Iowa U.S. Rep. Steve King endorses white nationalist Canadian politician

William Petroski | The Des Moines Register

Show Caption Hide Caption Steve King's history of winning elections Despite a history of controversial rhetoric, U.S. Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, has easily won re-election to Congress.

U.S. Rep. Steve King, an Iowa Republican who has a history of controversial remarks, is praising a Canadian political candidate who is far right and a white nationalist.

King tweeted Tuesday night in support of Faith Goldy, a candidate for Toronto mayor, describing her as an excellent candidate who is "pro Rule of Law, pro Make Canada Safe Again, pro balanced budget, &...BEST of all, Pro Western Civilization and a fighter for our values. @FaithGoldy will not be silenced."

King, a Kiron resident who is seeking re-election in Iowa's 4th Congressional District, got a blizzard of responses on Twitter. King's tweet about Goldy had nearly 3,000 likes and nearly 1,000 comments by Wednesday morning.

Kedron Bardwell, who chairs the political science department at Simpson College in Indianola, said Goldy has claimed "Canada is undergoing a 'white genocide.'"

Goldy also "appeared on the Neo-Nazi/white supremacist web site 'Daily Stormer,' and was fired by a Canadian right wing/anti-Muslim site for being too extreme," Bardwell said.

Bardwell also tweeted that Goldy "explicitly recited white supremacist slogan The 14 Words ("We must secure the existence of our people and a future for WHITE children") on a 2017 radio show, and she also said she “salutes” white supremacists who showed up in Charlottesville, Virginia, “in hordes.”

Goldy has worked as a reporter and commentator for a number of media organizations and she stirred controversy last year when she appeared in a video from Bethlehem, discussing the Islamic call to prayer and claiming that "Bethlehem's Christian population has been ethnically cleansed."

In her campaign for Toronto mayor, Goldy describes herself as tough on crime and easy on taxpayers. She has called for evacuating "all illegal migrants from Toronto’s shelter system by bus to the Prime Minister’s official residence, or the nearest jurisdiction that will take them." She also pledges to establish a "special research desk" on Islamic extremism to monitor finances in and out of Toronto's Islamic centers.

Faith Goldy, an excellent candidate for Toronto mayor, pro Rule of Law, pro Make Canada Safe Again, pro balanced budget, &...BEST of all, Pro Western Civilization and a fighter for our values. @FaithGoldy will not be silenced. https://t.co/uqkeaUjm7i — Steve King (@SteveKingIA) October 17, 2018

Social media reaction condemns King

Michael McCubbin, a lawyer in British Columbia, tweeted: "Up here, she’s considered a fringe candidate with largely maniacal views who doesn’t get invited to debates. We’re doing (and will do) just fine without her. You might want to follow our example."

Nancy Crouse, a Canadian who identified herself as a retired teacher, tweeted: "Please worry about your own race at the moment. You know nothing about the candidates running for mayor or any other seat in Toronto. You sound very racist with "Pro Western Civilization and a fighter for our values." Don't spread that BS make Canada great again. We're great now."

J.D. Scholten of Sioux City, a Democrat who is opposing King's bid for a ninth-term in Congress, tweeted: "Who wants to tell @SteveKingIA that Toronto isn't in the U.S.? Once again, Steve King spends more time supporting far-right leaders in other countries than he does focusing on the needs of the people of our district."

King isn't the only person in American politics who has generated controversy by an association with Goldy. Former New York Mayor Rudy Guiliani, who is currently an attorney for President Donald Trump, posed for pictures in September with Goldy that she posted on social media.

This also isn't King's first brush with controversy involving right-wing foreign politicians. King was criticized last year after he tweeted a suggestion that Muslim children are preventing “our civilization” from being restored. The tweet was intended as a gesture of support to Geert Wilders, a far-right Dutch politician and leader of the Party for Freedom. King's comments were condemned by top Iowa Republican leaders.

Jesse Dougherty, an aide to Jeff Kaufmann, chairman of the Republican Party of Iowa, said Wednesday in response to King's latest tweet that Kaufmann's point of view hasn't changed since March 2017. That's when the Kaufmann issued a statement disagreeing with King's tweet regarding Muslim children.

King is co-chair for Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds' campaign for election, and aides to Reynolds did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday regarding the congressman's praise of Goldy.

More: Despite national critiques, Steve King wins again and again and again. Will a former baseball player change that winning streak?

King told the Des Moines Register in recent interview that things he says that seem to be controversial are often caused by people misquoting him or taking his remarks out of context.

"So they should be astute enough by now with all this social media out here not to take the first bait that has been run in front of them," King said. "If people know me, if they go back to the original quote, read it in context, and then we will find out that it is not only based upon good, solid, fundamental, constitutional Christian philosophy, but it is also there with a good heart."

King attended a Trump rally last week attended by about 10,000 people in Council Bluffs, where he was lauded by the president. Speaking about King, Trump quipped, "I wish you could get a little more conservative. ... He may be the world's most conservative human being."