On Saturday, MSNBC’s Garrett Haake broke down the nightmare situation Republicans are facing with Rep. Steve King (R-IA), who has faced outrage for years of white supremacist comments, and more recently suggested that rape and incest might be a good thing for society.
“What more recourse do Republicans have?” said host David Gura. “We had this cycle of condemnation in the past after comments were made. He was stripped of committee assignments. Is there more Republicans can do vis-a-vis Steve King?”
“They could kick him out of of the conference entirely, make him a man without a country in the U.S. Congress,” said Haake. “Or Congress could vote to expel them with two-thirds of the vote.”
“There’s an interesting dynamic for Democrats in this case,” added Haake. “As odious as the comments are, the best possible thing that could happen for Democrats here is Steve King wins his primary in the spring here and remains the Republican nominee for that seat. He’s in a three-way primary right now. It’s a tough one for him to win. But that is Iowa’s most conservative district. Democrats have now finally gotten the candidate they want, J.D. Sholten. He’s back in the race. He has gotten a ton of support. He could win Iowa’s 4th District, be the first Democrat to represent it in a long time. But probably only if Steve King is the nominee.”
“So as much as Democrats and the rest of the country are offended by what Steve King has said this time, it may be the best possible political strategy for Democrats to hold their nose about this one and keep quiet on this and make sure Steve King holds on to the nomination for that seat, so their guy can beat him next fall.”
Watch below:
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