Racist congressman Steve King says he is persecuted just like Jesus

Rep. Steve King (R-IA) thinks that having his colleagues rebuke him for his racism is akin to the persecution suffered by Jesus Christ.

King mused about his similarity to Jesus during a town hall meeting in Iowa on Tuesday night. After receiving a question from an audience member who worried that “Christianity is really being persecuted” in the United States, King used that comment to pivot to discussing his own persecution.

“And, when I have to step down to the floor of the House of Representatives, and look up at those 400-and-some accusers, you know we just passed through Easter and Christ’s passion, and I have better insight into what He went through for us partly because of that experience,” he said.

King’s “400-and-some accusers” are his House colleagues. The “experience” King is referring to here — an experience he compares to Christ on the cross — is that he received some mild pushback from his House colleagues.

Back in January 2019, the House GOP caucus, which looked the other way for years when it came to King’s naked racism, finally took the meager step of stripping him of his House committee assignments. They did so only after King spoke approvingly of white nationalism and white supremacy to the New York Times, asking, “How did that language become offensive?”

The full House also voted 421-1 to rebuke King for those remarks.

King hasn’t taken that rebuke very well. During another town hall earlier this year, he asked the crowd to pray for House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy to restore his committee assignments. He also continues to insist that the New York Times misquoted him.

King has such a persecution complex that this isn’t even the first time he’s compared himself to Jesus. Several years ago, he made an incredibly racist remark about undocumented young people, saying they were drug mules with “calves the size of cantaloupes.” When he — rightly — came under fire for doing so, he got on the House floor and explained that Jesus had the right to face his accusers and not be subject to “allegations behind his back.”

King probably would not face so many accusers or accusations if he weren’t openly and unapologetically racist on a routine basis. Since his rebuke in January of this year, he’s gone on to fantasize about killing liberals in a new civil war and attack black hurricane victims.

King isn’t being persecuted for being a Christian. He’s not even being all that persecuted for being a white supremacist. He’s still a member of Congress making $174,000 per year, even while saying wildly racist things. For the first time in his political career, he’s faced the most minor of consequences, and he just can’t take it.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.