Paul Nehlen Image by YouTube

By Ari Feldman January 4, 2018

Paul Nehlen is feeling vindicated for having been dumped by Breitbart News now that President Donald Trump is attacking Breitbart’s chairman, Steve Bannon.

Nehlen, a Wisconsin businessman who is running to unseat House Speaker Paul Ryan, released a statement Thursday patting himself on the back for standing for a “true America First agenda.” He also stated that he had “long considered Bannon and Breitbart a liability to me.”

The statement came after Trump’s characteristically belittling public break with Bannon, his former chief strategist.

Trump rebuked Banon Wednesday for his extensive cooperation for a book about the Trump team’s first year in the White House. In the book, Bannon calls Ivanka Trump “dumb as a brick” and predicts that Don, Jr. will “crack like an egg” about the campaign’s alleged collusion with the Russian government. Bannon was skewered by the “alt-right” for his role in the book.

Nehlen is widely seen as embracing anti-Semitic and racist rhetoric and ideologies used by white nationalists across the country. He accused a fellow Trump supporter of being a “shill for the sheckels [sic],” a reference to the Israeli currency. He has tweeted images of his reading list, which includes a book by a man known as the “neo-Nazi movement’s favorite academic.” And he casually trades in anti-Semitic, white nationalist memes.

In late December, an editor at Breitbart, which had supported Nehlen, tweeted that the media outlet no longer endorsed his campaign.

Contact Ari Feldman at feldman@forward.com or on Twitter @aefeldman

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