Iowa’s lame duck republican Congressman, Steve King, took to the floor of the House of Representatives Thursday to defend his past statements promoting the idea of white nationalism, saying “Western civilization is under assault,” according to KCCI CBS-8.

King claimed that when he spoke to a New York Times reporter last year and said, “White nationalists, white supremacist, Western civilization — how did that language become offensive?” he paused before saying “Western civilization”… because somehow that makes his quote better.

“I advise the Congress that there would a distinct pause to demonstrate a new thought started rather than jamming those three ideologies together,” King said. “Who would compare white nationalism, white supremacy — the odious ideologies — who would compare them to Western civilization?”

“The concept of manifest destiny, and the wars that were fought to secure those things, all of that, all of that was so rich in America’s history and makes us the greatest nation the world has seen, but we can’t defend Western civilization?” King continued. “And I’ll say, two years ago when this came down, people didn’t understand what’s happening. But today, Western civilization is under assault. And I have been 100% correct on this. I’ve been more correct on this than I thought I was going to be.”

King’s advocacy of white nationalism led to people supporting State Senator Randy Feenstra in the republican primary, leading to King’s defeat.