Former Rep. Joe Walsh Announces He's Challenging Trump for the 2020 GOP Presidential Nomination
The #NeverTrumpers have never had it so good.
On the same weekend that the blink-of-an eye former White House communications director and perennial loudmouth Anthony Scaramucci attended a Joe Biden fundraiser to tout the need for a Republican challenger for President Donald Trump in 2020, just such a challenger has popped up.
Now, the country can watch the mainstream media try to turn it into the challenge of the century.
In an interview on ABC’s “This Week” with George Stephanopoulos — the former Bill Clinton White House staffer — former Rep. Walsh of Illinois, a man who served all of one term in the House of Representatives in the middle years of the Obama presidency, said he is launching a challenge to Trump.
And he couldn’t believe no one else was.
Former Republican Rep. Joe Walsh will primary Trump: “I’m going to run for president.”
“No surprise: We’ve got a guy in the White House who is unfit, completely unfit to be president and it stuns me that nobody stepped up.”
Via ABC pic.twitter.com/w5e5YbSb5A— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) August 25, 2019
Possibly realizing that a face-to-face with a Clinton apologist like Stephanopoulos is no way to win Republican primary voters’ trust, Walsh also made a separate announcement on Twitter.
“Friends, I’m in,” Walsh tweeted. “We can’t take four more years of Donald Trump and that’s why I’m running for president.
“It won’t be easy, but bravery is never easy. But together, we can do it.
Friends, I’m in. We can’t take four more years of Donald Trump. And that’s why I’m running for President.
It won’t be easy, but bravery is never easy. But together, we can do it. Join me… join us: go to https://t.co/d40HA9h2Kz.
Let’s show the world we’re ready to be brave.
— Joe Walsh (@WalshFreedom) August 25, 2019
Actually, it’s a very good bet that former Rep. Walsh can’t do it – as in unseat Trump — any more than the already-announced former Massachusetts Gov. William Weld can do it or still-considering it former Gov. and Rep. Mark Sanford could do it.
The fact is that a sitting president rarely has to worry about a challenger from his own political party.
Then-President Gerald Ford faced one from Ronald Reagan for the Republican nomination in 1976, but those were extraordinary times — and Ford had never been elected president. Jimmy Carter faced one from Ted Kennedy for the Democratic in 1980, but Jimmy Carter was an extraordinarily bad president. (Only Ted Kennedy would have been worse.)
Pat Buchanan’s insurgency against then-President George H.W. Bush in 1992 was a fine political show and a great statement of principle, but wasn’t a serious challenge for the nomination. It could be argued that it cost Bush the general election by igniting opposition among conservatives, but Bush’s own abandonment of his “no new taxes” pledge had already done that.
Still, the branch of the Republican Party that never, ever, ever accepted Donald Trump’s fair-and-square winning of the GOP nomination in 2016 are having a banner weekend.
First “The Mooch” makes news – again – by telling the national media how disappointed he is with Trump. Now, an actual conservative Republican (unlike the Massachusetts variety of William Weld) has announced a challenge to Trump in the primaries.
They better enjoy it while it lasts. The chances of Trump being anything more than slightly inconvenienced by any Republican challenge in 2020 are virtually nil – as they should be and as some of the social media responses to Walsh showed.
Sorry Joe but I am a die hard TRUMP fan living in Southern California- raised in Southern California. I live just a few miles away from Trump Golf Course. Not going to change because you are running. Trump is sticking to what HE PROMISED.
— Kathy (@cal_gal53) August 25, 2019
Which part “can’t you take”
– the great economy
– the low unemployment
– the peace though strength safety and security we enjoy
– keeping the hysterical wacky leftists under control
I think we desperately need 4 more years.
— Edward Lewis (@EdwardLErb) August 25, 2019
Why can’t we take 4 more years? Is it the lowest unemployment for every sector…strong world leadership…lower taxes…strongest military…putting Americans first… or maybe his love for America? I will be front & center on 11/3/2020 to make sure I do my part for 4 MORE!!
— Consider the Source⭐️??? (@turnin2) August 25, 2019
With the score and more Democrats seeking their party’s nomination at the moment (at least until the next debate cull), the Republican field looked absolutely empty, given it only had the incumbent and a no-chance challenger in William Weld.
Now it has two no-chance challengers. Even the mainstream media is going to have trouble treating them both as serious contenders, though MSNBC is giving it a shot.
NEW: Former GOP Rep. Joe Walsh announces 2020 presidential campaign, saying he’s running because “we can’t take four more years of Donald Trump.” https://t.co/cDrhrBj3v6
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) August 25, 2019
As lame as it sounds to Trump supporters, the #NeverTrumpers have never had it so good.
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