Steve King eliminates the New York Times at the town hall: he was "half ready"

In recent weeks, Iowa's representative, Steve King, defended white supremacy, was reprimanded by his party's leaders and was removed from office on the congressional committee, but in his mind, he did nothing wrong – except agreeing. to an interview with The New York Times.

While opening his first town hall since the publication of his racist remarks – when he recounted the journey of Times Gabriel, "white nationalist, white supremacist, Western civilization – how this language become shocking? "- King said Saturday that his main regret was to be on the phone while it was" only half-ready. "

" It's amazing and amazing to me that Four words of a quote from New York Times may exceed the 20+ years of public service, "he told a crowd of about 70 people having attended the event in Primghar, Iowa. He remains adamant: "I am not racist."

"I made more than one mistake, we all did it.I should never have done an interview with New York Times, ," he added.

King's admission earlier this month sparked widespread condemnation.In response, congressional leaders forced the nine-seat Republican to sit on his committee, leaving him little

But given his reputation for making outrageous comments and his history of blatant racist invocations, King's comments are hardly surprising – in fact, his past comments have been so bizarre and controversial that it was hard to believe that he had never been formally punished until now by the leaders of his party, on the contrary, he was praised for his tenacity by right-wing defenders, whose President Donald Trump, Jane Coaston, of Vox, summarizes the remarks that made King's career such as this one: "he directly compared the existence of the black caucus of Congress to an abortion".

Or when he had approved a white nationalist in the election of the mayor of Toronto. Or when he made trips abroad to meet extreme right-wing groups founded by Nazis. Or when he married his belief that "white nationalist" was not a "pejorative term" just a few years ago. Or many examples so widespread and so well known that even the conservative media that condemned King for his remarks in the New York Times also cited these examples.

And yet, in 2015, even after King's comments on DREAMer's immigrant children having "the size of cantaloupes" and his decision to bring to the Capitol a far-right Dutch politician who believes that the Qur'an is "worse than Mein Kampf", conservatives do not feel the need to distance themselves.

On Saturday again, King went further, even suggesting that he had been treated worse than Judge Brett Kavanaugh, recently struck by the Supreme Court, had been subjected to an extremely controversial selection procedure after several women had accused him of sexual misconduct.

"I think even of Brett Kavanaugh, he went through this inquisition, he has at least had accusers, I do not even have accusers," he continued. "No soul has risen to say that Steve King acted racially."

King's surprise is understandable – it took years for Republicans to begin to get him out

For years, King has slipped unchallenged, facing little blame. or negative reaction from his constituents or a member of his own party, even though his political views were in line with white nationalism. Too often, his comments have been written as mere "controversial" or marginal opinions. And as Coaston writes, our society speaks very little about racism for fear of getting involved or problematic ideas around which we grew up.

There is a bigger problem, much bigger than King, or conservatism. The way we talk about race and racism in the United States is wrong. In short, we view the word "racist" as an insult rather than an adjective. And we've narrowed the concept of racism to an almost ridiculous extent, in fact often excuses true racism – such as the one adopted by people like King – and its impact on non-white Americans, because it does not literally carry a hood or a cross.

Only recently have King's views come back to haunt him – he was barely re-elected last November, and already three Republican challengers are about to claim his seat in 2020.

Event at King City Hall, Saturday was also a reminder of its enduring popularity in an almost white congressional district. King's voters know his opinion is in favor of white nationalism – many are not interested in it. At one point, a speaker stood up at City Hall to defend King, thanking him for all his work serving the "white European man".