Des Moines, Iowa — Steve King, the previous Republican Iowa congressman with a historical past of racist and controversial statements, reemerged on the political scene this week, campaigning with Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy Wednesday.
Though King has not endorsed Ramaswamy formally, he did specific his intention to caucus for the Ohio businessman — and the help has been welcomed by Ramaswamy with open arms, with King using on Ramaswamy’s marketing campaign bus.
King, who served in Congress for 18 years, misplaced the GOP major for his district in 2020 after defending the phrases ”white nationalism” and ”white supremacy” in a 2019 interview with the New York Instances which drew widespread bipartisan condemnation.
”White nationalist, white supremacist, Western civilization — how did that language turn into offensive?” King advised the Instances within the interview.
CBS Information
Previously, he has additionally used derogatory language about Mexican immigrants and supported far-right politicians in Europe. In a 2017 interview with CNN, he spoke overtly about his want for an America that’s ”simply so homogenous that we glance so much the identical,” incomes him reward from KKK leaders and neo-Nazi teams.
The pair have campaigned collectively typically, talking in opposition to the usage of eminent area to construct carbon seize pipelines in Iowa, a stump difficulty for Ramaswamy as he continues his barnstorming of the state.
Ramaswamy mentioned the eminent area difficulty introduced them collectively, however he additionally defended King when pressed by voters and reporters, calling him a ”good man” who ”deeply cares about this nation.”
Ramaswamy mentioned King’s feedback have been ”misunderstood and misportrayed” by the media.
When the connection garnered the eye of 1 Iowan voter on Tuesday who referred to as King a white supremacist, Ramaswamy responded, ”I do not suppose Steve King is a white supremacist. I do not suppose he is even near that. I’ve gotten to know him solely very not too long ago in latest weeks.”
He went on to say that ”even when” King ”had views on a unique subject that I disagree with, however he agrees with me on the best subject right here, of not utilizing eminent area to grab land that belongs to farmers who do not need a carbon dioxide seize pipeline throughout their land. I’ll all the time stand with someone who says the best factor, irrespective of whether or not affiliation is even when they’re from one other social gathering.”
Ramaswamy’s embrace of King underscores his tendency to lean into conspiracy theories and excessive views on the marketing campaign path, typically echoing sentiments discovered within the Republican Celebration’s far-right wing.
On the most latest GOP major debate final week in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, Ramaswamy plateaued a number of unfounded and false conspiracy theories on a nationwide stage, claiming that the Jan. 6 Capitol assault was ”an inside job” — an allegation that has been rebuked by the Home choose committee investigation and quite a few prosecutions of Jan. 6 defendants.
He additionally declared that the 2020 election was ”stolen by massive tech” — an allegation Ramaswamy has made repeatedly, regardless of no proof to help it.
The Ohio Republican falsely alleged that the Democratic Celebration’s platform is aligned with the unfounded ”nice alternative principle,” a racist conspiracy principle which claims that White folks within the U.S. are intentionally being ”changed” by nonwhite folks. Whereas the nation is changing into extra various, there is no such thing as a proof that the ”nice alternative principle” was ever part of the Democratic Celebration’s platform.
At a CNN city corridor Wednesday, Ramaswamy doubled down on his Jan. 6 rhetoric, dodging fact-checks from the moderator. Ramaswamy additionally promoted a conspiracy principle involving Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, who was the goal of a 2020 kidnapping plot by a far-right paramilitary group. He claimed, with out proof, that the defendants had been inspired to ”do one thing they in any other case would not have finished,” by authorities brokers.