Iowa Republican Rep. Steve King, who has a history of controversial statements on immigration and race, is drawing condemnation for a Sunday tweet in support of a right-wing Dutch politician, in which King wrote, "We can't restore our civilization with somebody else's babies."
King's tweet came in support of Geert Wilders, a Dutch parliamentarian who hopes to lead that country's government in Wednesday's elections. Wilders has called for banning the Quran in the Netherlands and shutting down mosques.
That has led to a series of statements and tweets slamming King. Iowa GOP Chairman Jeff Kaufmann said, "I do not agree with Congressman King's statement. We are a nation of immigrants, and diversity is the strength of any nation and any community."
Conservative commentator Bill Kristol tweeted: "Is it worth making the obvious point that what American history has been about is 'restoring' ourselves with 'somebody else's babies?' "
NBC News special correspondent Tom Brokaw, author of The Greatest Generation, sounded a similar note:
But King also has his supporters, including former KKK grand wizard David Duke, who tweeted "GOD BLESS STEVE KING!!! #TruthRISING." Duke also suggested "sanity reigns supreme" in King's congressional district.
Duke's support seemed to spur the response from Kaufmann, the Iowa GOP chairman, which came under the heading: "David Duke isn't welcome in Iowa."
And King himself refused to back away from the tweet. On CNN Monday morning, King said, "I meant exactly what I said," and that he'd "like to see an America that's just so homogeneous that we look a lot the same, from that perspective."
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