TVC E. The Wisconsin businessman challenging House Speaker Paul Ryan for his congressional seat unleashed a litany of insults against his competition Monday, calling Ryan a “soulless globalist” who sold out to hedge fund managers and betrayed American workers.
Paul Nehlen, senior vice president of operations for Neptune-Benson, a water filtration company, is gunning for Ryan’s position as representative from Wisconsin’s First Congressional District in the Tuesday primary.
Nehlen spoke to Yahoo News Guest Anchor Stephanie Sy on Monday to discuss his steadfast support for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, and his disillusionment with Ryan, the highest-ranking elected official in the GOP.
“Donald Trump is a leader. He is working on behalf of American workers … and he’s unifying the party. You have to give the man credit,” Nehlen told Sy. “He’s unifying the party so that we can stop a Hillary Clinton, third-term [Obama] agenda, which by the way, Paul Ryan will rubber stamp just like he rubber stamped the two terms of Barack Obama.”
Nehlen’s praise for Trump unifying the party is striking because Trump is having difficulty securing the endorsements of a number of high-profile Republican officials, including former presidents George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush, 2012 nominee Mitt Romney, and some sitting members of Congress.
As recently as last week, Trump pointedly refused to endorse Ryan and publicly praised Nehlen. Trump ultimately reversed himself Friday night and endorsed Ryan at a Green Bay, Wis., rally that neither Ryan nor Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker attended.
And the Republican-led “Never Trump” movement showed that it is still viable, with the announcement of former CIA agent Evan McMullin’s bid for the White House. McMullin’s backers explicitly framed his candidacy as a conservative alternative to Trump.
For Nehlen, however, this pushback against Trump demonstrated that Republican and Democrats are colluding to consolidate power, prepared to sell out their principles — and the American people — at a moment’s notice. He singled out Ryan as the leader of this “UniParty” and called him the “most open-border, anti-worker, pro-Wall Street” congressional representative from either major party.
“There are groups that call themselves Republicans and there are groups that call themselves Democrats, and they are really the ‘UniParty,’” he told Sy. “And Paul Ryan is the head of that UniParty. He is absolutely a soulless globalist, just like several other of these other people who have sold their soul to hedge fund managers who buy out American jobs and sell them overseas.”
Echoing Trump’s criticism of longtime Washington politicians, Nehlen said Ryan “rubber stamps” anything that comes across his desk that his campaign donors want.
Ryan’s campaign spokesman, Zack Roday, has previously defended the speaker from Nehlen’s attacks by noting his local support in the congressional district.
