Novelist Stephen King has 'personal reasons' for wanting 'racist dumbbell' Steve King out of office November 5 at 5:40 AM T...
November 5 at 5:40 AM
The horror writer Stephen King probably didnât intend his story âGraveyard Shift,â first published in 1970, to be a metaphor for political depravity. Itâs about a man who toils in a textile mill, where rats have turned the forbidding basement into their own corrupt kingdom.
But this is 2018, the year that everything â" even Barbra Streisand ballads â" became about politics in the age of President Trump. And King, like everyone else, is coming out swinging on social media. So itâs not hard to envision how he would apply his sickening story to the queasy state of the nation.
On Sunday, King let slip who, in his portrayal, the reviled queen rat might be â" someone who, in the writerâs words, he has âpersonal reasonsâ for disliking.
The short story is set in Maine, but King briefly turned his attention to Iowa, where one of the presidentâs congressional acolytes is facing his first credible challenger in years. The best-selling author and deep-pocketed Democratic donor asked Iowa residents to vote against Republican Rep. Steve King (R) because, the King of fright said, âIâm tired of being confused with this racist dumbbell.â
The King of Congress might well relish the authorâs disparagement. On Saturday, the Republican responded to an onslaught of criticism fueling a fundraising blitz by his Democratic opponent â" first-time candidate J.D. Scholten â" by taking aim at âLeft Coast billionaires." The portmanteau of sorts blended two of Kingâs most common slights, left wing and East Coast.
A wave of criticism has buffeted the eight-term congressman in recent days.
Rep. Steve Stivers (R-Ohio), the chairman of the House Republican campaign arm, last week assailed King on Twitter for âwhite supremacy and hate." Another Republican, Rep. Carlos Curbelo of Florida, said on MSNBC that he would never vote for âsomeone like Steve King,â even if it meant forfeiting control of the House, calling his colleagueâs statements and actions âdisgusting.â
Intel, AT&T, Purina and Land OâLakes pulled financial support. Meanwhile, the head of the Anti-Defamation League, Jonathan Greenb latt, called on House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) to censure King for statements and affiliations âthat are anti-Semitic and offensive not just to the Jewish community, but to all Americans.â The Republican leader has not done so.

Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, at a hearing on Capitol Hill in June. King is coming under fire ahead of the midterms election as top Republican officials and campaign donors balk at standing with a Republican congressman who regularly espouses extreme views on race and immigration. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP)
The backlash stems from Kingâs record of racially incendiary rhetoric and his association with figures, in the United States and abroad, with Nazi ties. He took to Twitter last year to declare his support for ethnic nationalism, writing, âWe canât restore our civilization with somebody elseâs babies,â His party didnât rebuke him in June when he retweeted a message from a self-described âNazi sympathizer.â Last month, he voiced support for Faith Goldy, an unsuccessful Toronto mayoral candidate who has promoted the baseless notion that a âwhite genocideâ is underway. And last week, reports surfaced that King had met in August with members of an Austrian political party founded by former Nazis, during a trip funded by a group that promotes awareness of the Holocaust.
At a town hall last week, King erupted when an attendee asked him whether his hard-line views on race and identity bore resemblance to those of the Robert Bowers, the man accused of gunning down 11 congregants at a Pittsburgh synagogue.
[Rep. Steve King erupts as his immigration views are compared to the Pittsburgh shooting suspectâs]
âYouâre done. You crossed the line. Itâs not tolerable to accuse me to be associated with a guy that shot 11 people in Pittsburgh,â King said. âThis is over, if you donât stop talking.â
It remains to be seen whether the controversy that has engulfed the right-wing congressman will alter his fate on Tuesday. Despite one poll last week, by a Democratic firm, finding that King had only a one-point lead over his u pstart opponent, most surveys show a more comfortable gap between him and Scholten, a former minor league pitcher and paralegal.
The two sparred on Twitter all weekend.
Scholten retweeted the novelistâs appeal to Iowa voters. But the name-calling was hardly reserved for the Hawkeye State Republican. King, the author, reached back into his 1982 short story âThe Raftâ â" or perhaps another tale of horror at sea â" to find an insult for Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas. âCrawdad,â he called him.
Source: Google News | Netizen 24 United States
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