J. Scott Applewhite, File via AP
- Republican Rep. Steve King of Iowa, a controversial lawmaker who’s used white supremacist rhetoric, questioned on Wednesday whether there would be people left on earth without "rape or incest," provoking a bipartisan avalanche of criticism.
- "What if we went back through all the family trees and just pulled those people out that were products of rape or incest? Would there be any population of the world left if we did that?" King asked at an Iowa breakfast.
- Both Democrats and Republicans swiftly condemned the remarks and at least one House Republican called on him to resign.
- King has said that Western societies are threatened by nonwhite immigrants. Here are some of King’s most disturbing comments.
- Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.
Republican Rep. Steve King of Iowa questioned on Wednesday whether there would be people left on earth without "rape or incest," provoking a bipartisan avalanche of criticism. It was first reported by the Des Moines Register.
"What if we went back through all the family trees and just pulled those people out that were products of rape or incest? Would there be any population of the world left if we did that?" King asked at the Republican event in Iowa. "Considering all the wars and all the rapes and pillages that’s taken place, and whatever happened to culture after society, I know that I can’t certify that I’m not a product of that.
Both Democrats and Republicans swiftly condemned the remarks and at least one House Republican called on him to resign.
Yet the disturbing remarks highlight King’s long history of incendiary and often racist comments throughout his sixteen years in Congress. Earlier this year, King was stripped of his committee assignments after he asked why white supremacy was offensive in an interview with The New York Times. He’s refused to resign.
Here are some of King’s most troubling comments to date.
At a Las Vegas rally in 2006, King characterized the deaths of Americans at the hands of undocumented immigrants "a slow-motion Holocaust."
AP Photo/Khampha Bouaphanh
Source: Southern Poverty Law Center
In a 2009 speech railing against the Affordable Care Act, King said its contraceptive coverage threatened the birthrate of white Americans. "Preventing babies being born is not medicine. That’s not constructive to our culture and our civilization. If we let our birthrate get down below the replacement rate, we’re a dying civilization," King said.
AP Photo/Alex Brandon
Source: The New York Times
King strongly opposed granting a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers, or children who grew up in the US but were brought illegally. In a 2013 speech, he said there’s a drug dealer for each academically gifted Dreamer. "For everyone who’s a valedictorian, there’s another 100 out there that weigh 130 pounds and they’ve got calves the size of cantaloupes because they’re hauling 75 pounds of marijuana across the desert," he said.
AP Photo/Charlie Neibergal
Source: The Atlantic
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
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Source: Business Insider – jzeballos@businessinsider.com (Joseph Zeballos-Roig)