Rep. Steve King was widely criticized for racist comments in a tweet on Sunday, though not by the White House. So, predictably, King got some Racist Republican Rehab and Ratification from Fox News’ Tucker Carlson.
King’s tweet was a retweet of this tweet:
Hundreds of Islamists shouting "Allahu Akbar" in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Wilders is right for over 10 years. #turkijerel pic.twitter.com/dV2SjXg23r
— Voice of Europe (@V_of_Europe) March 12, 2017
King added his own comments:
Wilders understands that culture and demographics are our destiny. We can't restore our civilization with somebody else's babies. https://t.co/4nxLipafWO
— Steve King (@SteveKingIA) March 12, 2017
Huffington Post explained that the cartoon was “tweeted out by an account that supports far-right European candidates and platforms. The cartoon depicts Geert Wilders, a candidate for prime minister in the Netherlands, sticking his finger in a dam labeled 'Western Civilization' to stop a flow of green ooze with stars and crescent moons ― a color and set of symbols widely associated with Islam.”
Huffington Post further noted:
[King’s] remarks, however, align with ones made last September when he appeared with Wilders and Frauke Petry, chairwoman of the far-right anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany party, saying, “Cultural suicide by demographic transformation must end.”
In an explainer on white nationalism last year, Eric Kaufmann, a professor of politics at Birkbeck University in London, told The New York Times the ideology centers around intertwining national identity with ethnicity and the belief that whites should preserve a demographic, social and political majority.
Despite the blatant bigotry infused in King’s tweet, the White House and most Republicans failed to condemn it.
But Carlson actively validated King. That should not surprise anyone given that Carlson is, as Media Matters reported, “adored by the same white nationalists who praised King’s remark.”
Carlson described King’s tweet as having “started a debate” in this country about what constitutes a nation. There was none of Carlson’s trademark sandbagging, which he seems to save just for liberals. Instead, Carlson made comments like, “Everything you said, I think, is defensible and probably right.”
Carlson did go on to say, delicately, “The problem with the tweet was that it suggested there’s a racial component to American identity. Do you think that there is?”
In a word, yes, King does and it’s the left’s fault, not his. He claimed that there’s "a racial component to all of our discussion here in America and there must be that because the left is constantly pointing to the differences we have.”
“What I should have done, Tucker," King continued, "if I had more characters in the tweet, just added, ‘You can’t rebuild our civilization with somebody else’s babies unless we adopt them.’”
Oh, well, that changes everything – not!
But Carlson helpfully suggested, “So, the idea is, it doesn’t matter what ethnic group that people come from as long as they share the same culture and language and shared history?”
Yes, that was what King meant, except he added that the English language “is, essentially, a carrier of liberty.” He said it “expresses freedom and liberty more effectively than any other language on the planet.”
So, in other words, King has nothing against other ethnic groups so long as they speak English, share American culture and our history.
“There’s nothing in my statement that references race in any way,” King argued.
No, the statement just reeks of bigotry the way a smoker's clothing reeks of smoke even if you never see him or her with a cigarette.
But Carlson said, “Right.”
“But I do reference culture and civilization and that’s what we’ve got to restore, is western civilization for the world, Tucker,” King added.
And even that was not a red flag to Carlson. “Sounds fair to me,” he said agreeably. Then he closed the segment.
Watch the Racist Republican Rehab below, from the March 13, 2017 Tucker Carlson Tonight.
Steve King sees that as a bad thing in the Netherlands but rest assured, he loves it when hard right Israelis take the same baby mill approach. I guess this might be playing the long game, but it also makes for an even more overcrowded planet with fewer solutions.