Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) has gained notoriety for his often contentious — and, occasionally, almost overtly racist — comments about immigration and the demographics of the United States. On Sunday, in a tweet about the nationalist Dutch politician Geert Wilders, King again appears to have crossed the line.
“Wilders understands that culture and demographics are our destiny,” King wrote. “We can’t restore our civilization with somebody else’s babies.”
The formulation of “our” civilization being at risk from “somebody else’s babies” is a deliberate suggestion that American civilization is threatened by unnamed “others” — almost certainly a reference to non-Westerners. The idea that national identity and racial identity overlap entirely is the crux of white nationalism; King’s formulation above toes close to that line, if it doesn’t cross. American culture, of course, was formed in part over the past two centuries by the assimilation of immigrants from a broad range of nations — first mostly European but later a broader diaspora. Iowa, the state King represents, remains one of the most homogeneously white in the United States.
King’s tweet echoes comments he made during the 2016 presidential election when, as a supporter of Donald Trump, he suggested that white people had contributed more to civilization than any other “subgroup.”
That happened during a panel discussion on MSNBC hosted by Chris Hayes, in which King took issue with Esquire’s Charlie Pierce for suggesting that the Republican National Convention was energized mostly by “loud, unhappy, dissatisfied white people.”
Steve King ✔ @SteveKingIA
Wilders understands that culture and demographics are our destiny. We can't restore our civilization with somebody else's babies. twitter;840724494113206272]https://twitter.com/v_of_europe/status/840724494113206272 …
10:40 AM - 12 Mar 2017 · Iowa, USA
6,472 6,472 Retweets 10,064 10,064 likes
Wilders understands that culture and demographics are our destiny. We can't restore our civilization with somebody else's babies. twitter;840724494113206272]https://twitter.com/v_of_europe/status/840724494113206272 …
10:40 AM - 12 Mar 2017 · Iowa, USA
6,472 6,472 Retweets 10,064 10,064 likes
“Wilders understands that culture and demographics are our destiny,” King wrote. “We can’t restore our civilization with somebody else’s babies.”
The formulation of “our” civilization being at risk from “somebody else’s babies” is a deliberate suggestion that American civilization is threatened by unnamed “others” — almost certainly a reference to non-Westerners. The idea that national identity and racial identity overlap entirely is the crux of white nationalism; King’s formulation above toes close to that line, if it doesn’t cross. American culture, of course, was formed in part over the past two centuries by the assimilation of immigrants from a broad range of nations — first mostly European but later a broader diaspora. Iowa, the state King represents, remains one of the most homogeneously white in the United States.
King’s tweet echoes comments he made during the 2016 presidential election when, as a supporter of Donald Trump, he suggested that white people had contributed more to civilization than any other “subgroup.”
That happened during a panel discussion on MSNBC hosted by Chris Hayes, in which King took issue with Esquire’s Charlie Pierce for suggesting that the Republican National Convention was energized mostly by “loud, unhappy, dissatisfied white people.”
