In case you didn’t think Donald Trump’s smears of Gold Star father Khizr Khan were mean-spirited and bigoted enough, make sure to check out what Carl Paladino, the honorary New York co-chair of Trump’s campaign, had to say.

Remember Paladino? He’s the thuggish gubernatorial candidate (R-NY) trounced by Andrew Cuomo in 2010. You may recall that Paladino “distinguished” himself by threatening to “take out” a New York Post reporter and has a history of sending racist and pornographic emails. Sean Hannity, of course, loved Paladino’s “confrontational style” and “refreshing honesty.”

So, apparently, does Hannity’s beloved Donald Trump. Because even after Paladino smeared Mr. Khan last week, then again over the weekend, Paladino remains in his Trump-campaign post.

From BuzzFeed:

In an email to BuzzFeed News on Sunday, Carl Paladino said Khan dishonored the memory of his son by speaking at the Democratic National Convention, a speech Paladino claims Hillary Clinton paid Khan to deliver. Paladino also accused Khan of connections to Islamic terrorists. He did not provide any evidence to support either claim.

“Kahn’s [sic] history of advocating for Islamist terrorists like the Muslim Brotherhood and his prior communications with terrorist individuals and organizations give reason to his dumb attempt to enter the arena and re-define to real Americans the Trump they know as a patriotic leader who will confront and destroy America’s demons and do what Hillary and her hero Barack don’t have the fortitude or disposition to do,” Paladino wrote.

[…}

Paladino said last week on Imus in the Morning that Khan doesn’t deserve the title of a Gold Star parent because he’s shown himself to be “anti-American” and may be a supporter of “the ISIS-type of attitude against America.”

In a podcast with Fox’s Alan Colmes, Paladino tripled down on attacking Khan.

PALADINO: If a man chooses to advocate against Mr. Trump on his whole Islamist thing… obviously, he’s in league with them [terrorists] if he’s advocating for them.

You really need to hear the whole thing to get a full sense of how willfully ignorant and bigoted Paladino is.

That includes Paladino’s insistence that Trump is “doing very well” in the polls. When Colmes corrected Paladino with the truth, that Trump is actually doing very poorly, Paladino insisted, “You’re pointing out some of Hillary’s crooked polls.”

Colmes noted that the polls are all independent but Paladino refused to listen.

Watch this frightening example of a prominent Trump supporter and surrogate, below from an August 17 podcast.

By the way, Paladino is hoping for a Cuomo rematch.