If Congressman Goodlatte wants to do at least one brave and decent thing before he retires at the end of next year, he should remove Steve King as chair of the House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on the Constitution and Civil Justice.

King, an Iowa Republican, is probably the most openly racist member of Congress. Yet last January committee chair Goodlatte appointed King to head that important subcommittee, calling him “well-suited” for the position.

Now King has tweeted a claim that George Soros– a Jewish financier who has helped support democratic movements throughout Eastern Europe in the post-Soviet era and who is despised by, among others, the Putin regime in Russia— is targeting “Western Civilization.”

King approvingly retweeted a quote from Hungary’s rightwing Prime Minister Viktor Orban about the danger to a nation’s “biological survival” from immigrants. Since almost every American is an immigrant or a descendant of immigrants, perhaps King can explain how the US has managed to survive, biologically and otherwise.

Orban, another enemy of Soros , has defended the idea of “illiberal democracy”– citing the autocratic regimes of Russia and Turkey as examples. If King admires Orban, he has no business heading a subcommittee tasked with upholding the foundation of our  democracy– the Constitution of the United States.

Even more disturbing, King’s retweet comes from a white nationalist, anti-Muslim and antisemitic group called “Defend Europa.” The group’s website is full of articles with titles such as “The Attack on Whites & The Nuclear Family” and “The Bolshevik Revolution’s Jewish Roots.”

It should surprise no one– least of all Goodlatte– that King would share an ideological kinship with an outfit like “Defend Europa.”

Congressman Goodlatte: the next move is up to you.