Congressman Steve King, long known for his bigoted anti-immigrant views, appears to have publicly embraced white nationalism. On Sunday afternoon, the Iowa Republican tweeted a cartoon endorsing Dutch right-wing, anti-Islam politician Geert Wilders, who recently referred to the Netherlands’ Moroccan population as “scum.” The drawing depicts Wilders sticking his finger in a dam (labeled “Western Civilization”) overflowing with green fluid carrying Islam’s star-and-crescent symbol. In the background, bearded, knife-wielding men angrily look on. “Wilders understands that culture and demographics are our destiny,” King wrote. “We can’t restore our civilization with somebody else’s babies.”
This isn’t the first time that King has touched on these ideas. For example, during a July appearance on MSNBC, he offered this striking complaint about the description of the Republican National Convention as “wired by loud, unhappy, dissatisfied white people”: “This whole ‘old white people’ business does get a little tired. I’d ask you to go back through history and figure out where are these contributions that have been made by these other categories of people you’re talking about? Where did any other subgroup of people contribute more to civilization?,” King said. When an incredulous Chris Hayes asked, “Than white people?,” King responded, “Than Western civilization itself that’s rooted in Western Europe, Eastern Europe, and the United States of America, and every place where the footprint of Christianity settled the world. That’s all of Western civilization.”
Two months later, King tweeted at Wilders, “Wishing you successful vote. Cultural suicide by demographic transformation must end.”
King has so far declined to elaborate on the meaning of Sunday’s tweet, but, given the content of the cartoon and his past statements, it doesn’t seem like much clarification is needed. In any case, former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke believes he’s gotten the congressman’s message:
