(JTA) — A candidate for Congress in Wisconsin claimed in a private Twitter direct message group that his critics are “working for the Jewish media.”
Paul Nehlen, who is running to unseat Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., the speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, in this year’s elections, also referred to the “fake conservatives who happen to be Jewish” in the Twitter direct message group called CityRevoltVoteNehlen, Buzzfeed reported Friday, publishing screenshots of the messages. “Im going to decimate them all,” he tweeted.
Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon and Breitbart, which Bannon left last week, severed ties with Nehlen last month over his anti-Semitic comments.
“There are a list of goys attacking me, and a separate list of Jews,” Nehlen messaged the private Twitter group. “It’s pretty obviously coordinated,” he also added.
Nehlen frequently turns to the group to solicit help with trolling his critics and political opponents, BuzzFeed reported, citing two people it says have knowledge of the group.
In 2016, Breitbart and Bannon enthusiastically endorsed and supported Nehlen’s bid to unseat Ryan. Nehlen embraced many of Bannon’s positions, including a rejection of the Republican establishment, a call for a crackdown on illegal immigration and limits on legal immigration.
The effort was a monumental failure: Ryan won the 2016 primary in Wisconsin’s First District with 84 percent while Nehlen, a businessman, won 15 percent of the vote.
Nehlen has since positioned himself as pro-Israel but also has embraced anti-Jewish themes in social media.
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