White nationalist Richard Spencer is only the latest white nationalist CNN’s Jake Tapper has sought to legitimize and make relevant.

On Tuesday, Spencer appeared on Tapper’s basement-rated The Lead in a segment recorded by CNN’s Sara Sidner, where he criticized President Trump for telling the truth about Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) — or, as they are now known, The Squad aka The Leaders of the Democrat Party.

Incredibly, Spencer appeared on far-left Tapper’s show as though he were just other CNN contributor.

In a taped segment, the out-and-proud racist appeared clean-cut in suit and tie, in-studio, and was given time to explain why he believed Trump’s criticism of the four harridans did not go far enough.

“Many white nationalists will eat up this red meat that Donald Trump is throwing out there,” Spencer said. “I am not one of them. I recognize the con-game that is going on.”

“He gives us nothing outside of racist tweets,” Spencer added. “And by racist tweets, I mean tweets that are meaningless and cheap and express the kind of sentiments you might hear from your drunk uncle while he’s watching [Sean] Hannity.”

You can watch Tapper’s fifteen-second advertisement for white nationalism here — and when you do, please note the difference between “covering” white nationalism and offering a white nationalist a platform — because what Tapper did here was the latter.

This is not the first time Tapper and CNN have sought to legitimize and make relevant white nationalists and Nazis.

In February of last year, CNN gave Arthur Jones, a full-blown Nazi, a national platform to share, defend, sell, and express his appalling views. No one even knew who Jones was until CNN decided to make him famous. But at least in that segment, his views were challenged…

Richard Spencer, however, received no pushback whatsoever on Tapper’s show. Instead, he was portrayed as a serious Thought Leader.

But this is nothing new for Tapper.

In 2016, Tapper launched a crusade to make unrepentant former-Klansman David Duke and his views politically relevant again. Duke was a frequent topic on Tapper’s show, and in January 2018, Tapper even retweeted the racist:

Whether or not the president meant it this way, this is how fringe far-right bigots heard that “Dreamers” line last night. https://t.co/dJmhoAtCMb — Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) January 31, 2018

Yep, all on their own, Tapper and CNN managed to make this creaky, old forgotten scumbag politically relevant again, managed to resurrect and legitimize someone the country had forgotten. In 2016 alone, CNN.com published some 20 stories about Duke, and this doesn’t count all the airtime he and his views received.

And just to be clear, I’m not in favor of blacklisting Spencer or Duke or Louis Farrakhan or white nationalists or black nationalists or Klansmen or Black Panthers or Nazis or Communists. I’m a free speech extremist who believes everyone should have the right to express their views, no matter how toxic. Even garbage have rights in this country.

What Tapper did, though, is something completely different. He invited an avowed white nationalist on to his national platform to spread his views unchallenged.

So why is Tapper so eager to legitimize racists and white supremacists? Why is he working so hard to make them relevant again?

Well, what we have here is a classic case of a pious demagogue becoming what he hates, or in Tapper’s case, what he thinks he hates.

Trump is no racist. He’s been in the public eye for 40 years, and there is no proof he’s racist. Quite the opposite, in fact.

And so, because he’s no racist, Trump has never done anything to legitimize racists like Spencer and Duke, but…

Tapper and CNN have, haven’t they?

Tapper is doing exactly what he falsely accuses Trump of doing: legitimizing white supremacists.

Trump has never given any white nationalist a platform from which to spread his views…

Jake Tapper has.

CNN has.

Think about that.

Watching Jake Tapper destroy his ratings and his reputation over the last five or so years has been quite the spectacle. As cynical as I am about Tapper’s lack of integrity and credibility, though, and even after he remained silent as his audience booed a rape victim, never would I have guessed that someday Tapper’s hatred and indecency would result in him offering his national platform to the likes of a Richard Spencer.

Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC. Follow his Facebook Page here.