7 GOP politicians who spoke out against swearing, and are silent on white supremacy
UPDATE (1/10, 8PM): Several hours after the publication of this article, Steve Scalise and Kevin McCarthy issued statements condemning King’s remarks.
Congressman Steve King (R-IA), who has a long history of racism, dropped all pretense and openly embraced white supremacy. King told the New York Times, in an article published Thursday, that he didn’t understand why people think the concept of “white supremacy” is offensive.
At the same time, he said, he supports immigrants who enter the country legally and fully assimilate because what matters more than race is “the culture of America” based on values brought to the United States by whites from Europe.
“White nationalist, white supremacist, Western civilization — how did that language become offensive?” Mr. King said. “Why did I sit in classes teaching me about the merits of our history and our civilization?”
Several prominent Republican elected officials blasted Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib for using the word “motherfucker” to described Donald Trump. “[W]e're going to impeach the motherf****r ,” Tlaib told a group of activists on January 3.
These same Republicans, thus far, have offered no comment on Steve King’s remarks.
House Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA)
McCarthy addressed Tlaib’s comments on January 4:
You know what happened in the last Congress, when Republicans were in the majority? You know what our freshman class did? They put a resolution together to actually work with one another, to not use foul language. And they got almost every single freshmen to sign on to it. This is the difference with this Congress, and it’s wrong.
President Donald Trump
Trump addressed Tlaib’s comments during a press conference on January 4:
"I thought her comments were disgraceful," Trump said during a White House news conference about the ongoing government shutdown. "This is a person that I don't know, I assume she's new. I think she dishonored herself and I think she dishonored her family. Using language like that in front of her son and whoever else was there, I thought that was a great dishonor to her and to her family."
Senator Mitt Romney (R-UT)
Congressman Bradley Byrne (R-AL)
Congressman Steve Scalise (R-LA)
Scalise addressed Tlaib’s remarks in an interview with ABC News:
When we disagreed with Barack Obama, it was on the policies. We didn’t get into that kind of name calling and when people said things that were inappropriate, we called them out. Pelosi’s got her first test and it happened on Day 1: How is she going to stand up to the most radical left elements of her party when they become unhinged?
Congressman Jim Jordan (R-OH)
Congressman Lee Zeldin (R-NY)
Congresswoman Liz Cheney (R-WY) criticized Tlaib and King.
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