Why Republicans Are Suddenly Outraged Over Steve King’s Racism

For years it has been no secret that Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) is an outright racist.  Likewise, it has been no secret that King has been vocally stating what has been the Republican Party's unspoken agenda: harm minorities of every sort while helping the truly wealthy.  Yet, suddenly congressional Republicans are feigning shock at King's behavior and open statement of the GOP's racism.  Now, King has been stripped of committee assignments and is facing censure. What happened?  A column in the Washington Post offers an answer: King explicitly said what has been the Party's agenda behind dissembling smoke screens and insincere denials.  Here are column highlights:

Republicans are shocked, shocked , to learn that Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) is a dyed-in-the-wool racist. Also , that snow is cold, the ocean is wet and the sky is often blue.

The clamor of GOP voices denouncing King’s latest racist eruption is more amusing than inspiring. Where have his Republican colleagues been all these years? Surely the “party of Lincoln” is aware that race has been the most divisive issue in our national history. Surely Republicans were aware of King’s toxic views, which he makes no attempt to hide. Why such an uproar now?

Perhaps King’s newly outraged critics were waiting for him to finally spell it out in language that even the “party of Trump” cannot ignore. Which he did.

In a New York Times profile last week, King expounded on his hard-line anti-immigrant views, which are the only thing that has distinguished him, or undistinguished him, in an otherwise mediocre congressional career. He boasted of having once told President Trump that “I market-tested your immigration policy for 14 years, and that ought to be worth something.”

King told the Times: “White nationalist, white supremacist, Western civilization — how did that language become offensive? Why did I sit in classes teaching me about the merits of our history and our civilization?”

We have seen, in subsequent days, that the open embrace of white supremacy is a bridge too far for many Republicans. That’s what they say, at least. I’ll believe them when they make clear — with actions, not just words — that racists such as King are unwelcome in the party’s ranks.

After the Times piece was published, King quickly issued a statement seeking to distance himself from white nationalism and white supremacy . . . . But then he went on to defend that very ideology in the euphemistic language — word salad about nationalism and Western “values” — that white supremacists use in polite company.

[H]is rhetoric and his associations make clear that his real aim is keeping out the “wrong” kind of people — Latinos, Muslims, anyone who doesn’t fit into his warped, ahistorical, racist vision of the nation’s heritage. . . . He proposed a border wall before Trump did.

As the Times noted in its profile, King has supported political figures abroad who have anti-Semitic leanings and neo-Nazi ties.

Following the Times profile, we’ve heard stirring denunciations from outraged and embarrassed Republicans. On NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Sen. Ted Cruz (Tex.) was righteously eloquent on the subject. In a Post op-ed, Sen. Tim Scott (S.C.) challenged his colleagues: “Some in our party wonder why Republicans are constantly accused of racism — it is because of our silence when things like this are said.” On CBS’s “Face the Nation,” House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (Calif.) promised that “action will be taken” against King. . . .

You don’t want to be called racists, Republicans? Then stop letting bigots such as King and Trump define the party’s policies. I’ll believe stirring GOP words about diversity when they are backed up by votes.