Ryan challenger blasted for tweet about Meghan Markle
Nehlen’s account was suspended for post
MADISON – A Republican challenger to U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan drew international criticism over the weekend for tweeting an image that replaced the mixed-race fiancée of Prince Harry with a darkskinned prehistoric Briton known as “Cheddar Man.”
As of Sunday afternoon, Paul Nehlen’s Twitter account had been suspended.
The provocation is only the latest for Nehlen, an outrage artist who has used this technique to help his campaign raise funds and in turn pay his wife a salary.
Last month, Nehlen drew criticism for making anti-Semitic tweets and then posting the contact information of ordinary citizens who called and emailed to berate him.
In a tweet late Friday, Nehlen shared an image of the royal couple in which a scientific reconstruction of Cheddar Man’s face is superimposed over the features of the actress Meghan Markle standing beside her fiancé, the prince.
“Honey, does this tie make my face look pale?” Nehlen tweeted along with the image, which the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is not sharing.
The British newspaper The Mirror decried the “racist tweet“in a headline, saying that Markle has been subjected to racial abuse since the royal engagement was announced. The Mirror quoted Markle’s co-star, actor Patrick J. Adams.
“You’re a sad and sick man with no sense of shame or class,” Adams said to Nehlen. “Get a life. And don’t go anywhere near MM — she’s got more power, strength, honor and compassion in her fingernail than you’ll ever know in this lifetime. Way above your weight class.”
Nehlen has been promoted in the past by the website Breitbart and its then leader, Steve Bannon, and even by President Donald Trump during the 2016 campaign. But Nehlen was trounced by Ryan (R-Wis.) in 2016 and has since been denounced even by Breitbart for his increasingly extreme tone.
Last month, Nehlen drew scathing attacks by posting to Twitter a list of his critics and saying most of them are Jewish. Trying to capitalize on the attention, Nehlen mixes in references to his campaign merchandise in these posts.
Critics called the post anti-Semitic and several people pointed out some on the list Nehlen had identified as Jews were not even Jewish.
Nehlen, in turn, posted the phone numbers, email addresses and names of critics who reached out to his campaign to complain, which resulted in a flood of harsh messages at those opponents.
Nehlen previously has drawn criticism for his anti-immigrant views and his use of the #ItsOkayToBeWhite hashtag on Twitter.
Nehlen won praise from then-candidate Trump two years ago. Shortly before Wisconsin’s August 2016 primary, Trump said Nehlen was running “a very good campaign” against Ryan.
In spite of that, Nehlen lost to Ryan by nearly 70 percentage points, getting just 16% of the vote to Ryan’s 84%.