Daily Caller editor Amber Athey praised Rep. Steve Stivers (R-Ohio) for his recent condemnation of Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) on Wednesday, saying King’s past controversial actions are inexcusable.
“This guy is an idiot, and you’ll find no defense of him from me,” Athey, media and breaking news editor at The Daily Caller, told Hill.TV’s Krystal Ball and Buck Sexton on “Rising.”
“I’m glad that they finally denounced him. The things that he’s said in the past, the people that he’s endorsed are simply inexcusable,” she continued.
“It’s important if the Republican Party is going to fight back against claims that the president is a racist, then they have to denounce any racist that is using their party name to gain office,” she said.
King has courted controversy for years by making a series of controversial and racially charged comments.
The congressman recently told The Washington Post that members of a Nazi-linked group in Austria, which was founded by a former Nazi SS officer, would be Republicans if they were American.
Stivers, who is the chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), lashed out at King on Twitter on Tuesday, calling his recent comments and actions “inappropriate.”
Congressman Steve King’s recent comments, actions, and retweets are completely inappropriate. We must stand up against white supremacy and hate in all forms, and I strongly condemn this behavior.
— Steve Stivers (@RepSteveStivers) October 30, 2018
Democratic strategist Don Calloway praised Stivers’s condemnation, but said not enough GOP leaders have spoken out against King.
“Steve Stivers denounced him. I don’t know that he carries the imprimatur of the entire NRCC or the entire Republican Party,” Calloway, CEO of Pine Street Strategies, told Hill.TV.
“Certainly the Speaker, who is the titular head of the chamber, certainly Mitch McConnell has said nothing, but Steve King’s been doing this for years. This is who he is,” he continued.
“I think ultimately, the final say is going to be with the voters of his district, and I sure hope that they do the right thing,” he said.
King leads his Democratic opponent, J.D. Scholten, by 1 point, according to a recent survey by left-leaning firm Change Research.
Cook Political Report rates the race as “lean Republican.”
— Julia Manchester
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