Paul Nehlen, a challenger to House Speaker Paul Ryan for the Republican nomination in Wisconsin’s first congressional district, is no longer getting the support of Steve Bannon and Breitbart, according to CNN.
Breitbart executive chairman Steve Bannon has cut ties with Paul Nehlen, the far-right activist who is challenging Paul Ryan for his congressional seat and who has received extremely favorable coverage from Breitbart in the past.
“Nehlen is dead to us,” said Arthur Schwartz, an adviser of Bannon’s who is familiar with the former White House chief strategist’s thinking.
Nehlen, who became a lightning rod for his anti-immigrant views, has escalated his rhetoric in recent days with a number of incendiary tweets.
In one tweet, Nehlen proudly revealed that he is reading “The Culture of Critique,” a book about Jewish culture widely considered to be anti-semitic. In other tweets, he has used the “#ItsOkayToBeWhite” hashtag.
The inflammatory online activity has drawn fierce scrutiny from Nehlen’s critics, and beckoned the question whether Breitbart, which previously published highly supportive coverage of his candidacy, still supported him.
Nehlen received the endorsement of Breitbart.com and Bannon during his 2016 campaign against Ryan, including fantastic stories about polls that supposedly showed that Ryan could lose to Nehlen. Nehlen lost to Ryan 84 percent to 16 percent.
Nehlen’s candidacy in 2016 was noted for its attempts to court liberal voters to vote in the Republican primary, his ties to scam PACs that raise money but spend little on actual campaigns, and his anti-immigrant rhetoric. Despite those concerns, or perhaps because of those issues, Nehlen was able to attract the support of conservative commentators Michelle Malkin and Ann Coulter.
In 2017, Nehlen has continued his race-baiting by calling Ryan, “Pablo,” rather then Paul, embracing the “It’s Okay to Be White” internet meme, embracing internet conspiracy hoaxes, suggesting violence and making anti-Semitic remarks online. In short, Nehlen has reminded everyone he is a disgusting creature unfit for human society, let alone serve in the House of Representatives.
Now that Nehlen has finally found a line to cross that even Breitbart can’t support (remember, Breitbart recently admitted they supported Roy Moore despite believing his accusers), will Nehlen’s other enablers from 2016 have second thoughts?
