U.S. Rep. Steve King: If not for rape and incest, 'would there be any population left?'
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U.S. Rep. Steve King: If not for rape and incest, 'would there be any population left?'
Robin Opsahl, USA TODAY 45 minutes ago
Rep. Steve King told an Iowa crowd Wednesday that humanity might not exist if not for rape and incest throughout human history.
"What if we went back through all the family trees and just pulled out anyone who was a product of rape or incest? Would there be any population of the world left if we did that?" he said at the Westside Conservative Club in Urbandale, Iowa. "Considering all the wars and all the rapes and pillages that happened throughout all these different nations, I know that I can't say that I was not a part of a product of that."
The Republican was discussing his defense of not allowing exceptions for rape and incest in the anti-abortion legislation he tried to pass in Congress. Republican leadership had prevented bills he sponsored on banning abortions from advancing through the House, despite GOP support for the measures, King said.
Just because a conception happened in bad circumstances doesn't mean the result isn't a person, King, who is Catholic, argued.
"It's not the baby's fault for the sin of the father, or of the mother," he said.
King went over his positions on abortion and a variety of other issues including immigration and guns. He also discussed the criticism he faced over a story in The New York Times in which he asked “white nationalist, white supremacist, Western civilization — how did that language become offensive?”
King said he was told by political insiders that there was a plot to take him out of power.
"People think it was an organic media feeding frenzy, but no, it was orchestrated from the beginning," he said. "They had told me, heads up before Christmas, they're going to try to drive you out of office and get you to resign. Within 24 hours, you had people saying 'resign, resign, resign.' Why? Because the New York Times misquoted me?"
King said there was a plan for President Donald Trump to criticize him as well, but he met with Trump and said there's "no signal from Donald Trump that he's anything other than supportive of me."
That didn't stop other members of his party from coming after him, he said. Multiple high-level Republicans decried King's comments in January and others publicly supported Feenstra in the primary.
King was also removed from his House committee assignments by U.S. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy. Later in January, the House passed a condemnation of white supremacy and white nationalism.
While he does not support the "odious ideology" of white nationalism, King said he supports his defense of the West, calling the United States "the flagship for Western civilization."
Some Westside Conservative Club members, like Rick Herron, a 72-year-old Clive resident, said they liked what King had to say. Herron said he has been a supporter of King's policies in the past, but was glad to get the chance to hear the "white nationalism" controversy story from his perspective.
"I did get a little better understanding of what he went through, in terms of the 'Never Trumpers' attack on him and setting him up for condemnation," Herron said. "You expect the Democrats to attack him, but not the Never Trumpers, members of his own party."
Robin Opsahl covers political trends for the Register. Reach them at ropsahl@registermedia.com or 515-284-8051.
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This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Steve King defends not allowing abortion exceptions for rape, incest
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I think he has just said too much about his family tree than I would care to hear.
Steve King really does define the modern day Republican. They keep voting for him, so I have to assume they see a kindred spirit.
Trump's inbred base does also.
He is factually accurate if you use the entire history of humanity. If you remove anyone born in the past from rape or incest you remove all of their descendants as well. Humanity might still exist; just not the way we know it.
The part I put in bold is where he is bat shit crazy. Just because humanity had rape and incest in the past as a way to advance the specie, doesn't mean we need to condone it now. No woman should be forced to carry a pregnancy resulting from rape or incest to term, period.
King is bat shit crazy all of the time.
I do a lot of reading and have never seen anyone even suggest that rape or incest was a way to advance the specie.
There we agree unequivocally.
Steve King is a pimple on the forehead of humanity.
And the reigning racist supreme is a boil on the ass of humanity.
Well, that's better than being a wart on the cock of American politics, like our POTUS is.
This 'president' is more like an anal wart.
Not that I've ever seen one or had that problem.
OMG Tessy....what a visual I now have in my head.
LOL!
At first I was like, yea, there is some truth to that, Adam and Eve and their children were all about incest to build the population, and then the bible tells a number of different people to rape the women of the villages they conquer...Oh and that who daughters of Lot thing. Back in the beginning pretty much everyone was related and the populations did increase exponentially from the raping and incest.
Then i read the article and decided this guy is a fucking idiot.
C'mon man, let's leave Mississippi out of this.
Nothin' but net!
That would only be true if there was an actual Adam and Eve. Thankfully, we know there was no actual first two humans and in fact our DNA only bottlenecks a few times with the fewest population down in the several thousand so incest was still unlikely on any large scale. Our species has been evolving for millennia and our ancestors even cross bred with other species like Neanderthals, and I'm sure there were isolated accounts of tribes being wiped out but for a few members that must have used incest to survive, but I think it unlikely that was ever necessary for the survival of the species as a whole.
King could be the exception.
Sorry i did not clarify that the truth i spoke of is not my truth but that of Mr.King, so i was just relating with him.
Oh hell to the big fat no!
Does Mr King have something he wants to share with the class?
He is a fruit loop dingus...typical republican bullshit.
He's cuckoo for cocoa puffs.
Compared with dumbass Steve King Louie Gohmert is practically a Rhodes Scholar...
Rapists are losers in the reproductive lottery. Our government should not be forcing women to reproduce with anyone, but especially with men who use force to achieve breeding status.
Isn't it time for men to think, to live and to legislate beyond animalistic impulses?