Editor’s note: After this article was posted, yet another interesting and information-packed article was published about Joe — here’s the link: Joe Walsh sees an opportunity.
Concluding this three-part series we ask “why Trump and why not Joe?”
Again, I have to say what I said in part one — I like former congressman and former radio talk show host Joe Walsh. I’d venture to say that most people who know Joe like him. I’d also guess that most of those same people are puzzled (although not necessarily surprised) by his decision to challenge a sitting president that is extremely popular among Republicans.
Joe’s campaign got off to a rough start and though he got a lot of media attention initially, he’s dropped out of the headlines rather quickly in the last week or so.
Here are just three examples of many news and opinion articles noting Joe’s first weeks on the trail:
Joe Walsh Says Trump Is ‘Unfit’ to Be President. Some Say the Same About Him.
“He’s off to a bad start,” said Glen Bolger, a leading Republican pollster. “To have it where you don’t really have a message and your various tweets come back to bite you, I don’t think it’s what he was planning.”
And…
Media Puff Up Trump’s Republican Primary Challengers
Comical headlines from the leftstream media that treat Joe Walsh and the other would-be primary challengers as serious candidates are an attempt to concern-troll Republicans into supporting them.
That’s not going to happen. President Trump enjoys a Reaganesque 90-plus-percent approval rating among Republicans, and any support given to a challenger only serves the purpose of helping elect a socialist.
The brutally terrible Walsh is the Republican equivalent of Bill de Blasio, a candidate so bad that no sane person takes him seriously, but CNN trumpets that he could “make some real trouble for Donald Trump” as MSNBC compliments him on the “soul-searching” he has done.
And finally…
[N]ow, out of the blue, comes his unserious presidential run. How do we know it’s unserious? Because, as of this writing, his campaign website has zero information on it other than an anti-Trump rant and a way to donate money. Because immediately following his announcement, he genuflected to the media (ABC, MSNBC, and CNN, to name a few) with a groveling apology tour. Because he recruited George Conway and William “Kiss of Death” Kristol for his campaign. Because no serious Republican contender quips that they’re on the verge of voting for socialists like Elizabeth Warren or Bernie Sanders rather than the man who’s done more to advance conservatism than anyone since Reagan.
It seems that Joe didn’t think through this run quite well enough.
Here’s a question: why is Donald Trump’s presidency seen by many supporters as the best since Ronald Reagan? Much of the answer can be found at the website Promises Kept. Fourteen subject areas are highlighted — from “Economy and Jobs” and “Immigration” to “Regulation” and “Law and Justice.”
Joe is saying he can do better than that?
President Trump’s performance in office has even won over many of his former conservative critics. His rising approval rating among Hispanics and blacks is the highest ever seen for a Republican president.
Now that the Russia collusion hoax has been exposed, the latest attack on President Trump is that he’s a racist. That’s as silly as Russian collusion and equally lacking in evidence. On the topic of Trump as a racist, here is a group of black Americans speaking out on the matter in a must-watch short video.
One writer summed up another reason for President Donald Trump’s support:
Has there been a president in living memory who relishes a fight more than Trump? I don’t think so. That is a major reason why he remains popular with conservatives and has seen his favorability ratings rise.
Sure, I like President Trump’s actions on job-killing regulations, tax relief, border security, energy independence, military funding, judicial appointments, and so on. But what really invigorates me and millions of other EverTrumpers is that he is fearless — impervious to attacks by his adversaries and merciless in responding to them.
Trump is an oddity: A Republican president who stands up to the Left’s defamations and brickbats and returns fire. His prickly personality is one driving force; another is Twitter, the social media megaphone he uses to bypass the legacy media’s censors.
Friends of Joe and Others Weigh in On His Possible Run for President
Some of what Joe has been saying in recent media interviews has been incomprehensible. Joe doesn’t like President Trump’s personality and believes he’s bad for politics and for civic discourse. Joe says the president is a bully, a liar, indecent, and that the president puts our country in danger every single day. Here’s Joe:
If I [run against President Trump], I’m going to punch him in the face every single day… I’m going to call him out because I think he’s an absolute con man who is a danger to the party and the country.
Here’s a recent headline: “Joe Walsh says GOP primary voters tired of Trump’s ‘daily bullshit’.” That’s decency?
People who know Joe have theories that overlap and have connecting themes:
He was about to lose his radio gig. So then what’s next for Joe? One tried and true path to a new political job is to run for governor or some other high office. That “former candidate” résumé enhancement is surprisingly valued by media outlets when they’re looking to hire someone.
If you run against Trump, you certainly are auditioning for a contributor spot on CNN, MSNBC, or maybe even Fox. From what I hear, those gigs pay nicely — and they’re certainly a lot less work than a daily radio show.
One person who had worked hard on Joe’s congressional campaign nine years ago reminded me that Joe’s line on the trail was “I feel that I’m losing my country.” This Trump fan and now Joe critic then said, “Finally we’re starting to get our country back.”
My Opinion
While the president has accomplished a lot, there is so much more work that needs to be done, and so much more swamp draining and disruption to benefit from. Donald Trump losing in 2020 ensures good progress will stop. President Donald Trump knows how to get stuff done. I know of no other politician who can say the same.
Instead of running for president Joe Walsh should do something constructive. He should help conservatives get serious about fighting and winning the information war. And he should recruit and help elect more fiscally sane conservatives to the U.S. House and U.S. Senate.
That important nationwide role could be made to pay at least as well as being anti-Trump, though it probably would not attract as much media coverage. But what’s more important, Joe?
