This is surreal.

A little earlier today, House Speaker Paul Ryan weighed in on the ugly and, indeed, un-manly insults Donald Trump is slinging at Indian-born federal Judge Gonzalo Curiel who is presiding of Donald Trump’s fraud trial.

“claiming someone cannot do their job because of their race is a textbook racist comment”

Minutes later, Trump surrogate and obvious Mensa member, Jeffrey Lord was on CNN and had his own commentary.

Via Mediaite

Ryan had said during a press conference only moments before that Trump’s rhetoric about Judge Gonzalo Curiel was the “textbook definition” of racism. Lord didn’t care for that remark one bit: “Speaker Ryan is wrong and Speaker Ryan has apparently switched positions and is supporting identity politics, which is racist. I am astonished.”

“You’re accusing Paul Ryan of racism?” host Carol Costello asked.

“I am accusing anybody who believes in identity politics, which he apparently now does, of playing the race card. The Republican establishment is playing this, Senator [Mitch McConnell] is playing this,” Lord responded.

“These people have run and hid and borrowed the Democratic agenda of playing the race card,” he continued. “It’s just wrong!”

“Do you know how ironic that is that you’re calling all of those particular Republicans racist?” Costello put in.

“I am saying it’s identity politics, which is racist, and they should reject it out of hand,” Lord concluded.

Okay, so I can agree with Lord to a certain extent. I believe that identity politics are pernicious and they aggravate grievances. I don’t even have a problem calling identity politics racism because when a race bands together for the benefit of a race, it doesn’t really make any difference what the race is. I don’t see today’s “white nationalists” as being distinguishable in any way from the Nation of Islam, Council of La Raza, or any other group that has as its primary goal racial solidarity.

Having said that, Lord is nucking futs.

Paul Ryan said very simply that Donald Trump accusing Judge Curiel of racial bias simply because his parents were naturalized citizens (sort of like Trump’s mother) was a racist comment. He didn’t endorse identity politics. In fact, he repudiated the identity politics being fostered by Trump and which are the basis for his accusations against Judge Curiel.