Rep. Steve King Mocks Emma Gonzalez for Wearing a Cuban Flag Patch

The right can’t seem to stop attacking the 18-year-old.

As hundreds of thousands marched across the country to protest gun violence on Saturday, Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) spent the weekend online, where he posted a slew of memes mocking the participants of March for Our Lives.

One image in particular has drawn the ire of critics who say King went too far by attacking Emma Gonzalez, the 18-year-old Marjory Stoneman Douglas student who has been at the center of the movement. Gonzalez delivered one of the most powerful moments of the rally in Washington, when she led a moment of silence to honor her classmates killed at the Parkland, Florida, shooting.

The moment left King unimpressed, and he instead attacked her for wearing a Cuban flag patch during her appearance at the rally.

King’s campaign has dismissed the criticism by responding directly on Facebook to say the meme is simply “pointing out the truth.”

“Only a liberal could see this meme as an attack on her ethnicity,” another response on King’s Facebook page read. “It’s merely pointing out the irony of someone wearing a communist flag while calling for gun control. But sure, assume something that’s not there.”

The meme is part of a larger effort on the right to discredit Gonzalez, who in the month after the school shooting in Parkland, Florida, has been one of the most vocal and prominent faces of the student movement demanding action on gun control. Earlier this month, a Republican candidate for the Maine State House was forced to drop out after calling Gonzalez as a “skinhead lesbian.” The backlash over the incendiary comments was fierce, but it hasn’t stopped others on the far right from sharing a fake image of Gonzalez appearing to rip up the Constitution.

WE'LL BE BLUNT:

We need to start raising significantly more in donations from our online community of readers, especially from those who read Mother Jones regularly but have never decided to pitch in because you figured others always will. We also need long-time and new donors, everyone, to keep showing up for us.

In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

Please learn more about how Mother Jones works and our 47-year history of doing nonprofit journalism that you don't find elsewhere—and help us do it with a donation if you can. We've already cut expenses and hitting our online goal is critical right now.

payment methods

WE'LL BE BLUNT

We need to start raising significantly more in donations from our online community of readers, especially from those who read Mother Jones regularly but have never decided to pitch in because you figured others always will. We also need long-time and new donors, everyone, to keep showing up for us.

In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

Please learn more about how Mother Jones works and our 47-year history of doing nonprofit journalism that you don't find elsewhere—and help us do it with a donation if you can. We've already cut expenses and hitting our online goal is critical right now.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate