Iowa Republican Rep. Steve King’s relationship with white supremacy has taken another turn since he said, less than a month ago, that he would vote in favor of a resolution against white supremacy in the face of removal from all of his House committee assignments. Despite the move, he continues to share and promote work from a white supremacist website, which has prompted a complaint with the House Ethics Committee, according to Roll Call.
King, who last month received backlash for his comments promoting white supremacy, shares anti-immigrant rhetoric on his official website, citing sources such as VDare.com.
In one section of his government website, titled “Illegal Immigration Stories,” he runs a long list of undocumented immigrants involved in crimes and cites websites such as Breitbart and VDare as his sources.
The VDare website, which has been called an “anti-immigration hate website” by the Southern Poverty Law Center, is named after Virginia Dare, said to be the first white child born in America. It holds strong anti-immigrant stances and features content from anti-immigrant writers such as Ann Coulter.
Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) last week filed a complaint with the Ethics Committee, notifying the committee about this concerning behavior.
“Rep. King’s comments and continued dog whistles are abhorrent to the founding principles of our nation and our rich history of diversity and tolerance of those whose backgrounds and beliefs have made America the envy of the world,” Rep. Ryan wrote in the letter, dated Jan. 29.
King has long been criticized for his racist, anti-immigrant views, but in recent months the backlash has intensified. A video went viral in November, of King confronting a man at a public forum over his recent meeting with a far-right Austrian group and his anti-immigrant views. In January, after he expressed his confusion in a New York Times interview about why white supremacy and white nationalism are “offensive,” he was removed from the Judiciary and Agriculture Committees.
H/T Roll Call
