Former Rep. Joe Walsh (R-IL) officially announced his 2020 campaign to challenge President Donald Trump on Sunday morning.
After Walsh floated a possible run for the presidency last week, ABC “This Day” host George Stephanopoulos asked the conservative hardliner on Sunday if he’d made a final decision.
Walsh, an outspoken Trump critic, confirmed that he had.
“I’m going to run for president, and I’m happy to be on your show announcing my candidacy,” Walsh told Stephanopoulos. “George, no surprise, we’ve got a guy in the White House who’s unfit, completely unfit, to be president.”
“And it stuns me that nobody’s stepped up, nobody in the Republican party’s stepped up,” he continued.
Walsh claimed that “everybody” in the GOP “believes [Trump’s] unfit” for office.
When Stephanopoulos pointed out Trump’s high approval rating among Republicans, Walsh said it was because “they don’t have an alternative.”
“Somebody needs to step up and there needs to be an alternative,” he said.
Walsh said that his most former GOP colleagues don’t want Trump to be reelected.
“They want him to lose in November,” Walsh said. “And then they think they’re done with him and everything can go back to normal.”
Former Massachusetts governor Bill Weld (R) is the only other Republican to launch a primary challenge against Trump so far.
Watch Walsh below:
Joe Walsh officially announces his 2020 primary challenge against Trump pic.twitter.com/f19LArjHx5
— TPM Livewire (@TPMLiveWire) August 25, 2019
