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Noted white supremacist Steve King lies about calling immigrants ‘dirt,’ but it was recorded

The Iowa Republican dared the Weekly Standard to release the audio of his racist remarks. They did and King clearly lied.

Frank Dale Twitter
Steve King at a Tea Party rally in Washington, D.C. on March 31, 2011. (Bill Clark/Roll Call)
Steve King at a Tea Party rally in Washington, D.C. on March 31, 2011. (Bill Clark/Roll Call)

Rep. Steve King (R-IA), a white supremacist who also happens to be a member of Congress, survived the toughest re-election challenge of his 15-year career in Tuesday’s midterm elections.

You may have missed it while voting, but the Iowa Republican recently referred to immigrants as “dirt” during a campaign event.

The Weekly Standard reported on Tuesday that King, while talking to a dozen supporters about a recent pheasant hunt, veered into racist innuendo Monday regarding “dirt from Mexico.”

King: “I made a big ol’ batch of my patented pheasant noodle soup for everybody. It took us two days to eat it all, but everybody loved it. When I get it all put together then I put about a half a dozen jalapeno peppers, just whole, drop them floating around in there. It scares off some of the people so there’s a little more for the rest of us to eat. I raised a bunch this year, and they don’t have enough bite. I guess I’m going to have to go and get some dirt from Mexico to grow the next batch.”

[Laughs]

Audience member: “Trust me, it’s already on its way.”

King: “Well, yeah, there’s plenty of dirt, it’s coming from the West Coast, too. And a lot of other places, besides. This is the most dirt we’ve ever seen.”

Adam Rubenstein noted that “Iowa does have a topsoil depletion problem, but it’s hard to imagine that the audience and King were discussing the shipment of soil from out of country or from California.”

The infamous Iowa Republican has an extremely long history of extremely racist behavior.

However, King’s staff insisted that their white supremacist boss was not being racist this time.

Jeff King, King’s campaign manager who also happens to be the congressman’s son, alleged “If you spent anytime with Congressman King throughout the district over this past week you would know that he has been referencing all the ‘dirt’ the dishonest, leftist media have been using to attack him.”

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This attempted explanation made no sense in the context of King’s latest racist remarks, but the Iowa congressman — undaunted and emboldened by his re-election and the apparent unwillingness of Republican leadership to do anything about having a white supremacist in its caucus — accused the Weekly Standard of lying, and dared the conservative outlet to release the audio of his remarks.

Well, the Weekly Standard called King’s bluff on Saturday evening and posted the audio. In it, the Iowa congressman can be heard comparing immigrants to “dirt,” as previously reported.

The criticism of King by the right-wing Weekly Standard, which complained about ThinkProgress in its “official” role as a Facebook fact-checker after failing to understand the definition of the word “said” in September, is another sign that the white supremacist’s longtime conservative support could be eroding.

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Sens. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA) defended King in recent weeks after the Iowa Republican faced renewed scrutiny for promoting conspiracy theories similar to the ones that reportedly inspired Cesar Sayoc, who allegedly sent explosive devices to around a dozen prominent Democrats and frequent targets of Trump’s incendiary rhetoric, and Robert Bowers, who murdered 11 people in a Pittsburgh synagogue last month.

However, there has been increasing displeasure in the GOP about having a white supremacist in its House caucus. National Republican Congressional Committee chairman Rep. Steve Stivers (R-OH) denounced King and said “We must stand up against white supremacy” last month.

With Democrats taking back control of the House in Tuesday’s midterms, there is a push to expel King from Congress, which would require support from two-thirds of the House, or 290 representatives. The Democratic majority, which will be seated on January 3, is projected to number around 240 seats.

King had not responded to being called out on his lies by the Weekly Standard at the time this was published, but the Iowa Republican’s busy Saturday on Twitter also included defending his ridiculous assertion that pregnancy from incest or statutory rape is an example of “Leftists lies.”

King also made time to fear-monger about an undocumented immigrant.