Joe Walsh, Conservative former congressman form Illinois, United States announced Sunday that he’s launching a long-shot Republican presidential primary challenge against President Donald Trump.
“I’m going to run for president,” Walsh told ABC News Chief Anchor George Stephanopoulos in an interview.
When Stephanopoulos pointed out the massive uphill climb Walsh has in front of him in the primary thanks to Trump’s overwhelmingly high approval rating within the party, the controversial former congressman argued that conservatives don’t have an alternative to the president.
“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,” Walsh said.
The former congressman-turned-radio host was once a fervent Trump supporter. But now, he has become a fierce critic.
Walsh is just the second Republican to jump into the primary behind former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld, who announced back in April but has yet to gain serious traction.
Trump campaign communications director Tim Murtaugh told ABC News a dismissive one-word response to Walsh jumping into the race: “Whatever.”
Walsh has acknowledged there’s little chance his candidacy will result in Trump losing the party nomination, and he is instead focused on offering GOP voters an alternative vision for the party.
While he has argued that he plans to make the moral case for his candidacy, the former Tea Party congressman has a history filled with incendiary and controversial statements ranging from using racist slurs on Twitter to promoting falsehoods around former President Barack Obama’s birth certificate and that he’s Muslim.
