MSNBC sent reporter Josh Lederman to Fort Dodge, Iowa, part of Rep. Steve King’s (R-IA) home district, to search far and wide for someone, anyone, who might defend the lawmaker’s latest disturbing remarks.
“So far, we have not been able to find anybody,” he said.
“The collective reaction has been a deep sigh,” Lederman told MSNBC’s Stephanie Ruhle after he spent the morning interviewing constituents. “People are tired of this. They’ve heard these kind of comments from Steve King before. They’re not happy about the way that it represents Iowa to the rest of the country.”
The network played clips from interviews with Iowans, one calling on King to either “resign or people should fire him,” and another admitting “we’re getting laughed at” over the congressman’s remarks.
MSNBC can't find anyone to defend Steve King's incest and rape remarks pic.twitter.com/4hmXceYi4K
— TPM Livewire (@TPMLiveWire) August 15, 2019
Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) has already called on the congressman — who argued there wouldn’t be much left of the world population if people born out of rape or incest were pulled out of the population pool — to resign, a move that, as Lederman notes would actually be detrimental to Democrats hoping to flip the seat. King only won by a few percentage points last election and already has a Republican challenger.
