Steve King Campaigns with Vivek Ramaswamy
Des Moines, Iowa — Steve King, the former Republican Iowa congressman with a history of racist and controversial statements, reemerged on the political scene this week, campaigning with Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy Wednesday.
Although King has not endorsed Ramaswamy officially, he did express his intention to caucus for the Ohio businessman — and the support has been welcomed by Ramaswamy with open arms, with King riding on Ramaswamy's campaign bus.
King, who served in Congress for 18 years, lost the GOP primary for his district in 2020 after defending the terms "white nationalism" and "white supremacy" in a 2019 interview with the New York Times which drew widespread bipartisan condemnation.
"White nationalist, white supremacist, Western civilization — how did that language become offensive?" King told the Times in the interview.
In the past, he has also used derogatory language about Mexican immigrants and supported far-right politicians in Europe. In a 2017 interview with CNN, he spoke openly about his desire for an America that is "just so homogenous that we look a lot the same," earning him praise from KKK leaders and neo-Nazi groups.
The partnership against eminent domain in Iowa
Two individuals, whose names are undisclosed, have frequently campaigned together in opposition to the use of eminent domain for constructing carbon capture pipelines in Iowa. This issue has become a key point for Ramaswamy as he continues his tour across the state. Ramaswamy expressed that the media has misunderstood and misrepresented King's comments.
During a recent encounter with an Iowa voter, King was labeled a white supremacist. In response, Ramaswamy stated that he does not believe King is a white supremacist and that he has only recently gotten to know him in the past few weeks.
The importance of shared values
Ramaswamy emphasized that even if he disagrees with King on other topics, he stands with him on the issue of not using eminent domain to seize land from farmers who oppose carbon dioxide capture pipelines. Ramaswamy stated that he will always support someone who speaks up for what is right, regardless of party affiliation.
Ramaswamy's alignment with King highlights his tendency to embrace conspiracy theories and extreme views during his campaign, often echoing sentiments from the far-right wing of the Republican Party.
During the recent GOP primary debate, held in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, Ramaswamy made several baseless and false claims on a national platform. He asserted that the Jan. 6 Capitol attack was "an inside job," despite the House select committee investigation and numerous prosecutions of Jan. 6 defendants refuting this allegation.
Ramaswamy also repeated his unfounded claim that the 2020 election was "stolen by big tech," despite a lack of evidence to support this accusation.
In addition, the Ohio Republican falsely accused the Democratic Party of aligning with the racist conspiracy theory known as the "great replacement theory." This theory suggests that White people in the U.S. are intentionally being replaced by nonwhite individuals. However, there is no evidence to suggest that the "great replacement theory" has ever been part of the Democratic Party's platform.
During a CNN town hall, Ramaswamy reaffirmed his rhetoric about the Jan. 6 attack, evading fact-checks from the moderator. He also propagated a conspiracy theory involving Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, who was the target of a 2020 kidnapping plot by a far-right paramilitary group. Ramaswamy claimed, without evidence, that government agents had encouraged the defendants to engage in illegal activities.
