Steve King hit for pondering whether civilization would have survived without rape and incest

close

Video

Rep. Steve King faces bipartisan backlash as Republicans and Democrats condemn his comments on white supremacy

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says there is no place in Congress or the country for an ideology of racial supremacy and that King's statements are unworthy of his elected position.

Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, is facing a new backlash over his comments Wednesday questioning whether humanity would exist anymore if not for rape and incest throughout history.

"What if we went back through all the family trees and just pulled out anyone who was a product of rape or incest? Would there be any population of the world left if we did that?" King said at the Westside Conservative Club in Urbandale, Iowa, according to the Des Moines Register. "Considering all the wars and all the rapes and pillages that happened throughout all these different nations, I know that I can't say that I was not a part of a product of that."

MCCONNELL: 'NO PLACE' IN GOP FOR SOMEONE WITH KING'S VIEWS

King’s comments came as he was arguing against exceptions for rape and incest in anti-abortion legislation in Congress. The Iowa Republican contends that just because the circumstances surrounding conception were bad that does mean that the result isn’t a human being.

"It's not the baby's fault for the sin of the father, or of the mother," he said.

King -- who has a well-documented history of making provocative, far-right statements -- was almost immediately criticized by lawmakers and politicians.

Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, a 2020 presidential primary candidate, was quick to tell King what she thought of him, tweeting: “[Steve King] You are a disgrace. Resign.”

Another 2020 Democratic presidential hopeful, former Rep. Beto O’Rourke of Texas, plugged the man challenging King for his seat in 2020, J.D. Scholten, in his tweet regarding King’s comments.

“My friend [J.D. Scholten] is standing up and fighting back against Steve King, and he needs all of our help — because no matter where you live, you know there’s no place for Steve King’s racism, bigotry, and hatred in Congress,” O’Rourke tweeted.

REP. STEVE KING SLAMMED BY FELLOW GOP COLLEAGUES FOR 'WHITE SUPREMACIST' REMARK 

Earlier this year, the Iowa congressman was stripped of committee assignments and faced condemnation for telling the New York Times, “White nationalist, white supremacist, Western civilization — how did that language become offensive?”

"I think I was pretty clear, and our entire House leadership was very clear last week,” Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., the third-ranking House Republican, said at the time. “His comments were abhorrent. They were racist. We, under the guidance of Leader McCarthy, stripped him of his committee assignments. And I think there's simply no place for that language in any of our national discourse.”

In November of last year, King drew a strong rebuke from the chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee after comments relating to white nationalists and supremacists.

King had publicly endorsed a white nationalist candidate for mayor in Toronto. The candidate, Faith Goldy, has promoted books espousing anti-Semitic ideas and defending the white supremacist “14 words” slogan, according to the Toronto Star.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

King also has drawn criticism for posts on Twitter, such as in 2017 when he wrote that “culture and demographics are our destiny” and said we “can't restore our civilization with somebody else's babies.”

And last September, King came under renewed scrutiny after traveling to Austria and giving an interview in which he said, “If we don't defend Western Civilization, then we will become subjugated by the people who are the enemies of faith, the enemies of justice.”

In 2013, he commented that while he has some sympathy for some undocumented immigrants, "they aren't all valedictorians, they weren't all brought in by their parents -- for everyone who's a valedictorian, there's another 100 out there who weigh 130 pounds and they've got calves the size of cantaloupes because they're hauling 75 pounds of marijuana across the desert."