Walsh, Joe Rep

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STORY 2?! 8 25

claims never trumper

bailled 2020, weld still in NH

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AN 5 26

President Donald Trump and his administration have openly preached for Christianity to shape national policy since he began his second term — yet the vast majority of Americans do not share this agenda.

“The religious right has been ascendant during the second presidency of Donald Trump, and they’ve harnessed his disdain for rules and norms to blur the lines between church and state,” reported Vox's Christian Paz on Thursday. “Inside the White House, the secretary of defense has framed the war in Iran and American military action abroad as sanctioned and guided by God. Outside the government, this alliance between church and state often skirts near the edge of outright idolatry. Conservative pastors are erecting golden statues of Trump (but insisting it does not mirror the infamous golden calf of the Old Testament). They’re extending their hands over the president in prayer after comparing him to Jesus and standing by him, with some mild criticism, after he cast himself as an AI-slop Messiah.”

Yet despite this open call for religion to dictate American policy, Paz reported that a recent survey by Pew Research Center reveals that most Americans do not want this to happen. A mere 10 percent identify as Christian nationalists, compared to 31 percent who oppose them and 59 percent who have no opinion. When it comes to the division between church and state, 13 percent want it weakened while 54 percent support it and 32 percent have no opinion.

According to the Public Religion Research Institute’s president and founder Robert P. Jones, Trump and his administration are pushing for “one sector of Christianity" that has failed to catch on with both religious and non-religious Americans.

“It hasn’t resulted in major shifts in the landscape,” Jones explained. “In other words, they’re not pulling people into that worldview. They’re basically just appealing to a small subset of Americans who already hold those views and who just happen to be their political base.”

Even some former Trumpers oppose Trump’s Christian nationalism. In March former Republican US Rep. Joe Walsh said that the theocrats are “out of the closet. They're loud and proud. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson talks about this. Republican members of Congress talk about this. Republican and MAGA thought leaders talk about the fact that America needs to be a Christian country. It needs to be officially designated as a Christian country.”

Citing how Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth openly cited Jesus Christ when discussing his war against Iran with US troops, Walsh added that Hegseth “knows that not every American worships Jesus Christ. So what's he doing? Here's what he's doing. Pete Hegseth is a white Christian nationalist. Pete Hegseth, the Secretary of Defense, is a white Christian nationalist. He wants America to be a white Christian nation.”

“Our founders were very enlightened,” Walsh continued, saying that even though many of them were religious Christians they made sure that “we do not have an official state religion. The very thought of that, the very notion of that is antithetical to what America is. … Christian nationalism is utterly un-American … as un-American as Islamism is. … Islamism is a radical concept that everybody's got to be Islam. Christian nationalism, same thing. Everybody's got to be Christian. Both are utterly un-American.”

He added, “And I guess what I'm saying right now is, as I close on this, this Un-American, and by the way, un-Christian belief, has overtaken the Republican Party. And we need everybody to wake up to it. Fast. and help all of us, help everyone defeat it.”

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President Donald Trump is denouncing Joe Kent, his former director of the National Counterterrorism Center, for resigning in protest over his invasion of Iran. Now a respected columnist is warning Trump’s critics that although Kent may be correct in opposing the Iran war, that does not mean he is on the side of anti-Trumpers.

It just means that “it’s getting crowded under” the bus under which Trump keeps throwing people.

“How does media ― legitimate media ― cover a story in which a bad person does the right thing?” wrote Bill Goodykoontz of the Arizona Republic. “File under: A stopped watch is right twice a day. And more chaos from the Donald Trump era, and how that has affected media coverage.”

Goodykoontz then praised CNN anchor Dana Bash for explaining when covering the news that “Kent is not a typical intelligence official. He is a Trump appointee known for his ties to White nationalists, Nazi sympathizers and an embrace of the Jan. 6 conspiracy theories that we have seen so much (of) on the far right."

Goodykoontz said that “that is the perfect way to place Kent into context, and it should be repeated every time the story is updated. Good for Bash. (All the cable news networks covered the resignation, but Bash's was the most clear and efficient that I saw.)”

As for Kent’s fate, Goodykoontz expressed a rather blase attitude.

“Who gets thrown under the Trump bus next, and how will the media cover it?” Goodykoontz said. “It's hard to say, but it's getting crowded under there.”

