House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) reacted to Rep. Steve King’s (R-IA) most recent racist screed on Thursday, calling his words “reckless, wrong” and having “no place in society.”
“Everything about white supremacy and white nationalism goes against who we are as a nation,” McCarthy said, according to a CNN reporter. “Steve’s language is reckless, wrong, and has no place in our society. The Declaration of Independence states that ‘all men are created equal.’ That is a fact. It is self-evident.”
King told the New York Times that he doesn’t understand when language including “white nationalist” and “white supremacist” became offensive. He also said that immigrant assimilation is more important than race since the “culture of America” is “based on values brought to the United States by whites from Europe,” per the Times.