Two months after he was stripped of his committee roles for espousing pro-white supremacist comments, controversial Congressman Steve King shared a Civil War meme on Facebook pitting Republicans against Democrats. The post, which was deleted sometime Monday afternoon, shows two figures composed of commonly “blue” and “red” states, accompanied by this text: “Folks keep talking about another Civil War. One side has about 8 trillion bullets, while the other side doesn’t know which bathroom to use.”
The meme alludes to the GOP’s pro-gun rights stance and Democrats’ support for allowing gender-neutral bathroom access. King shared the post with the comment, “Wonder who would win…” with a smirking emoji. King’s apparent endorsement of the post raised eyebrows, particularly so recently after the tragic mass shooting in New Zealand that left 50 dead.
Some on social media observed that King’s home state of Iowa is not on the GOP side.
The graphic appears to have been taken from Yarken Waszul’s illustration for Michael Kinsley’s 2013 New York Times review of Mark Halperin’s and John Heilemann’s book on the 2012 presidential race, “Double Down.”
Calls placed to all of King’s Iowa and Washington offices for comment immediately went to voicemail. Congress is on recess this week.
The Iowa Republican faced widespread criticism in January, after he defended white nationalism and white supremacy in an interview with the New York Times. “White nationalist, white supremacist, Western civilization — how did that language become offensive?” King said to The Times. “Why did I sit in classes teaching me about the merits of our history and our civilization?”
King attempted to later clarify his comments, telling supporters on Twitter that he was “simply a Nationalist” and “an advocate for Western Civilization’s values.”
