Never Trump never Walsh
Serving as the second official Republican presidential nominee running against Donald Trump in the 2020 primaries following Bill Weld’s April announcement, Joe Walsh is merely an escape for Republicans in toxic shock from the Trump presidency. Though Republicans who are not fond of the current president deserve a more stable alternative, Walsh is made of the same flimsy material as Trump.
The 2016 race had Walsh tweeting, “If Trump loses, I’m grabbing my musket. You in?” but his support for Trump seemingly ended after Trump’s 2018 Helsinki meeting with Vladimir Putin, the leader of Russia, when Trump sided with Russia over the FBI on the subject of election meddling. Walsh now calls Trump “a racial arsonist who encourages bigotry and xenophobia to rouse his base.” Ironic, considering Walsh launched his campaign with an apology for his many racist, unsubstantiated attacks against former President Barack Obama. “Obama encourages illegals to vote,” Walsh wrote in 2016. He also continually fueled the claim that Obama is a Muslim, tweeting in 2016 “I think Obama is a Muslim”, and telling MSNBC in 2013 that our enemy is “Young Muslim men.”
Walsh also infamously said in 2017 “I’m sick and tired of the Sandy Hook parents. They’re partisan and political.” In another tweet, he added, “Sandy Hook parents: Your 15 minutes is up,” a reference to the concept of flushing events out for a few minutes of popularity.
On Sept. 7, 2019, Walsh hypocritically tweeted “(Trump) watches TV and tweets attacks on American citizens. That’s all he does.” Considering Walsh’s current legacy is that of an angry man with fast thumbs and a phone nearby, someone else tweeting too much should be the least of his problems.
Walsh mirrors Trump in nearly every aspect pre-presidency. Yet Never Trumpers, a group of Republicans whose sole intentions were to keep Trump from getting elected, endorse this carbon copy. While it is valid and increasingly common to disagree with the Trump presidency as a Republican, the validity of endorsing a person who is morally and ethically similar to Trump is questionable at best, and hypocritical at worst.
