People have lamented that Donald Trump destroyed whatever fragments of humanity and congeniality were left in our politics, and to be clear, the guy has destroyed so many of our democratic norms and customs. But the GOP had sunk into the gutter long before Trump ascended to gassy despot of an extremist hate group masquerading as a political party, and the Facebook feed of Congressman Steve King (IA-04) is a perfect example.
Now, this isn’t a huge surprise — King has long been a loud and racist voice in the immigration debate. But looking at his personal Facebook page — I went through it while prepping this post — really puts his maliciousness into perspective. It’s filled with awful, mean-hearted memes and racist appeals to the fringes of his base.
Look at just a few:
OK, I won’t go further than that — I can’t stand to go more than a week down on his page. I think you get the idea.
It’s frustrating that King has been so entrenched for so long, but this year, he finally has some worthy challengers. One of them, J.D. Scholten, has been out-raising King for the past several FEC cycles, even as he espouses a full-throated progressivism that we’ve long been told doesn’t play in rural midwestern districts. He was featured in The Intercept earlier this year slamming King’s immigration policy, and would represent as drastic a change as is possible in modern America.
King has been taking heat from the Parkland kids — you can see his disgusting response above — and Scholten has stepped up to advocate for gun control, even in a rural region. Slate sums up his positions thusly: “Scholten supports a $15 minimum wage, an incremental move toward universal health care, comprehensive immigration reform that would protect Dreamers, and a woman’s right to choose.”
I like Scholten’s frank words on abortion: “I’m a guy, it’s not my body; it’s a woman’s right to choose.”
Progressives Everywhere is raising money for Scholten — CLICK HERE to toss him a few bucks in the fight against King!