August 29, 2017

Chris Cuomo and Rep. Steve King had a long and heated exchange about Sheriff Joe Arpaio, racial profiling, and racial attitudes. King came to the discussion without his white hood, but he may as well have been wearing it. Fortunately, Cuomo wasn't in the mood to be run over by a white supremacist from Iowa.

Just ahead of the clip above, Cuomo and King tussled over profiling. After some back and forth where King put forward a ridiculous defense of Arpaio's actions, Cuomo dished some facts.

"There's a difference between racial profiling and a broader profiling with all of the descriptions that are there, I say it's wrong and the Justice Department says you shall not racially profile if that's the only component. If it's a component in a broader profile -- he was rounding up people, some who wound up being citizens, and that's what his guys were doing and what did his defense lawyer say? After all the bravado to reporters saying i'm going to continue, I don't care what the judges say. That's called contempt by definition, by the way. And this is supposed to be a law and order presidency."

At some point, King countered with "but Obama" argle-bargle before blurting out, "How are you going to enforce immigration law? Every once in a while you get somebody who is a citizen by accident!"

Cuomo once again reminded King of the facts; namely, that the profiling was intentional, that Arpaio was ordered by the court not to do it anymore, he boasted that he would and he did.

Confronting King, Cuomo said, "He said he was going to keep doing it anyway and I think you're defending it because you like what he was doing.:

King once again countered with Obama this and Obama that before admitting, "Yes, he defied the order of the judge but he didn't violate federal law."

Again, Cuomo came back with the facts, this time on the Supreme Court ruling on SB 1070, reminding King that their decision was clear: No racial profiling on the basis of immigration status.

"The law was clear. There was a standard -- we should remember -- he flouted it," Cuomo said.

Sb-1070 specifically prohibited targeting people because of race or ethnicity, specifically prohibited that. But president obama made the statement that you could be a hispanic mother and presumably be going out for ice cream, be pulled over, stopped, and have them demand your papers.

Do you like that?

After some back and forth, King shared his true concern, which is pretty simple and reeks of white supremacy. "I'm concerned Americans believe the broader definition, not racial profiling but profiling itself, that they believe there's a federal law against it and it's wrong. I want to make the point it's necessary for law enforcement," King worried.

And then, the conversation turned to cantaloupes and the size of immigrants' calves. Again.

King doubled down on his remarks. "I insist I have right to insult drug smugglers. I have the right to insult drug smugglers."

Cuomo responds: "It's whether it is right.Congressman, it's silly. And it paints a group of people in a certain way.

King: "It's not and the statement I made is completely and demonstrably true -- that people who smuggle drugs have cantaloupe calves and that's how you know. Because they're carrying 75 pounds of marijuana across the desert. And if you haven't seen the film you ought to Google it."

After some back and forth between them, Cuomo pointed out he "couldn't find one agent who said we can always tell the drug smugglers by the size of their calves."

"They're afraid of you, Chris," King countered.

Cuomo: "No one is afraid of me. Certainly not you."

King explained, "They're not going to give you that answer." Apparently Chris Cuomo doesn't have the magic formula to get the honest border patrol agents or something.

After a bit more back and forth, King dropped the bombshell about DACA and cantaloupe calves. And valedictorians. Apparently DACA recipients are more likely to be gang members and not valedictorians. Or something.

Cuomo with facts, again: "96% of these DACA people are either in school or they're working and they're doing well."

King sneered, "I want them to respect the rule of law."

Cuomo: "They were brought here as kids!"

King drops the hammer. "Their presence means they or their parents didn't respect the rule of law and they didn't all come as kids. Some did. Many didn't." (This is not true. They did come as kids.)

"MS-13 didn't wait until they were 18," King said, "And a vast majority of MS-13 are illegal aliens and many of them would qualify under DACA."

No one should tell King that MS-13 originated in the United States and was exported to other countries, I guess.

It went on for a bit more, but honestly, Cuomo had the upper hand for the entire conversation, which is why I wanted to share it. Representative Steve King is a white supremacist who should be at home ironing his sheets instead of yakking about topics he doesn't especially understand or care to understand on cable television.

Nothing shows that more clearly than this conversation. He's not the exception, either. He's the rule. There might be a handful of Republicans who support immigration reform, but the vast majority of them are just like Steve King: Willfully ignorant and always hateful.

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