Iowa Rep. Steve King defended his "white people business" comments on Wednesday, telling The Washington Post not all cultures are equal.
King, a Republican, said Monday at the
Republican National Convention, "This whole 'white people' business, though, does get a little tired, Charlie … Where did any other sub-group of people contribute to civilization?"
During an interview with the Post's Philip Rucker, King said he was simply responding to comments made by Esquire's Charlie Pierce.
"The idea of multiculturalism, in that every culture is equal, that's not objectively true," King said. "We've been fed that information for the last 25 years in this country, and we're not going to continue to become a greater nation if we continue to do that."
King said Pierce's comments were out of line, not his.
"He was disparaging a group of people, a sub-group of people, old white people, and saying they're gonna be out of the politics of the Republican Party," King said.
The longtime politician added, "western civilization is the most successful civilization the world has ever seen. And some of the reasons for that is it's borrowed the best from other cultures along the way, back to Mosaic law, the Greek age of reason, Roman law and the Roman order of government, and the Republican form of government, by the way that we're guaranteed in our Constitution.
"The sum total that's been contributed by Western civilization, it surpasses any other culture of civilization, partly because we borrowed from them along the way, and we're flexible enough to do that," King said. "And so I don't think we should apologize for our success."
In June, King called the Obama administration's decision to put Harriet Tubman on the front of the $20 bill "racist" and "sexist."
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