US Congressman’s tweet on Geert Wilders sparks social media backlash

Senior Republican Congressman Steve King has sparked severe criticism on social media after posting a comment regarding far-right Dutch politician Geert Wilders. In his tweet, Congreeman King said that “Wilders understands that culture and demographics are our destiny”, adding that “We can't restore our civilization with somebody else’s babies”.

According to a BBC news report, Congressman Steve King is known to be a supporter of the white nationalist rhetoric. However, Democratic politicians and supporters were quick to respond to King’s comments. What remains interesting is how the Republicans will handle this controversy. So far they have remained silent.

This suggests that ties and connections between the Trump wing of the Republican Party and the white nationalist movements in Europe are growing closer.

Breitbart, the conservative media outlet recently headed by White house senior advisor Steve Bannon, has often praised Mr Wilder, as well as France’s Marine Le Pen and Frauke Petry, leader of the Alternative for Germany Party

Bannon has also predicted a new imminent “alt-right” order that would unsettle western politics. The question is whether the or not the republicans will support this new order.

King’s comments in support of Wilders has suggested that he was “openly peddling white nationalism”, as his post was retweeted by former leader of the Ku Klux Klan, David Duke, along with the words “sanity reigns supreme”.

Duke later tweeted: “God bless Steve King.” Speaking to the BBC’s Adam Smith last year, Mr King said that “millions” of people were expected to enter the US “illegally and unlawfully” in the years to come, with “a birth rate that exceeds that of the American citizen by a factor of two or more”.

“That their children would all be citizens would be beyond the pale of the imagination of the people who ratified the 14th amendment,” he said.

Wilders, whose populist Freedom Party is expected to do well in Dutch parliamentary elections later this month, has been under 24-hour police protection for more than a decade due to death threats.

The US Republican Representative of Iowa is a strong advocate of putting a halt to birthright citizenship. King has pressed for a drastic modification of the interpretation of the 14th amendment of the US so that it can no longer give the children of undocumented migrants the right to a US passport.

Source :Al Arabiya