Why is he still allowed to serve in this nation's House of Representatives? Isn't it time for the House to act, and expel this vicious racist? He obviously does not believe in (or support) the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which makes it clear that all citizens are to receive equal rights (and no race or ethnicity is superior to any other).
A couple of months ago (Nov. 14th) Frank Dale of Think Progress called for King's expulsion from the House of Representatives. King's recent remarks defending white supremacy just add more fuel to the fire. He needs to be expelled on grounds of decency and morality. Here is just part of what Mr. Dale wrote. You can go to the Think Progress website to read it all (including a long list of King's transgressions):
Rep. Steve King (R-IA) should be expelled from Congress.
The noted white supremacist, who also happens to be a Republican congressman, makes no effort to hide his racism.
In addition to his very long history of offensive conduct, King follows Twitter accounts “belonging to unabashed white supremacists, including Blair Cottrell, a violent Australian activist who’s called for hanging a picture of Adolf Hitler in every classroom; Stefan Molyneux, a Canadian alt-right vlogger who thinks whites are more intelligent than blacks; and an anonymous Twitter user (with only 334 followers) using the handle @DiezNewAge, who regularly tweets out anti-Semitic and anti-black messages,” according to HuffPost.
With President Donald Trump sitting in the White House, King’s re-election to a ninth term in Congress last week was further proof that most Republicans don’t draw the line at racism, which has become a feature of the party rather than a bug.
Democrats, with their new House majority, could remove arguably the most vile American politician while giving the GOP an opportunity to save some dignity by starting proceedings to expel King from Congress.
Will last week’s “pure repudiation” of Trump and Republicans at the polls finally force conservatives to face the ugly reality within their party?
Kicking King out of Congress would be a small, but meaningful, step.
Throughout U.S. history, 20 members of Congress have been ousted from their positions. Expulsion from the Senate has historically been more common, as only five of the 20 were booted from the House.
The overwhelming majority of expulsions were of treasonous lawmakers who supported the Confederacy at the outbreak of the Civil War in the 1860s — but there is also some more recent precedent.
Rep. Michael Myers (D-PA) was kicked out of Congress in 1980 after being convicted of taking bribes as part of the Abscam scandal.
Rep. Jim Traficant (D-OH) was removed from the House in 2002 following his conviction on charges of bribery and racketeering.
Expulsion from the House necessitates the support of two-thirds of representatives. Though ballots are still being counted in around 10 races from last week’s midterm elections, the new Democratic House majority is expected to number around 240. Reaching the 290 votes for King’s dismissal would require roughly a quarter of King’s Republican colleagues to back his ouster.
That might seem unlikely since the white supremacist still enjoys the support of Sens. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA) — but there are signs that tolerance for King is waning in some sectors of the party. National Republican Congressional Committee chairman Rep. Steve Stivers (R-OH) recently denounced King, saying, “We must stand up against white supremacy.”
Congress’ code of official conduct states that “A Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner, officer, or employee of the House shall behave at all times in a manner that shall reflect creditably on the House.” There’s a compelling argument to be made that King’s blatant white supremacy does not “reflect creditably on the House.”
Of course, King hasn’t been charged with a crime, which conservatives will undoubtedly point out if any move is made to boot the Iowa congressman. But if there is an honest desire to tone down political rhetoric, serious discipline of King would send a clear message that white supremacists won’t be accepted in Congress.
Whether the required two-thirds of the House of Representatives has the political will to kick their racist colleague out of Washington, D.C. remains to be seen. . . .
There is nothing to lose by expelling King from Congress. Just the support of his fellow white supremacists.
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