GOP senator: Rep. King’s racial remarks hurt Republicans, US
Posted January 11, 2019 12:55 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
WASHINGTON — Iowa Republican congressman Steve King says he’s not a racist, but he’s facing heavy criticism from his party over his remarks about white supremacy.
King on Friday said from the House floor that he is an advocate for “Western civilization,” not white supremacy or white nationalism. But he didn’t deny remarks published a day earlier in The New York Times in which he is quoted saying: “White nationalist, white supremacist, Western civilization — how did that language become offensive?”
King said terms describing bigotry, such as racism, are unfairly applied to “innocent” people.
Republican Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina wrote in The Washington Post on Friday that people with King’s opinions “damage not only the Republican Party and the conservative brand but also our nation as a whole.”
The Associated Press
