The rhetoric of the US lawmaker Steve King under the magnifying glass after the shooting in Pittsburgh

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King, along with other GOP lawmakers and President Donald Trump, is now at the center of a national debate about whether and to what extent political rhetoric has contributed to recent attacks, as a result from the deadly shootings at the Pittsburgh synagogue of explosive devices sent to Trump's critics in recent days.

The White House has refuted the idea that the president's political rhetoric bears the slightest responsibility and that the president blamed the media for what he described as "a great anger in our country", while King has been defended as a result of the Pittsburgh attack, claiming that he "s not angry at our country", while King "s been defended as a result of the Pittsburgh attack, claiming that he" s no – nonsense. was not anti-Semitic.

But King in particular faces sharp criticism for his comments criticizing diversity in the United States and immigration as well as George Soros, a Jewish billionaire and Democratic donor. Soros, with prominent Democrats such as former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and former President Barack Obama, were among the victims of explosive devices.

King has also been closely scrutinized for his recent appointment of Faith Goldy as mayor of Toronto. Goldy is a controversial figure in Canadian politics that was asked if Canada was facing "white genocide".

King's office did not immediately return CNN's request for comment. But he defended himself in a recent interview with the Washington Post after the shooting in Pittsburgh, saying he was not anti-Semitic. "What do you call Steve King as anti-Semite?" he said and would also have stated that there is "a special place in hell" for people who commit religious or race-based violence.
In an interview with a local television channel in Iowa, King defended his support for Goldy, stating, "This police action is ongoing." Once someone has been labeled by the left we are all supposed to get away from them and avoid them whatever they may have said. "

When the interviewer asked Goldy if "Goldy is a supremacist," the congressman replied, "I do not know, I have not seen evidence of that. he said. "

King then defends himself against accusations of white nationalism by stating, "No one who knows me says that and many people know me … those who know me do not say that." He added, "I am effective and they are attacking people who are effective, they are trying to marginalize the effective people and are doing it by intimidation, it is cyber-bullying."

Members of Congress are under increased scrutiny following last week's events, but he has long been a polarizing character on cultural issues.

In an interview conducted in August that has drawn renewed attention in recent days, King has questioned the value of diversity, reiterating his belief that it is "not a force" and asking, "What is it? does it bring us that we do not have it worth the price? "
The interview was published in Unzensuriert, which, according to The Post, is "a publication associated with the Austrian Freedom Party, founded by a former Nazi SS officer and now led by Heinz-Christian Strache, active in neo-German circles. Nazis, a young man. " The Post noted that "the party had distanced itself from these relations" but "recently adopted a fierce anti-immigration stance while seeking links with other far-right parties and leaders. abroad ".

In the same interview, King suggested that Soros had supported various liberal causes and speculated that he could have funded the Women's March.

"His money floats in such a way that you can not see the flow, but if you find him, you can connect him to his foundation," he said. Soros is a major liberal donor, but the fact-finder, PolitiFact, concluded last year that claiming Soros' money had been paid directly to protesters during the Women's March was false.
King also suggested in a tweet earlier this month, Soros planned to bring immigrants to the United States.

Heidi Beirich, an expert at the Southern Poverty Law Center who follows hate groups and extremists, said in an interview that "King was engaged in anti-Soros conspiracy theories by suggesting that Soros was a kind of puppeteer behind the evils of globalism.He can say that this is not anti-Semitic, but that's exactly what it is.For years, people have accused Jews of being behind a plot to defeat white corporations and that's the same thing that Steve King is currently using. "

During the same interview in August, King said that a growing number of people are worried that "western civilization is in decline," which has been blamed on King. Last year, King tweeted "We can not restore our civilization with babies."

In the August interview, King went on to say, "I've already said that diversity is not a strength." The left repeats it over and over again, but she is stupid.What does this diversity bring that we have not already? Mexican food, Chinese food, these things, well, that's fine, but what about Does it make it worth not being worth the price? We already have a lot of diversity in the United States. "

Beirich said that King's comments criticizing diversity align with the ideology of white nationalism.

"At the bottom of white nationalism, there is the idea that America should be a white place, it should be dominated by Whites, led by whites and, in its most extreme forms, the The idea is that non-whites should be eliminated by society, and Steve King said that non-whites should not be imported into our society.One of the basic principles of white nationalism is that the United States must be a white ethno-state and that people of color destroy it and that Steve King seems to buy it, this notion, "she said.

In 2016, Soros was committed to spending billions of dollars to fight hate crimes. The SPLC did not comment on whether Soros or the organization it had founded, the Open Society Foundations, was a funder.

Patrick Gaspard, president of the Open Society Foundations, said in a statement reacting to the Pittsburgh attack that the attacks on Soros were continuing "even in the aftermath of the shooting", adding that Soros, "did the subject of countless anti-Semitic insults from bigots in the United States and around the world "and saying," this must stop. "

King is not the only Republican lawmaker to have been closely scrutinized by his comments regarding Soros.

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy recently removed a tweet in which he said: "We can not allow Soros, Steyer and Bloomberg to buy this election," referring to the liberal billionaire and mega-donor Democrat Tom Steyer and former mayor of New York City, Democratic donor Michael Bloomberg.

Steyer, criticizing Trump's voice who called for his dismissal, has recently been the target of a suspicious package.

"The Trump administration has definitely bogged down, we've seen more extreme comments coming from the GOP figures, it's not just Steve King," said Beirich, referring to the fact that the president had systematically makes anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant comments. and warning that political rhetoric going in this direction may contribute to the type of attacks perpetrated in Pittsburgh.

"Hate speech leads to hate violence," she said. "When you engage in hate speech and demonize a population, you make them suspicious and we know that hate crimes are linked to hate speech."

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