Republican Joe Walsh announced his campaign for the 2020 presidency Sunday.
What We Know:
- Walsh announced his candidacy in a video on ABC’s “This Week,” asserting that his campaign is about throwing away conventions and being brave. “Today I’m declaring my candidacy for President of the United States because it’s time, it’s time to be brave,” he said.
- Walsh is actively challenging President Donald Trump, accepting the “bullying” he will experience in doing so. Walsh told George Stephanopoulos on ABC that he is sticking up for the many Republicans he feels agree that Trump is not fit for the presidency but are afraid to speak up. “We cannot afford four more years of Donald Trump, no way. What cannot wait is all of us having the courage to finally say publicly what we all know privately,” Walsh said.
"I'm running because he's unfit, somebody needs to step up and there needs to be an alternative. The country is sick of this guy's tantrum, he's a child," Joe Walsh tells @GStephanopoulos when asked about GOP support for Trump https://t.co/bLWbG7aCAU pic.twitter.com/KeFCo7sJmL
— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) August 25, 2019
- Walsh specifically attacked Trump for his erratic Twitter presence that causes very real economic problems for the country and targets individuals, his relationship with Vladimir Putin and the message he sends American children that lying is OK. “I’m running because Donald Trump is not who we are. In fact, he’s the worst of who we are,” Walsh said.
- Walsh served one term as a representative of the Tea Party in the House in 2010. Walsh has made fame as a conservative talk radio host and tea party activist; the Tea Party movement is a fiscally conservative American political movement that calls for lower tax rates and opposes universal government health care. Walsh ran and lost in a race for the Illinois General Assembly in 1998, and has had some problems with support from the Republican party for identifying himself with more conservative politics.
- Before Trump’s presidency, Walsh was a public fan of his. He has since apologized for his harsh criticism of former president Barack Obama and his part in creating Trump. “I helped create Trump. There’s no doubt in that. The personal, ugly politics. I regret that. And I’m sorry for that,” Walsh said.
When prompted by Jon Karl of ABC about Walsh’s campaign, Trump’s administration expressed very little concern with a one-word answer, “Whatever.”
