Tom Daykin

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Janesville — After a week in which presidential candidate Donald Trump was criticized by fellow Republicans for his comments about the parents of a U.S. Muslim soldier killed in action, Ann Coulter is taking a different approach.

Coulter said the July 28 speech by Khizr Khan at the Democratic National Convention, where Khan famously asked if Trump had read the U.S. Constitution, amounted to using a "human shield" to shut down debate about whether Muslims should be allowed to immigrate to the United States.

Khan, instead of lecturing people about the Constitution, "should have told us to read up on Sharia law, because that's apparently what we're going to live under, " Coulter said at a Janesville campaign rally Saturday for Republican congressional candidate Paul Nehlen.

Nehlen, a Delavan business operator who is challenging House Speaker Paul Ryan in Tuesday's primary election, didn't mention Khan in his remarks.

His speech focused mainly on what Nehlen called Ryan's support for the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership and other international trade agreements that have resulted in lost manufacturing jobs.

Nehlen touted his business record, which he said included bringing such jobs back to the United States.

He is senior vice president of operations and director of special projects at Neptune Benson Inc., a water filtration systems maker with an operation in Beaver Dam. Nehlen also has worked in executive and managerial positions at such manufacturers as TydenBrooks, SPX Corp. and Dover Corp, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Nehlen said the campaign is bigger than just the primary race in Wisconsin's 1st Congressional District, which includes Beloit, Kenosha, Racine and such Milwaukee-area communities as West Allis, Franklin and Oak Creek.

"We're not just running against Paul Ryan," Nehlen told the crowd of around 150 people at Courthouse Park. "We're running against an entrenched system of corporate control over our government."

That system, Nehlen said, is used by "globalists" to enrich themselves through both trade agreements, and wages for U.S. workers which have been reduced through competition with undocumented immigrants.

"Paul Ryan is the head of the snake," he said.

Nehlen also said illegal immigration hasn't just resulted in "cheap labor."

"It gives you death and destruction," said Nehlen, whose rally included remarks from two women whose children were murdered by undocumented immigrants.

Last week, Trump complimented Nehlen on his campaign while withholding an endorsement of Ryan, who was among those who criticized Trump for his comments about Khan. On Friday night in Green Bay, Trump belatedly endorsed the incumbent.

On Saturday, Coulter also criticized Ryan for supporting the Trans-Pacific Partnership, as well as the Dream Act, legislation that would create a path to citizenship for children of undocumented immigrants.

In addition to illegal immigrants who take jobs and commit crimes, Coulter said, the nation also allows legal Muslim immigrants "who occasionally flip out and murder Americans."

"Their religion teaches them to kill us," Coulter said.

In response, Ryan's campaign website said he voted to provide $694 million for border security and enforcement of immigration and customs laws. He has also voted for funding to build a border fence and hire 1,080 additional Border Patrol agents.

In addition, Ryan supported a lawsuit that led a federal judge to stop President Barack Obama's executive action that would have halted potential deportations for around 4 million undocumented workers.

Ryan's campaign also touted his work on legislative efforts to pause settlement of Syrian refugees in the United States, and to establish a Department of Homeland Security unit aimed at combating "radical Islamic terrorism."

On the trade issue, Ryan is withholding his support for the Trans-Pacific Partnership "because he believes President Obama did a poor job negotiating the agreement," according to his campaign.

Ryan "wants a level playing field for U.S. workers and businesses," it said.

Nehlen said, however, that Ryan has betrayed workers and is a "puppet" of wealthy campaign donors.

Tuesday's primary election, he said, will be Wisconsin's day of independence from corporate interests.

Or, as Coulter said, "This is it. This is your last chance to save America."

Ryan has a wide lead over Nehlen in the polls and in fundraising.