As Rep. Steve King lost his committee assignments, the knives came out for Paul Ryan.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., and House Republicans voted Monday night to pull the plug on King, an Iowa Republican, in a sweeping rebuke of allegations that he showed support for white supremacy.
While McCarthy was showered in plaudits, several people in the political sphere took aim at Ryan, the Wisconsin Republican who less than two weeks ago retired as House speaker, for not taking action against King during his tenure.
“McCarthy has done more in ten days to deter hate than Paul Ryan did in four years,” tweeted Eric Schultz, who was a senior adviser to former President Barack Obama.
A number of journalists joined in on the pile-on in the first moments after the vote.
McCarthy has done more to deal with Steve King in the first two weeks of the 116th Congress than Paul Ryan had done in years of repeated racist remarks https://t.co/KTZHbjk2DV
— Joe Perticone (@JoePerticone) January 15, 2019
Who would have guessed “as soon as Paul Ryan wasn’t in charge” for when Steve King would get substantively rebuked by House GOP leadership?
— Benjy Sarlin (@BenjySarlin) January 15, 2019
It took Paul Ryan 13 days to comment when Steve King retweeted an avowed Neo Nazi last year https://t.co/6DVNTXUxSE
— Steadman™ (@AsteadWesley) January 15, 2019
Earlier in the day, the leader of the Anti-Defamation League, Jonathan Greenblatt, name-checked Ryan, saying he wrote to the ex-Wisconsin congressman months ago to take action against King.
Months ago, I asked Paul Ryan to strip @SteveKingIA of his rank and membership for his offensive comments. After King’s latest remarks, I make the same request again to new House leadership; I hope to see more action this time. My letter here: https://t.co/kuPdx3GBUx pic.twitter.com/RJAIbB5fdw
— Jonathan Greenblatt (@JGreenblattADL) January 14, 2019
The man who campaigned to unseat King in the last election, former professional baseball player J.D. Scholten, also took a shot at Ryan on Monday. “Paul Ryan allowed him to be who he was for years,” Scholten told Vice News. “Maybe it’s the changing of the guard that needed to take place.”
Asked Monday evening why action was being taken by the GOP when King has made a number of offensive comments since he assumed office in 2003, McCarthy noted that he only just became the top Republican in the House.
“I have not been in Congress for those 16 years. I have just now become the leader of the Republican Party. Maybe I had not seen those, but I heard these. I disagree with these,” he told reporters. “These are reckless, these are wrong, these are nothing associated with America and that’s why I’m taking the action and the committee is as unanimously as we are.”
The controversy began when King spoke with the New York Times last week and asked, “White nationalist, white supremacist, Western civilization — how did that language become offensive? … Why did I sit in classes teaching me about the merits of our history and our civilization?” Backlash was swift and bipartisan, with the likes of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., issuing a stern reprimand.
Over the past couple days, King did attempt some damage control, blaming the Times for mischaracterizing his comments and telling NBC News, “I reject white nationalism. I reject white supremacy. It’s not part of any of my ideology. I reject anyone who carries that ideology.”
As speaker, Ryan’s go-to method of dealing with King’s statements would be to condemn the message.
For instance, King appeared to criticize nonwhite foreigners and immigrants when he tweeted in 2017, “We can’t restore our civilization with somebody else’s babies.” Ryan was forgiving in an interview more than a day later. “I don’t think that statement reflects what is special about this country,” he told Fox News. “I would like to think — and I haven’t spoke to Steve about this — I would like to think he misspoke, and it wasn’t meant the way it sounds, and I hope he’s clarified that.”
In 2018, when King retweeted a neo-Nazi, Ryan’s spokeswoman AshLee Strong said, “The speaker has said many times that Nazis have no place in our politics, and clearly members should not engage with anyone promoting hate.”
Ryan left office earlier this month as Democrats took control of the lower chamber.
