Joe Walsh, the heartburn candidate
by digby
After making his case for why Trump is “completely unfit to be president” and he could be the “alternative” more traditional Republican voters have been craving, Walsh was forced to reckon with his own controversial record on This Week.
“You said you want to make the case against the president. The question is, are you the best messenger?” Stephanopoulos asked.
“I helped create Trump,” the right-wing radio host replied. “And George, that’s not an easy thing to say.” As part of the “Tea Party class” in Congress, Walsh said he “wanted to shake Washington up” and sometimes “went beyond the policy and the idea differences, and I got personal, and I got hateful.”
“I said some ugly things about President Obama that I regret,” he added. “And it’s difficult, but I think that helped create Trump. And I feel responsible for that.”
For much of the Obama administration, Walsh repeatedly pushed the same “birther” conspiracies that Trump did and, as the host pointed out, was calling Obama a Muslim as recently as December 2016. “Did you really believe he’s a Muslim?” Stephanopoulos asked.
“God no. And I have apologized for that,” Walsh answered. “And that’s not an easy thing to do, not at all.” He did not offer an apology for tweeting that Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) “can say dumb things” and get away with it because she’s a black woman, comments Stephanlopoulos called “textbook racism and sexism.”
Stephanopoulos neglected to ask if Walsh was sorry for endorsing arming toddlers on Sacha Baron Cohen’s Showtime series Who Is America?
“But think about the contrast, George,” Walsh added. “Again, I’m baring my soul with you right now on national TV. We have a guy in the White House who’s never apologized for anything he’s done or said. I think it’s a weakness not to apologize. I helped create Trump. There’s no doubt about that, the personal, ugly politics. I regret that. And I’m sorry for that.”
Joe Walsh is a far-right talk show host who once served as a congressman. He obviously cannot win. But he’s got what it takes to cause Trump some heartburn:
Agree w this. No chance of winning obvs. But to cause static for trump you need someone hard right, transgressive and aggressive. And Walsh is those things.— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) August 25, 2019
I’m actually surprised we haven’t seen more wingnut fringe types take this tack. There must be a small market for “true believers against Trump” out there — people who claim they are keeping the flame of the conservative movement alive. The conservative movement as it once was is dead, of course. It turns out the alleged intellectuals were always full of shit and the rank and file were nothing more than the existing racist American underbelly. Still, there are probably a few lonely libertarians and Reagan lovers left who would like to think it wasn’t all the massive scam it obviously was.
Walsh isn’t one of them, of course. He was a birther from the get. Bu he may have the talent (as Scaramucci obviously does) to drive Trump nuts.
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