The Slatest

GOP Congressman’s White Supremacist Tweet: “We Can’t Restore Our Civilization With Somebody Else’s Babies”

Republican Rep. Steve King of Iowa at the U.S Capitol on Dec. 11, 2014.

Win McNamee/Getty Images

Republican Congressman Steve King, who has a history of tip-toeing around white-nationalist rhetoric, fired off a tweet Sunday afternoon that reeked of white-supremacist ideology. The tweet referenced “culture and demographics” being fundamental to European and American “destiny” before closing with: “We can’t restore our civilization with somebody else’s babies.” It is hard to read that any other way than it was written. It is an apparent, explicit call to protect white “culture and demographics” from immigrants. It’s the type of rhetoric that you might find at a Klan rally. Steve King is a congressman from Iowa.

The tweet was in support of far-right Dutch politician Geert Wilders, who has risen in the polls on the back of similarly virulent anti-Islam and anti-immigrant rhetoric to the point where Wilders’ Dutch Freedom Party could come out on top in parliamentary elections in the Netherlands on Wednesday. Trump supporters and far-right politicians across Europe have found common cause in their shared belief in a brand of ethnic or racial nationalism. UKIP’s Nigel Farage kicked off the recent political resurgence of the extreme right with the Brexit vote in June 2016, which was followed by Trump’s victory in November. Elections in the Netherlands next week, France in months’ time, and Germany in the fall have the potential to remake the political landscape of Europe and potentially unwind the ties forged by the European Union.