Self-pity reaches an apotheosis.

Rep. Steve King said Tuesday that his recent ostracism by House colleagues for defending white supremacy has made him identify with the tribulations a more famous leader experienced some 2,000 years ago: Jesus Christ.

Right? Remember Fred 11:13, where the disciples all tell Jesus he’s a racist and Jesus cries? It’s like that.

The exchange took place at a town hall event in Iowa during which an attendee stood up to tell the nine-term Republican that in her view, “Christianity is really being persecuted, and it’s starting right here in the United States.”

“Persecuted”=not being allowed to execute atheists and mouthy women and homoseckshuals.

In his response, King told her that after being formally rebuked by the House and stripped of his committee assignments, he had gleaned insight into what Jesus went through before the crucifixion, referring to his House colleagues as “accusers.”

“It’s been, for all that I’ve been through, it seems even strange for me to say it, but I’m at a certain peace, and it’s because of a lot of prayers for me,” he said. “And when I had to step down to the floor of the House of Representatives and look up at those 400-and-some accusers — you know, we’ve 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.”

Was it about the fig tree? Did 400-some accusers yell at Jesus because of the fig tree?

The next day as they were leaving Bethany, Jesus was hungry. Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to find out if it had any fruit. When he reached it, he found nothing but leaves, because it was not the season for figs. Then he said to the tree, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again”. And his disciples heard him say it.

…

In the morning, as they went along, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots. Peter remembered and said to Jesus, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree you cursed has withered!” “Have faith in God,” Jesus answered.

And his disciples said, “Shit, man, you could have just kicked a little dirt around and yelled, you didn’t have to ruin the whole tree. It’s not the tree’s fault that figs don’t ripen in November.” And Jesus was furious, and he wouldn’t talk to them for at least an hour.

“I’m grateful that we are the people we are and we not only — we have a strong Christian ethic here and a high percentage of people that are true believers, we have all of that going for us — but it’s also in our culture,” he said. “And we don’t think about it very often, how much the Christian faith echoes through who we are as a people.”

Which is white supremacists? They’re going with that?

King was roundly rebuked in January when he asked, in an interview with The New York Times, how terms like “white nationalist” and “white supremacist” became “offensive.” The House overwhelmingly passed a resolution condemning his comments, with King voting in favor of the measure as well.

The congressman has a history of using racist and denigrating rhetoric about minority groups and immigrants, and has amplified the voices of personalities on the right-wing fringe which much of that rhetoric can be traced to.

They’re going with that.