Posted on August 5, 2016

It ‘Isn’t Even Conservatism’: Paul Ryan Takes Aim at the Trump-Backing ‘Alt-Right’

Allan Smith, Business Insider, August 5, 2016

Paul Ryan on Friday ripped the “alt-right” platform, on which he accused his primary opponent of running, after his challenger questioned why the US has “Muslims in the country.”

The House speaker told Wisconsin radio host Charlie Sykes that the comments about Muslims made by his opponent, Wisconsin businessman Paul Nehlen, were “dark, grim,” and “indefensible.”

Ryan later said the alt-right, a group that has provided some of the most fervent support of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, “isn’t even conservatism.”

“Look, I hate to even give such comments currency by even talking about them,” Ryan said. “This is not the US Constitution. This is not the US Bill of Rights. Let’s just be really clear about this.”

“I think they call it alt-conservatism,” he added, before Sykes jumped in and referred to it as the alt-right.

“This is not Wisconsin conservatism . . . That kind of dark, grim, indefensible comments are going to be clearly rejected and repudiated on Tuesday. I have a hard time seeing the thinking behind this. Unfortunately, we see some of it these days.”

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