The Pennington County Republican Party has announced their speaker for their April Pennington County Lincoln Day Dinner, former Iowa Congressman Steve King:
He might not be quite as bad as when the Doeden Dumpster PAC announced they wanted to feature “alleged black nazi” Mark Robinson at their dinner. But.. are they really that far off?:
King is an opponent of immigration and multiculturalism, and has a long history of racist and anti-immigrant rhetoric and white nationalist affiliations. In 2018 The Washington Post described King as “the Congressman most openly affiliated with white nationalism.” King has been criticized for his affiliation with white supremacist ideas, made controversial statements against immigrants, and supported European right-wing populist and far-right politicians who have engaged in racism, anti-Semitism and Islamophobia.
and..
Shortly before the 2018 election, the National Republican Congressional Committee withdrew funding for King’s reelection campaign and its chairman, Steve Stivers, condemned King’s conduct, although Iowa’s Republican senators and governor continued to endorse him. King was narrowly reelected, but after a January 2019 interview in which he questioned the negative connotations of the terms “white nationalist” and “white supremacy”, he was widely condemned by both parties, the media, and public figures, and the Republican Steering Committee removed him from all House committee assignments. King ran for reelection but, campaign funding and support having declined, lost the June 2020 Republican primary to Randy Feenstra by 10 points.
Man. The quality of the speakers at these events has really gone downhill.
I remember at the 1988 GOP Convention in Watertown, the main speaker was Vietnam veteran John McCain, a man who some years later would be our candidate for president.
37 years later, now we are having dinners where a month or so ahead of time the host organization will spend time trying to explain to the media that their dinner speaker is not really a white supremacist.
Moving on.
Will NAZI salutes be rage at this one? Wait! They downplayed them as salutes from the heart but gosh they sure look the same!
Robinson was just a few months ahead of his time I guess.
Well I’m sure Nazi lover Toby Doeden will be there. He quickly defended Elon Musk but did a poor job after doing the NAZI salute twice. Elon endorsing Neo Nazi German far right party AFP was shocking and then proceeding to urge them to move on from past guilt of the Holocaust just before Holocaust Rememberance Day.
This is not the GOP of WW2 Heroes Gerald Ford or President Bush
Why would you waste your time and money on King?
Exactly. Instead of bringing in a wackadoodle, why don’t they get Senate majority leader John Thune in?
Nazi’s are so hot right now in the MAGA
And the Republican Party wonders why its coffers are empty and only the radical right wing lunatics show up to these events. Talk about brain dead!
Steve King endorsed and was a Keynote Speaker at an Iowa Senate District special election campaign fundraiser near Waterloo a week or two ago for the Republican endorsed candidate to fulfill the term of the newly appointed Iowa Lt. Governor. It got real bad press coverage, the candidate took down all the publicity for the event and a week later the Democrat won the special election 52% -48% in a 60% Republican Senate District. Mr. King is not that influential or very popular anymore in Iowa or anywhere else I would venture to say.
I believe King’s quote was: “White nationalist, white supremacist, Western civilization—how did that language become offensive? Why did I sit in classes teaching me about the merits of our history and our civilization?”
Wow, Pennington County… you have outdone yourself this time. I wonder if King will bring his precious Confederate flag with him. He had a desktop version in his office.
I lived in Steve King’s district when I lived in Iowa. He’s nuts.
If Musks “Salute” wasn’t a flagrant display of
Adolf Hitler and the Nazi ideals, then my middle
finger in your face is just a friendly wave.