With Paul Ryan announcing his retirement it is smooth sailing for his openly racist former opponent.

Courtesy of Think Progress:

Until early Wednesday morning, Paul Nehlen was little more than a racist, anti-Semitic sideshow in Wisconsin politics. Unless you happen to be a white supremacist, chances are you’ve never heard of him. His political résumé consists of one failed 2016 bid to capture the Republican nomination for a congressional race in Wisconsin, and a favorable shoutout from fellow white supremacist Donald Trump on Twitter. 

Paul Nehlen was not to be taken seriously, until suddenly he became the Republican front-runner to defend the congressional seat currently held by the most powerful Republican in the House of Representatives.

Nehlen’s first primary challenge against Ryan was unremarkable. He made a few headlines by endorsing Trump’s campaign early, something Ryan himself was reluctant to do. Sarah Palin publicly supported Nehlen’s insurgent campaign, but it ultimately did no good: Ryan captured his party’s nomination with almost 85 percent of the vote. 

But after Donald Trump’s inauguration, Nehlen — like so many other virulent white supremacists and neo-Nazis — was emboldened. He began openly embracing classic anti-Semitic rhetoric, sharing deeply offensive memes on Twitter and the online white supremacist clearinghouse Gab. Whatever hesitation he had to publicly share his racist views melted away as well. 

His online behavior finally got him banned from Twitter in February, when he attacked actress Meghan Markle for her biracial genealogy. 

He isn’t without his supporters, though. As he alienated more and more normal Americans, he gained notoriety among the drudgery of the internet. During a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville last year in which a peaceful protester was murdered, Nehlen tweeted messages of support for the rally’s organizers, saying “Incredible moment for white people who’ve had it up to here & aren’t going to take it anymore.” After a white supremacist participant was revealed to be the murderer, Nehlen echoed Donald Trump’s response, blaming bad actors on both sides for the incident. 

Nehlen’s comments earned him favorable coverage by white supremacist media outlets like the podcasts of former KKK Grand Wizard David Duke and crying Nazi Christopher Cantwell, as well as Breitbart, which tried — unsuccessfully — to scrub their fawning coverage of Nehlen.

White supremacist, early Trump supporter, endorsed by Sarah Palin, oh yeah this guy is DEFINITELY going to do well with that 30 to 40% of hard core Trump voters.

Appears to me this could be an easy pickup for the Dems if they play their cards right.

Alt-Right Paul Ryan challenger kicked off Twitter for being a racist. Show of hands, who didn't see that coming?

Courtesy of Yahoo News:  

Twitter has suspended the account of alt-right GOP candidate Paul Nehlen after he was accused of racism for a tweet about Meghan Markle, fiancée of British royal Prince Harry. 

Nehlen, who is seeking to unseat House Speaker Paul Ryan in Wisconsin’s November primaries, has not spoken out about the suspension.

In the tweet, he superimposed a picture on Markle’s image of the reconstructed appearance of Cheddar Man, an ancient Briton who experts now believe was dark skinned after conducting DNA tests on his 9,000-year-old remains. 

A Twitter spokesperson told Newsweek on Monday morning that "while we normally do not comment on individual accounts, I can confirm that we have permanently suspended this account for repeated violations of our terms of service." 

In recent months, Twitter has removed accounts that have spread racist or abusive messages as it seeks to make the platform more user friendly.

I know, you're probably thinking "An alt-right Republican is a racist, say it ain't so."

But of course it's so.

And we undoubtedly already realized that after this ringing endorsement.

Oh yeah, if you are ever in doubt as to whether somebody is a racist or not, just find out if Palin supports them.

That puts the whole question to rest.