter.com/SteveKingIA">@SteveKingIA</a> The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice. Your bigotry is a mark on America. <a href="https://t.co/WDompoziBu">https://t.co/WDompoziBu</a>
— Bess Kalb (@bessbell) <a href="https://twitter.com/bessbell/status/841043655754407937">March 12, 2017</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><a href="https://twitter.com/SteveKingIA">@SteveKingIA</a> You, Congressman, are simply a bigot. Good thing is, I know a lot of smart Dems eyeing your seat.
— Peter Brack (@peterbrack) <a href="https://twitter.com/peterbrack/status/840988051685883904">March 12, 2017</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><a href="https://twitter.com/SteveKingIA">@SteveKingIA</a> nazi scumbag
— MKupperman (@MKupperman) <a href="https://twitter.com/MKupperman/status/840987084546572289">March 12, 2017</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><a href="https://twitter.com/SteveKingIA">@SteveKingIA</a> If I had your shitty culture, I&#8217;d be worried about it being swept away, too.
— John Epler (@eplerjc) <a href="https://twitter.com/eplerjc/status/840997864528474112">March 12, 2017</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">.<a href="https://twitter.com/SteveKingIA">@SteveKingIA</a> you tweeted this from a phone or computer that was probably designed by an immigrant, you hateful piece of garbage
— Jess Dweck (@TheDweck) <a href="https://twitter.com/TheDweck/status/841053224886976512">March 12, 2017</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">You are a stain on our country. <a href="https://twitter.com/SteveKingIA">@SteveKingIA</a> <a href="https://t.co/wSLPe0dFsi">https://t.co/wSLPe0dFsi</a>
— Caroline O. (@RVAwonk) <a href="https://twitter.com/RVAwonk/status/840991076605399040">March 12, 2017</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><a href="https://twitter.com/SteveKingIA">@SteveKingIA</a> it&#8217;s good to hear you admit out loud that you think people proclaiming their faith should be restricted, you nazi pig
— The Mountain Goats (@mountain_goats) <a href="https://twitter.com/mountain_goats/status/840994300355846144">March 12, 2017</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">A United States Congressman explicitly embracing ethno-nationalism. <a href="https://t.co/aRs9xMNUco">https://t.co/aRs9xMNUco</a>
— Christopher Hayes (@chrislhayes) <a href="https://twitter.com/chrislhayes/status/840992384137728000">March 12, 2017</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><a href="https://twitter.com/SteveKingIA">@SteveKingIA</a> Who translated that from German for you?
— Patrick S. Tomlinson (@stealthygeek) <a href="https://twitter.com/stealthygeek/status/840998705889202177">March 12, 2017</a></blockquote>
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</blockquote>
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Observing and noting actual relationships between culture and demographics – particularly with respect to Islam and Muslims – yields acrimony from Democrats and the broader Left.
Follow Robert Kraychik on <a href="https://twitter.com/kr3ch3k">Twitter</a>.

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