Trump’s invasion of Iran is also harshly criticized by many of his fellow conservatives. Contributing to the conservative publication The Bulwark on Tuesday, commentator Jonathan V. Last wrote that Trump’s behavior is “stupid,” citing as one example that “mining the Strait of Hormuz is the single biggest danger America faced heading into any conflict with Iran. How did our commander-in-chief plan to deal with it?”

He added, “Six months ago the Navy decommissioned its four Avenger-class minesweepers that had been stationed in Bahrain precisely to deal with Iranian mines.”

Joe Rogan, a popular right-wing podcaster who openly supported Trump in the 2024 presidential election, admitted earlier in March that some Trump supporters felt “betrayed” by his invasion of Iran.

“Well, it just seems so insane, based on what he ran on. I mean, this is why a lot of people feel betrayed, right?” Rogan said in an episode of his podcast “The Joe Rogan Experience.” “He ran on, ‘No more wars,’ ‘End these stupid, senseless wars,’ and then we have one that we can’t even really clearly define why we did it.”

Another former Trump supporter, ex-Rep. Joe Walsh (R-Ill.), argued in February that Trump supporters who still back him despite his warmongering prove they are in a “cult.”

“I thought you wanted him to end wars all over the world,” Walsh said. “You said you wanted him to end American entanglement in conflicts and wars around the world. America shouldn’t be involved in these wars, you said. That’s why you’re voting for Trump, you said.” He then mentioned Trump’s invasions of Venezuela and Iran.

“And you don’t like when people call you a cult, Trump voters?” Walsh said. “What else are people to think when you voted for Trump to get us the hell out of wars around the world, and instead he gets us involved in wars around the world and starts new wars, and you still sing his praises and support him? What are we to think, MAGA, but that you are a cult?

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joe walsh on cnn tapper 9 25 said kids was norm conservative, made consc choice to go trump; walsh said he was mentor in TP days, now dem, pro democ

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AN 3 26

Opposition to President Donald Trump’s war on Iran is to be expected from Democrats and others on the left, but according to a popular far-right influencer, conservatives are divided and “deeply furious” over the conflict. And while much of the conservative messaging on social media has been supportive of the war, he claims that doesn’t align with the conservative discussion offline.

“I’ve never seen such a disconnect between the commentary on this site and what I hear in the real world,” posted Matt Walsh, a far-right commentator with over 4 million followers on X. “I’ve talked to dozens of normal conservatives in real life about the Iran war and I haven’t met a single one who’s actually enthusiastically in favor of it.”

He went on to say that while some conservatives he’d spoken with are “warily optimistic,” the rest are “not only opposed but deeply furious.” Many are afraid to express this fury, said Walsh, because they’re worried they’ll “be shouted down by throngs of alleged American conservatives who allegedly have wanted nothing more than for America to go to war with Iran.”

For Trump and the GOP, Walsh predicted, the political fallout could be catastrophic, as he claims to have spoken with many “VERY conservative lifelong Republican voters who are so furious and feel so betrayed that they’re planning to sit out the midterms…People are pissed.”

Walsh isn’t the only far-right media figure to express outrage over the war on Iran and thoughts on how it could impact the November elections.

Tucker Carlson has been an outspoken opponent of the war, notably giving a high-profile interview to ex-US National Counterterrorism Center Director Joe Kent, who resigned over concerns about the conflict. Megyn Kelly has voiced criticism of the war but stops short of blaming Trump, claiming he was pushed toward it by more hawkish conservatives. And far-right provocateur Nick Fuentes has told his followers to boycott the midterms over the war.

Online personality Candace Owens agreed with a blunt assessment of the matter: “Not only is Trump losing the war, he has also completely forfeited his legacy and base.”

These far-right voices are speaking out as the latest polls show the stark unpopularity of Trump and his war. Over 60 percent of voters say they disapprove of the war, while the president’s approval rating has sunk to a historical low of just 33 percent.

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The top Trump official tasked with reshaping the Smithsonian’s collections into a more conservative presentation argues that, based on her experience and expectations, the institution should place less emphasis on the painful chapters of American history and more on its achievements.

Insurance attorney Lindsey Halligan is now Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy, as well as the Special Assistant to the President and Senior Associate Staff Secretary.

On Wednesday, Fox News host John Roberts told Halligan that “like just about every other country in the world, the United States has got a checkered past.”

