Former Rep. Joe Walsh (R-Ill.) said Thursday morning that he’s strongly considering a primary challenge to President Trump, adding that he has not seen anyone make an effective case against the president.
“I’m strongly, strongly considering it,” the conservative radio personality told CNN host John Berman. “If somebody’s going to get in there and go after him, John, it’s got to be done soon. You’re running out of time.”
“These are not conventional times, look at the guy in the White House. These are urgent times. Somebody needs to make that case. I have yet to hear any potential Republican make that case.”
{mosads}Walsh, who was elected to Congress in 2010 in the Tea Party wave and served a single term in the House, hinted a potential primary challenge would focus on Trump’s character and previewed a possible bare knuckles fight for the GOP nomination.
“Trump’s a bully, and he’s a coward, and the only way you beat a bully and you beat a coward is to expose them, is to punch them,” he said. “He is a bad man.”
“Virtually every time he opens his mouth, he lies.”
The Illinois Republican said that while he voted for Trump in 2016, the White House lost his support after the 2018 summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki in 2018 when Trump appeared to take Putin’s word that Moscow did not interfere in the 2016 election, contradicting the universal opinion of the U.S intelligence community.
Walsh admitted that there are more prominent Republicans out there who could possibly take on Trump, though none have thus far signaled they intend to do so.
“There are bigger names than me,” he said. “There are bigger former senators and members of Congress, but none of them have the courage to step up and challenge him.”
Former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld (R), who was also the Libertarian Party’s vice presidential pick in the 2016 race, is the only Republican thus far to officially declare a primary challenge to Trump, though his campaign has struggled to gain traction.