This is 2019.  Can anyone really be so ignorant as to wonder out loud why terms like "white nationalism" and "white supremacy" are considered offensive?

Rep. Steve King really is that ignorant. 

The Hill:

King's remarks to The New York Times about the terms white nationalist and white supremacist are far from the first time his comments have led to criticism from fellow Republicans.

"White nationalist, white supremacist, Western civilization – how did that language become offensive?" he was quoted as telling the Times in a story published on Thursday.

"Why did I sit in classes teaching me about the merits of our history and our civilization?"

To paraphrase Meatloaf, "One out of three ain't bad."  But to equate the left's dissing of Western civilization with the terms "white nationalist" and "white supremacist" is cuckoo.

Senator Tim Scott penned an op-ed in the Washington Post calling on Republicans to denounce King:

King's comments are not conservative views but separate views that should be ridiculed at every turn possible.  Conservative principles mean equal opportunity for all to succeed, regardless of what you look like or where you are from.  It is maddening to see so many folks who believe this and have only good intentions in their hearts tarnished by these radical perspectives.

That is why silence is no longer acceptable.  It is tempting to write King – or other extremists on race issues, such as black-nationalist Louis Farrakhan – as lonely voices in the wilderness, but they are far more dangerous than that.  They continue to rip at the fabric of our nation, a country built on hope, strength and diversity.  It is the opposite of civility and fairness and will lead only to more pain and suffering.

Responding to Scott, several GOP leaders condemned King's remarks.

In a statement, House minority leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) decried King's remarks.

"Everything about white supremacy and white nationalism goes against who we are as a nation," McCarthy said.  "Steve's language is reckless, wrong, and has no place in our society.  The Declaration of Independence states that 'all men are created equal.'  That is a fact.  It is self-evident."

House Minority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., said that it was "offensive" that King would "try to legitimize" that kind of rhetoric, adding that white supremacy is "evil."  King had told the New York Times he wasn't sure how terms such as "white nationalist, white supremacy, [and] Western civilization" became offensive language.

"I think it's offensive to try to legitimize those terms," Scalise told reporters in his office in the Capitol.  "I think it's important that he rejected that kind of evil, because that's what it is: evil ideology."

It's one thing to be "racially insensitive."  It's an entirely different matter to be hateful.  Steve King is a hateful man who espouses evil ideas.  This goes far beyond "political correctness."  It is an assault on American values and American freedoms, and King, who will likely face a primary challenger in 2020, should be cast into the outer darkness by decent people from both parties.