We can’t restore our civilization with somebody else’s babies

[Syt]

... says Rep. Steve King (R) of Iowa.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/mar/12/steve-king-iowa-congressman-geert-wilders-immigration

Iowa congressman lauds far-right Dutch politician, warning over 'demographics'

Republican Steve King offers praise for anti-immigrant politician Geert Wilders, saying: 'We can't restore our civilization with somebody else's babies'

The Republican congressman Steve King applauded the far-right Dutch politician Geert Wilders on Sunday, using Twitter to write an apparent rejection of immigrant children in the United States and Europe.

"Wilders understands that culture and demographics are our destiny," the Iowa representative wrote, linking to another tweet in praise of Wilders, who has espoused anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim rhetoric, and last month called Moroccans "scum". "We can't restore our civilization with somebody else's babies," King wrote.

David Duke, a former leader of the Ku Klux Klan, quickly tweeted his approval, writing "God bless Steve King" in all capital letters.

King was first elected to Congress in 2002 and represents a solidly Republican district in north-western Iowa, where both he and Donald Trump received over 60% of the vote in 2016.

The Iowa Republican has aligned himself with the European far right before. He met with the French presidential candidate Marine Le Pen with fellow a Republican congressman, Dana Rohrabacher, last month in Paris. In September, he posted a photo of himself with Wilders and wrote: "Cultural suicide by demographic transformation must end."

In October, King deleted a retweet about Britain's decision to leave the EU and, in December, expressed his condolences about the loss of the far-right Freedom Party in the Austrian presidential election.

King's tweet follows a televised tirade on MSNBC in July asking what nonwhite "subgroups" had contributed to society.

King has long been one of the most vociferously anti-immigration members of the House Republican caucus and is known for his controversial rhetoric on the subject. In 2013, King said that for every valedictorian whose parents were undocumented immigrants, "there's another 100 out there who weigh 130 pounds and they've got calves the size of cantaloupes because they're hauling 75lbs of marijuana across the desert." The Iowa Republican has also compared immigrants to dogs and called illegal immigration a "slow-rolling, slow-motion terrorist attack on the United States."

This week, King urged Trump to "purge" all of Barack Obama's political appointees from government service.

"I will use the word purge," he said. "I've used it over the last few days. I think that needs to happen. I think it's a descriptive word that fits well within the English language, and I know there are people that will attach extra meaning to that. I don't know a better word to use."

[garbon]

Q: In what century was civilization last seen in the area of land now commonly referred to as Iowa?

[Syt]

Q: In what century was civilization last seen in the area of land now commonly referred to as Iowa?

[Eddie Teach]

I thought he was from Maine.

[CountDeMoney]

I thought he was from Maine.

That's Angus King.  Completely different guy. 

Peter King is from New York.  He's a different kind of crazy, though.

[jimmy olsen]

I thought he was from Maine.

That's Angus King.  Completely different guy. 

Peter King is from New York.  He's a different kind of crazy, though.

Peter King is the one I always mix him up with.

[Eddie Teach]

I thought he was from Maine.

That's Angus King.  Completely different guy. 

Peter King is from New York.  He's a different kind of crazy, though.

I was talking about Steve King the author. 

[CountDeMoney]

I was talking about Steve King the author. 

I know of a Stephen King who is an author, never read Steve King. 

[CountDeMoney]

Rep. King: 'I meant exactly what I said' with 'babies' tweet
By Louis Nelson
03/13/17
10:43 AM EDT

Offered a chance to clarify what he meant Sunday when he wrote on Twitter that "we can't restore our civilization with somebody else's babies," Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) said Monday morning that "I meant exactly what I said."

"I've been to Europe and I've spoken on this issue and I've said the same thing as far as 10 years ago to the German people and to any population of people that is a declining population that isn't willing to have enough babies to reproduce themselves," King said on CNN's "New Day." "I've said to them, 'You cannot rebuild your civilization with somebody else's babies. You've got to keep your birth rate up and that you need to teach your children your values.'"

The Iowa congressman's original tweet was written in the context of support for Geert Wilders, a far-right candidate to be the prime minister of the Netherlands. King wrote that Wilders "understands that culture and demographics are our destiny."

The post earned the endorsement of former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke, who wrote "GOD BLESS STEVE KING!!!" on his own Twitter account.

But King's remark also prompted criticism, including some from his GOP colleagues. Rep. Carlos Curbelo (R-Fla.), the child of Cuban immigrants to the U.S., addressed King directly on Twitter, asking him, "What exactly do you mean? Do I qualify as 'somebody else's baby?' #concernedGOPcolleague."

On CNN, King insisted that his concern was not about race but about culture. He said enclaves of immigrants exist in the U.S. who are in their second and third generations yet have refused to assimilate to American culture. Similar problems, he said, are "far worse in Europe." He called himself "a champion for Western civilization," which he said "is a superior civilization and we want to share it with everybody." 

Protecting and building American culture, King said, is what he meant with his "somebody else's babies" remark on Twitter.

"We're a country here, that if you take a picture of what America looks like, you can do it in a football stadium or a basketball court and you see all kinds of different Americans there. We're pretty proud of that, the different-looking Americans that are still Americans," he said. "And there's an American culture, an American civilization. It's raised within these children in these American homes. And that's one of the reasons why we require that the president of the United States be raised with an American experience."

King told CNN that "there's been far too much focus on race, especially in the last eight years." He accused liberals of "looking for hatred" and being uninterested in unifying the nation's racial divides.

"Actually, if you go down the road a few generations or maybe centuries with the intermarriage, I'd like to see an America that's just so homogenous that we look a lot the same, from that perspective," King said.

[garbon]

Very strange given that what, America has been pretty good at integrating immigrants? Also, I wonder if his 'we look a lot the same' in that last line is that we'd all look white.

[Eddie Teach]

I was talking about Steve King the author. 

I know of a Stephen King who is an author, never read Steve King.

You probably wouldn't appreciate asking Trump henchman Stephen Miller to explain what "pompatus" was either.

[CountDeMoney]

You probably wouldn't appreciate asking Trump henchman Stephen Miller to explain what "pompatus" was either.

You fucked up and won't admit it.  So Trumpian.

[Eddie Teach]

IT'S THE SAME NAME

[CountDeMoney]

Yes, I'm sure Mr. King's agent, publishers, estate and legal representation feel the same way, too.

[viper37]

Very strange given that what, America has been pretty good at integrating immigrants? Also, I wonder if his 'we look a lot the same' in that last line is that we'd all look white.

aren't there people still speaking Dutch or German in Pennsylvania?  Filthy 'migrants refusing to assimilate
I'm sure that's what he had in mind.