When Steve King was stripped of his committee assignments in the wake of his claim that white nationalism wasn’t a bad thing, a virtual who’s-who of religious right leaders—including, among others, Lance Wallnau, Steve Strang and Janet Porter—howled in protest. They wrote an open letter to the House Republican leadership that said, in so many words, “Leave Steve King alone!”
Well, the people who signed that letter may have egg on their face, in light of a recent discovery by HuffPost. It seems that King is using his official, taxpayer-funded Website to promote one of the most noxious white nationalist sites on the Net.
Included in a section about “Illegal Immigrant Stories” is a link to an article from VDare, a virulently white nationalist and anti-immigrant blog. Among its contributors are Jared Taylor, who thinks blacks are incapable of being civilized. Another is J. Philippe Rushton, who claims blacks have smaller brains than whites because they have bigger breasts and buttocks. Still another is Robert Weissberg, who thinks blacks and Latinos cause discipline problems because they have lower IQs. More recently, Richard Spencer has joined the team. With that roster, it’s no wonder VDare has been identified by the SPLC as a hate group.
King uses the “Illegal Immigrant Stories” section to promote the canard that there’s a rampant problem with undocumented immigrants committing crime. One of the articles he showcases is a VDare article by viciously racist blogger Brenda Walker that harps on an undocumented immigrant who killed a woman in a drunk driving accident before jumping bail. It turns out that article has been linked up on King’s official site in one form or another since at least last summer, per Media Matters.
Believe it or not, the “Illegal Immigrant Stories” section appears below a playlist of videos from King’s YouTube channel that includes, among other things, this speech supporting Majority Whip Jim Clyburn’s resolution condemning white supremacy—even though it was an obvious swipe at him.
When Congressman Tim Ryan saw this HuffPost piece, he hit the ceiling. Ryan sponsored one of two resolutions censuring King for his actions. However, the House leadership urged him and Congressman Bobby Rush to instead send their resolutions to the House Ethics Committee. They feared that if it passed, it could mean open season on Democrats for comments made outside the House.
But to Ryan’s mind, King’s continued promotion of a white nationalist site on his official House site is another matter. He wrote Ethics Committee chairman Ted Deutch and ranking member Kenny Marchant to call their attention to it. Read it here.
Ryan had hinted earlier that if there was a next time for dog-whistling on King’s part, he would at least have to consider pushing to have King expelled from the House. A spokesman for Ryan’s office refused to comment on whether this letter signified an effort to push for King’s ouster.
VDare impresario Peter Brimelow doesn’t understand what the fuss is about.
No, Peter. The issue is a member of Congress using his official, taxpayer funded Website to give his imprimatur to a documented hate site. Imagine if a Democratic lawmaker saw fit to link up an article from the Nation of Islam on his or her official site. It would be no less outrageous than what King is doing here.
At this point, the absolute minimum remedy here would be a formal censure of King. Attention fundies—the white courtesy phone is ringing.