WASHINGTON — Rep. Steve King, the newly re-elected Iowa Republican, dared a conservative magazine to show evidence that he had called immigrants “dirt.”

“Just release the full tape,” King, who eked out a victory last week despite affiliations with white nationalism, told the Weekly Standard’s online managing editor Saturday on Twitter.

In the two-minute audio, King banters with a handful of supporters at the back of an Iowa restaurant during a campaign stop on Nov. 5. He talks about his “patented pheasant noodle soup” sprinkled with whole jalapeño peppers he had grown himself. King jokes that he’d have to get some “dirt from Mexico” to grow his next batch of peppers because they didn’t have enough bite.

“Trust me, it’s already on its way,” a supporter quipped, appearing to refer to the caravan of Central American migrants traveling from Mexico to the U.S.-Mexico border.

King engaged, saying: “Well, yeah, there’s plenty of dirt. It’s coming from the West Coast, too. And a lot of other places, besides. This is the most dirt we’ve ever seen.”


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