December 8, 2017

GOP Congressman: “Diversity Is Not Our Strength”

In a tweet, Steve King also quoted the Hungarian prime minister’s remarks condemning “mixing cultures.”

Steve King speaks at a rally for Donald Trump and Mike Pence in November 2016.Mark Reinstein/ZUMA

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A Republican congressman drew widespread condemnation across social media on Friday for a tweet that appeared to denounce diversity and inclusion. Citing comments Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orban made on Hungarian television Thursday night, Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) seemed to affirm Orban’s anti-diversity position. He wrote, “Diversity is not our strength” and quoted Orban:

Orban made his comments in the wake of a European Parliament hearing that discussed illegal immigration and a quota that attempts to fairly distribute migrants and refugees across European Union member countries. Orban’s government has long rejected the program, filing a court challenge to it in 2015.

King maintains a tough stance on immigration issues. According to his congressional website, he has introduced legislation that would eliminate birthright citizenship for children of two undocumented immigrants and supports the construction of a border wall between the United States and Mexico.

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THE FACTS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES.

At least we hope they will, because that’s our approach to raising the $350,000 in online donations we need right now—during our high-stakes December fundraising push.

It’s the most important month of the year for our fundraising, with upward of 15 percent of our annual online total coming in during the final week—and there’s a lot to say about why Mother Jones’ journalism, and thus hitting that big number, matters tremendously right now.

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So we’re going to try making this as un-annoying as possible. In “Let the Facts Speak for Themselves” we give it our best shot, answering three questions that most any fundraising should try to speak to: Why us, why now, why does it matter?

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