Conservative radio show host and former Tea Party congressman Joe Walsh wouldn't confirm Thursday that he's challenging President Donald Trump in the Republican primary, but he said it's "safe to say" he's leaning toward it.
"I'm strongly, strongly considering it," Walsh told CNN's "New Day." "I'm not trying to be cute or coy. If somebody's going to get in there and go after him, it's got to be done soon. You're running out of time."
But, he said he doesn't know quite yet if that person will be him, but acknowledged that whoever runs will need to make a decision soon, as Labor Day is looming.
"Look, I'm a former congressman," said Walsh. "I've been on the radio around the country for the last six years. I'm an okay guy. There are bigger names than me."
Some of those bigger names are former senators and members of Congress who could challenge Trump, he added, but "none of them have the courage to step up and challenge him."
Walsh said it's important to pose a tough challenge to Trump because he's "a bully and he's a coward, and the only way you beat a bully and you beat a coward is to expose them, is to punch them...I'd punch him every single day."
He also called Trump a "conman," and said that has nothing to do with the national debt or his "bad and horrible" tariffs.
A successful candidate will win if they make the "moral" case against Trump, Walsh added.
"If Republicans stay silent in the face of this guy, I don't think the country will ever forgive the Republican Party, but forget about the Republican Party," said Walsh. "If this guy gets four more years, we're in real, real trouble. It's worth doing anything you can do to try to stop that."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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