Congressman Steve King Posts Civil War Meme, Suggests Republicans Would Win Because They Have 'About 8 Trillion Bullets'

Iowa Congressman Steve King provoked anger and disbelief after posting a meme on social media suggesting that Republicans would beat Democrats in a violent civil war and bashing the latter party over transgender bathroom laws.

"Folks keep talking about another civil war," read the accompanying text for the meme posted by the Republican representative on Facebook Sunday. "One side has about 8 trillion bullets while the other side doesn't know which bathroom to use."

The two captions frame an image of the red and blue states made to look like two boxers. The pair of pugilists bear more than a passing resemblance to Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots. The Republican fighter appears to be giving a gut punch to the Democratic states.

One commenter on King's verified Facebook page said she reported the post for inciting violence. Another called on the Iowa representative to resign over the post, which has been shared more than 750 times.

On Twitter, social media users called into question King's suggestion of national violence just days after the massacre in Christchurch, New Zealand, which has claimed the lives of 50 Muslim worshippers. One of the stated intentions of the suspected gunman, identified as a 28-year-old Australian national, was the incitement of a civil conflict in the United States tied to Second Amendment rights.

"Tremendous timing by white nationalist Congressman Steve King," NBC journalist Ben Collins wrote.

Despite accusations of racism and bigotry, King maintained in January that he was not a racist while dealing with hostile reactions to an interview he gave to The New York Times. The Republican congressman was removed from committee assignments after he appeared to defend white nationalists.

"White nationalist, white supremacist, Western civilization—how did that language become offensive?" King told the Times. "Why did I sit in classes teaching me about the merits of our history and our civilization?"

Speaking during the government shutdown earlier this year, the Iowa Republican said he had been treated unfairly over the comments. "It's stunning and astonishing to me that four words in a New York Times quote can outweigh 20 some years of public service, 20 some years of giving you my word every day," King said according to CNN. "Not one soul has stood up that said, 'Steve King has ever acted in a racist fashion, that he's ever discriminated against anybody.'"