GOP senator slams Steve King over anti-diversity tweet

Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) on Sunday called Rep. Steve King’s (R-Iowa) comments that diversity is not America’s strength a “ridiculous statement.” 

“Very little that I can do about people who speak ignorantly, and you just have to call it for what it is, number one,” Scott said on NBC’s “Meet The Press.” 

“Number two, the bottom line is both when Steve King and Tim Scott arrived in this country, we were actually creating diversity because the Native Americans were already here. So that is just a ridiculous statement,” Scott added.

{mosads}Scott went on to praise young Republicans, including Rep. Mia Love (R-Utah) and Rep. John Ratcliffe (R-Texas), as a diverse group of young thinkers who will lead the GOP in the future.

King on Friday tweeted a link to an article quoting Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who said cultures shouldn’t be mixed. 

“Diversity is not our strength,” King added in the tweet.

King, a vocal critic of immigration in Congress, has made controversial statements in the past, including when he said American culture cannot be restored “with somebody else’s babies.” The statement drew widespread criticism from both parties.