[Baldwin:] He has retweeted a Nazi sympathizer, he's openly expressed hostility to immigration and defended the term white supremacist. And days after Easter, long-time Iowa Congressman Steve King is comparing the backlash he's faced over these controversies, to Jesus.
[Rep. Steve King , Iowa:] For all that I've been through, it's it seems even strange for me to say it, but I'm at a certain peace. It's because of a lot of prayers for me. When I had to step down to the floor of the House of Representatives and look up at those 400-some accusers, you know, we just passed through Easter and Christ's passion, and I have a better insight into what he went through for us, partly because of that experience.
[Baldwin:] Rekha Basu is a columnist with the "Des Moines Register." Rekha, I see you shaking your head. I read this last night and thought, he compared himself to who? Yes, he did.
[Rekha Basu, Opinion Columnist, Des Moines Register:] Quite frankly, every time we think we've heard the worst out of Congressman Steve King, he manages to go himself one lower. To call himself persecuted in the manner of Christ around Easter, it's not only an insult to Christ and his followers, but all the people that he has maligned because of their gender or status. So to say he's a persecuted one? That takes a lot of audacity.
[Baldwin:] I want to ask about Andy McKean, the longest-serving Republican state lawmaker in Iowa. He now says he's becoming a Democrat because of Trump's his words "unacceptable behavior." Do you think that's a harbinger of things to come in Iowa, a sign of a shift looking ahead to 2020?
[Basu:] It's actually well, you know, I wouldn't have said so, because Iowa Iowa legislators tend to be extremely conservative. But he is the second state legislator to go in that route. I'm just not seeing the same thing I'm waiting for the same thing to happen at the federal level in Congress. That's where it should be happening, really. But it's very interesting that it's happening here. And quite frankly, I'm delighted to see people standing up and speaking for themselves, even though they're making policy at the state level rather than the national level.
[Baldwin:] Right.
[Basu:] I also think the Steve King effect may be having a bit of an impact. I think, just the same way that Republicans don't want to be associated with Donald Trump, there are Republicans who don't not want to be associated with the likes of Steve King.
[Baldwin:] Steve King.
[Basu:] Right. I think that King knows that, which is why he's trying to play the sympathy card now that he's being so persecuted by everybody, 400 members of Congress. Didn't he bring that on himself? Didn't he actually the funny thing is he voted along with the resolution, in support of the resolution condemning him after the "New York Times"
[Baldwin:] Right.
[Basu:] reported on his Nazi, white supremacist. So he must have one of the persecutors by that logic.
[Baldwin:] There you go. He keeps getting elected. I think Iowa is definitely a state to watch. With these Republicans on the state level defecting, it's a story in and of itself. Rekha Basu, you are always a pleasure. Thank you so much.
[Basu:] Thank you so much.
[Baldwin:] You've got it.
[Basu:] It's great to be with you.
[Baldwin:] You've got it. Any moment now, the police and FBI will be making an announcement in the mysterious disappearance of a five-year-old boy in Illinois, who, we're told, was not abducted, did not run away. We're standing by for that.
[Van Jones, Cnn Political Commentator & Cnn Host, "the Van Jones Show":] We like to imagine after there's been a verdict that the story is over. The reality is whether the offender or the victim, the journey is just beginning.
[Unidentified Male:] There was a sheriff's deputy at the door.
[Unidentified Female:] He said, "Louisa is dead."
[Unidentified Male:] I remember shouting. I took the gun from him. I shot him. Put it to his head. Don't do it. I pulled the trigger.
[Jones:] What is it that you want to know?
[Unidentified Male:] I want him to look me in the face and tell me why he killed my mother. I don't know where we're going to land, but we're all in, man.