Reynolds probably doesn’t need King. He likely damages her brand more than anything else. And yet, she suffers his hate and intellectual dishonesty.”

“It’s doubtless that King’s response would have been fundamentally different if, say, Gonzalez descended from German immigrants and wore that country’s flag on her arm. King ← himself a purveyor of identity politics ← has repeatedly spewed white-power talking points about some mythical oppression of white Americans.

In December, Reynolds’ faced pressure to boot King from her campaign after King said cultural diversity was a weakness. The man is a 19th century relic and an embarrassment to Iowa. And, due to his love of the national spotlight, he single-handedly taints Iowa’s reputation with troubling regularity.

And that fact alone should be enough for Reynolds to unglue herself from Iowa’s chief neo-fascist sympathizer. And yet, following King’s December rant, Reynolds punted, saying that she disagrees with a lot of what her supporters say. It was an unacceptable dodge then. It’s even more so now. At some point, King’s very presence atop its masthead says something about a compromised campaign and its willingness to suffer the ugliest rhetoric possible in the name of party unity. At some point, King’s continued role in the campaign stands on its own as a tacit endorsement of his vile hate speech.

Thing is, Reynolds probably doesn’t even need King politically. King’s 4th Congressional District is a Republican stronghold.”

“King’s western Iowa stomping ground would be an easy victory for Reynolds come November. It’s the moderate regions of central and eastern Iowa where Reynolds could use additional support.

Steve King’s very existence undermines that goal, though. The longer Reynolds’ continues to ignore King’s racism, the longer she looks morally compromised and politically weak.”