Joe Walsh: Radio host and former congressman to challenge Trump for Republican nomination in 2020
Announcement makes Mr Walsh the second Republican to officially announce a bid to unseat Donald Trump
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Your support makes all the difference.Joe Walsh, a former Republican congressman from Illinois and conservative radio host, has officially announced a challenge to Donald Trump for their party’s 2020 presidential nomination.
Mr Walsh made the announcement on Twitter, where he specifically attacked Mr Trump, whom he had previously supported in 2016.
“We can’t take four more years of Donald Trump. And that’s why I’m running for president. It won’t be easy, but bravery is never easy. But together, we can do it,” Mr Walsh wrote in his campaign announcement.
The former Republican congressman supported Mr Trump in 2016, but said at the time that he only did so because the future president would otherwise have been Hillary Clinton.
Since he became president, however, Mr Walsh said the president’s behaviour has become increasingly concerning. The moment of no return came when Mr Trump, during a press conference last summer with Vladimir Putin, said that he trusted the Russian leader’s words over American intelligence agency analysis of meddling in the 2016 election.
Mr Walsh is among three Republicans considering a run against Mr Trump for the 2020 nomination, which is expected to be a long-shot bid for any candidate as the president enjoys an 88 per cent approval rating within the party.
Former Massachusetts governor Bill Weld is one of those other Republicans, having announced months ago.
Former congressman Mark Sanford has also said he is considering a bid, and told CNN last month that he was planning on visiting early voting states such as Iowa and New Hampshire to test the waters. Mr Sanford is from South Carolina.
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