Things Are Getting Worse for a Panicked Steve King

You know you’re in trouble when despite being a true (racist) Republican, Liz Cheney won’t even defend you, and refers to comments you’ve made as “appalling and bizarre.”

That’s the situation white supremacist Rep. Steve King from Iowa finds himself in this weekend after earlier this week he downplayed the horrors of rape and incest to justify the awful anti-abortion legislation he is sponsoring.

His comments didn’t sit well, unsurprisingly, even with his own constituents, who nevertheless somehow keep reelecting him to office. Maybe that’s about to change.

King held two town hall meetings on Saturday to explain himself and to criticize “left-wing” media for unfairly attacking him. In one appearance at Grundy Center, IA, a total of two people showed up.

Give me a minute, I’m still laughing.

People thoroughly dragged King online after a photo of the low turnout was shared on social media.

Democratic presidential candidate Amy Klobuchar piled on, writing: “After Steve King’s comments re rape and incest this week, this is how many Iowans showed up at his town hall. And this is why @JDScholten will win.” Her tweet referred to Iowa native J.D. Scholten, who nearly beat King in 2018 and plans to challenge him again for his congressional seat in 2020.

A second town hall in Storm Lake, IA, drew a larger crowd, local media reported, although they, too, were fired up over his comments.

One woman asked if King still stood by his statement that everyone has a little rape and incest in their family tree. King, as he often does, blamed the media.

“The Des Moines Register misquoted me. The AP picked it up. They spread it to all kinds of outlets all around this country. It’s no longer the circumstance in America that, when a newspaper misquotes you, you can call the editor up and they print a correction the next day,” King said, as reported by The Gazette from Cedar Rapids.

The Register did issue a correction with a broader context, but neither news organization issued a retraction.

Confronted by another constituent who immigrated to the U.S. from Mexico in 1999, King reportedly said, “You wouldn’t have any way of knowing this, but I happen to be the author and chief sponsor of a piece of legislation that’s been brought farther in the United States Congress than any other, that saves the lives of more black babies, more brown babies, more Asian babies and also more white babies, than any other bill.”

Interesting.

Scholten, King’s Democratic opponent in 2020, responded by sharing a list of news organizations the congressman has accused of misquoting him. It’s quite a pattern:

Scholten also shared a simple, yet effective ad that’s very Iowa:

Enough is enough, indeed. Things are looking pretty grim right now for one of the most racist members of Congress, and that’s really saying something considering we’re talking about Republicans.