Guernsey Press

US politician votes for measure condemning his own racist comments

Steve King had said in an interview he did not know why terms like ‘white nationalist’ and ‘white supremacist’ were offensive.

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A Republican congressman whose startling views on white supremacy hit the headlines voted in favour of a resolution to condemn his own comments.

Steve King, a nine-term Iowa congressman, said in an interview last week: “White nationalist, white supremacist, Western civilisation — how did that language become offensive?”

Congress Steve King
Steve King himself voted for the measure condemning his own comments (Charlie Neibergall/AP)

Citing King’s comments, the resolution said: “The House of Representatives once again rejects white nationalism and white supremacy as hateful expressions of intolerance that are contradictory to the values that define the people of the United States.”

King said he agreed with the resolution, adding that the ideology of white supremacy “never shows up in my head” and that he does “not know how it could possibly come out of my mouth”.

The only member of the House to vote against the measure was Bobby Rush, a Democrat from Illinois.

He told CNN the resolution “did not go far enough”, and was “not worth the paper it’s written on”.

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