Joe Walsh, one of the few Republicans mounting a presidential challenge to President Trump, said he will not vote to re-elect the president if his bid for the GOP's 2020 nomination fails.
"Hell no," Walsh told Cheddar on Thursday. "I'm running because I think he is unfit and I think he is a danger to this country. I could never support that."
Walsh, a former Congressman from Illinois and conservative radio host, launched his campaign last month by trying to make the case that Trump is uniquely and morally unfit to lead the nation. His bid, however, is widely seen as quixotic given the strong support for Trump among Republican voters and the GOP establishment. Several polls put Trump's approval ratings among Republicans as high as 80 to 90 percent.
Yet Walsh, who was elected to Congress as a staunch Tea Party Republican and was an ardent supporter of Trump in 2016, said the president is "destroying in the Republican brand" with his rash behavior — and that support for him endures simply because there is no Republican alternative.
"This guy in the White House lies almost every time he opens his mouth. He's cruel, he's bigoted — he's just mean," Walsh said.
Critics note, however, that Walsh largely came to right-wing prominence peddling conspiracy theories and making bigoted comments himself. Most notably, his repeated false claims that former President Obama is Muslim and was not born in the U.S. On New Years Eve in 2016, for instance, Walsh tweeted "Obama is a Muslim. Happy New Year!"
Walsh has also routinely attacked organizations like Black Lives Matter, defended the use of homophobic slurs, and has been criticized for fanning the flames — and inciting violence — around cultural sensitivities.
In 2016, after several police officers were killed in Dallas, Texas by an African American gunman, Walsh tweeted "This is now war. Watch out Obama. Watch out black lives matter punks. Real America is coming after you." The tweet was quickly deleted but sparked shock and outrage. Months later, when Walsh supported then-candidate Trump, he tweeted that "if Trump loses, I'm grabbing my musket. You in?"
Walsh has since apologized for his lengthy list of bigoted and controversial remarks, including the racist comments about Obama. He also told MSNBC last month that "I wouldn't call myself a racist, but ... I've said racist things on Twitter. There's no doubt about it."
Walsh has also ceded that his language — especially his rhetoric on Twitter — mirrored that of Trump and his ilk; and sowed resentment into certain voting blocks that contributed to Trump's electoral victory. Yet the difference between Trump and himself, Walsh has said, is that he has apologized.
Walsh is joined by former Massachusetts Governor Bill Weld and former South Carolina Congressman Mark Sanford in challenging Trump in the upcoming Republican primary. All three candidates argue that Trump is particularly unqualified to occupy the Oval Office.
"Every day and week that goes by, this president proves more and more that he is unfit and I think Republican voters will welcome a primary challenge," Walsh said.
Walsh and the other candidates, however, faces significant hurdles to beating Trump. Republican officials in several states this week — South Carolina, Nevada, Arizona, and Kansas — canceled their primaries altogether. Foregoing the elections, which proponents and Trump say will save the GOP money, will result in the state's delegates automatically going to Trump.
"We're going to fight it with everything we've got … This kind of thing cannot stand in America," Walsh said regarding the canceled primaries, which he said disenfranchises Republican voters.
Trump on Monday dismissed his challengers, saying "I don't even know who they are ... I guess it's a publicity stunt."
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has signed an application for Ukraine's membership in the European Union, pleading with the bloc to accept this request. It comes as Russian forces push further into Ukraine, forcing at least half a million refugees to flee. Benjamin Schmitt, Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Harvard University and Senior Fellow at the Center for European Policy Analysis, breaks down the latest in Ukraine.
A growing wave of major U.S. companies have taken steps to cut ties with Russia or offer support to Ukraine, as tensions escalate in the region. Exxon, Apple and Boeing are just the latest companies to make the move, following the likes of Google, Meta and BP who have all announced plans to exit the region in response to the conflict. Courtney Vinopal, Breaking News Reporter, Quartz joined Cheddar's Opening Bell for more.
A hospital basement in Ukraine’s coastal city of Mariupol has transformed into a bomb shelter and maternity ward amid shelling during Russia’s invasion.
World leaders are currently dealing with a handful of pressing issues, including Russia's invasion of Ukraine, inflation, and not to mention the COVID-19 pandemic; but it could be argued that the most pressing issue is one that has experienced its fair share of neglect in the past -- climate change. As tensions escalate between Russia and Ukraine, there is fear the focus on climate will once again be pushed aside. However, the White House appears to be making some effort to prevent that from happening. The White House Office of Science and Technology held a first-of-its-kind roundtable discussion with some of the nation's leading climate scientists on Thursday. Michael Mann, Director of the Earth System Science Center at Pennsylvania State University, and author of the book 'The New Climate War' joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss his experience as one of the climate scientists at the White House event.
Scott Clemons, Partner and Chief Investment Strategist at Brown Brothers Harriman, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell, where he discusses the factors leading to the sell-off on Wall Street today and explains why uncertainty is worse than bad news for the investors.
U.S. stocks rebounded to end higher on Thursday after President Biden announced new sanctions against Russia following the country's attack on Ukraine. The Dow was down 859 points at its lowest point of the session, before ultimately finishing the day in the green. Melissa Armo, founder and owner of the Stock Swoosh, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
People of African and Middle Eastern descent fleeing from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine are facing the double trauma of racism at the borders. Professor of law and migration studies at the University of San Francisco, Bill Hing, joined Cheddar News Wrap to discuss what some are describing as a double standard for other refugees escaping the war. "Those that are from the Middle East and from Africa who just happen to be in Ukraine, for example on a student visa, they are not going to be able to get into Poland or another area of the Schengen area because they are not natural Ukrainian," he said.
Add FIFA to the list of organizations announcing a break with Russia. The world soccer authority has suspended the nation from competing in the 2022 World Cup tournament, while the NHL also announced suspending business relations with Russia. Executive editor and senior writer at Sports Illustrated, Jon Wertheim, joined Cheddar News to discuss the rebukes. "I think a big element of this is, this is a way to really hit at Putin because we know how much this appearance of strength and the victory… often portrayed through sports, how much that means to him," he said. "This will bother him in a way that it might not bother other world leaders."
