Two Republican presidential hopefuls are attempting to remove President Donald Trump from the White House in 2020.
Getting to Know Rep. Joe Walsh
President Donald Trump not only faces competition from the Democratic Party in 2020.
He also faces opposition from presidential hopefuls from the Republican Party.
While it seems improbable that any GOP candidate can unseat incumbent President Trump in the Republican primary, that has not stopped a couple of candidates from giving it that old college try.
“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,” tweeted former Rep. Joe Walsh (R-Ill.) on Aug. 25.
Rep. Walsh has become a vocal opponent of Trump, labeling him as unfit for office.
The former Tea Party congressman won a seat in the House in 2010.
However, Walsh later lost that seat to Rep. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) two years later.
After leaving Congress, Walsh found work as a conservative radio talk show host.
He also formed a super PAC after leaving the United States House of Representatives.
The Grow and Be Rich Super PAC aimed at backing conservative political candidates and to act as an alternative to super PACs that support more establishment Republican political candidates.
Before shutting the super PAC down in 2015, the Grow and Be Rich Super PAC raised $30,000 in 2013.
Republican mega-donor Richard Uihlein gave $5,000 before the super PAC lost steam and faded away.
Walsh has claimed that Trump is not really a conservative although the president claims to represent the conservative and populist movements.
The ironic thing about Walsh’s challenge of Trump for the White House in 2020 is that he was one of the president’s most vocal supporters in 2016.
Not only did Walsh support Trump in 2016, he bombastically supported the 45th President of the United States.
In 2016, Walsh tweeted, “On November 8th, I’m voting for Trump. On November 9th, if Trump loses, I’m grabbing my musket. You in?”
Later, Walsh apologized for “the role I played in helping to put an unfit con man in the White House.”
Despite his criticism of Trump for being “unfit,” Walsh has grappled with his share of controversy.
Walsh got taken off the radio in 2014 for using racial slurs on-air.
However, Walsh said that he used the racial slur in order to have an “honest discussion” about racial slurs.
Walsh has called former President Barack Obama a Muslim.
President Obama is a Christian.
He also said that Obama had “hatred toward Israel.”
While Trump enjoys great popularity amongst Republican voters, Walsh said he is “ripe for a primary challenger.”
However, a recent poll shows that most Republicans (53 percent) believe that Trump is a better president than former President Abraham Lincoln.
On the contrary, 75 percent of Democrats and Independents believe that President Lincoln was the better Commander-in-Chief.
Other than Trump’s popularity, Walsh faces an uphill battle in raising money to challenge the incumbent president.
When Politico asked him if he could raise enough money to compete against Trump, Walsh responded, “abso-freaking-lutely.”
At one point in his career, Walsh worked for the Heartland Institute, a libertarian organization that broadens questions about the consensus of climate change.
On the issues, Walsh proudly boasts of his conservative stances.
He strongly supports the Second Amendment, but hates to see violent Americans misusing the right to bear arms.
Walsh dislikes seeing Trump supporters resort to violence and use Trump’s words as their excuse for that violence.
Via his 2020 presidential campaign website Walsh said, “What I hate to see is that right being abused by violent people, some who have stated Trump was an inspiration for their violence, to murder Americans who were otherwise going about their daily lives.
“I hate to hear of another group of people taken from their loved ones, their families, because we refuse to do simple things such as implement universal background checks.”
Walsh definitely supports more security at the United States-Mexico border.
However, he criticizes Trump and Obama for separating families from each other at the border.
He finds Trump’s policy of locking people up for seeking the American dream as repulsive.
“We effectively have a network of prisons where we lock up people who were drawn to the American dream,” Walsh said via his campaign website. “We need border security, which Trump has failed to deliver on throughout his presidency, and we’ve allowed our government to put a stain on the legacy of our great nation.”
Walsh believes in limited government like many conservatives.
He blames Trump for increasing the national debt by $4 trillion despite promising to wipe out the national debt in eight years.
Walsh believes in free trade and wants to see American goods sold throughout the world, which would create more jobs in America.
He said, “We should not be putting in tariffs that punish American industries, builders, consumers, and families. Americans are already struggling as it is, we are finally starting to see average families recovering from the effects of the great recession, and our government should not be imposing additional costs that get passed on to them.
“We’ve seen American factories continue to close under Trump, and basic materials and goods are getting more expensive. Now is not the time to be slamming the breaks on the American economy.”
While Walsh’s principles would appeal to many Republicans in any other election cycle, Trump’s popularity amongst the GOP makes unseating him highly unlikely, especially before the general election.
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