He reminded her that “some of the worst episodes in our history were formative experiences that led us to where we are today, and those typically are reflected in museums.”

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Halligan replied that from her point of view, “the fact that we had our country, was involved in slavery is awful. No one thinks otherwise.”

“But what I saw when I was going through the museums personally was an overemphasis on slavery. And I think there should be more of an overemphasis on how far we’ve come since slavery.”

She insisted that Americans “should be able to take our kids, our students, through the Smithsonian, and feel proud when we leave,” and that “we need to keep moving forward.”

“We can’t just keep focusing on the negative. All it does is divide us, and we really need to unite the country and focus on all the positive as we approach America’s 250th birthday.”

A section of a Trump executive order titled “Saving Our Smithsonian” directs Halligan, by name, to seek “to remove improper ideology” from the Smithsonian Institution and its properties, “and shall recommend to the President any additional actions necessary to fully effectuate such policies.”

In April, Halligan told The Washington Post that she believes “improper ideology” means “weaponizing history.”

Halligan has a law degree from the University of Miami School of Law, and does not appear to have any education in museum sciences.

When she first moved to Washington, D.C. she “didn’t like everything she saw,” at the Smithsonian, the Post reported.. “Some exhibits, in her view, did not reflect the America she knows and loves.”

“And so I talked to the president about it,” Halligan said, “and suggested an executive order, and he gave me his blessing, and here we are.”

She told Fox News that “it’s common knowledge that our education system in general has been just indoctrinated with political ideology and various ideological narratives. And the Smithsonian is really a version of education.”

“It could be the foundation of our American education,” she claimed, explaining the as a young child she went to the Smithsonian Museum on a class trip, “and the Smithsonian is really supposed to be a trust instrument.”

“And what’s happened is it’s become more of a platform upon which the curators and leadership at the Smithsonian can push ideological narratives and we really want to help the Smithsonian be the gem,” she said. “Represent our nation, properly and truthfully.”

Critics denounced Halligan’s remarks.

U.S. Rep. Yvette Clarke (D-NY) remarked, “400 years of brutal bondage, torture, and murder should be emphasized. The generations of Black Americans who built this nation with their own hands and their own pain should be emphasized. The true history of this country SHOULD BE EMPHASIZED.”

“White American woman who went through the museum said there was an ‘overemphasis on slavery.’ What a thing. To say those words out loud,” wrote former Republican Tea Party Congressman Joe Walsh.

Watch the video below or at this link.

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an 6 25

During Barack Obama's presidency, then-Rep. Joe Walsh (R-Illinois) was known for being a Tea Party firebrand. But the Never Trump conservative recently made a bombshell announcement: He joined the Democratic Party.

This doesn't mean that Walsh is becoming liberal or progressive, but rather, reflects his view that Donald Trump's second presidency represents an existential threat to U.S. democracy — and that liberals, progressives, conservatives and libertarians will have to work together, policy differences and all, in order to save the country from sliding into authoritarianism.

During a now-Democrat Walsh called out Trump for promoting the conspiracy theory that former President Joe Biden signed a bunch of pardons via autopen because he was mentally incompetent. Trump also shared a social media post claiming that the real Biden was assassinated in 2020 and that the person who spent four years in the White House was a clone.

Walsh told the Washington Post's Jonathan Capehart and Politico's Eugene Daniels — who now host "The Weekend" — "It's too easy to laugh at this, but I mean, it's serious. He's lying again. He's lying. And Jonathan, Eugene, he's spreading a conspiracy theory. That's what's so sad about this…. He's lying to and deceiving his base on purpose."

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Walsh also lamented Trump's influence on the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and was vehemently critical of Attorney General Pam Bondi.

The former Tea Party Republican turned Democrat told Capehart and Daniels, "He's basically ended the ability of the Justice Department to pursue public corruption, to go after corporations, to go after white-collar crime. He does 1000 outrageous things a day, but what he's doing to the rule of law and the Justice Department, America is not paying close enough attention to…. This is a president who thinks he's above the law."

Walsh continued, "I mean, we can scream that from the mountaintop every day, and we should.… Pam Bondi is not the attorney general of the United States,? We put that to bed months ago. Pam Bondi is Donald Trump's personal lawyer. Period. And anybody in that Justice Department who doesn't want to represent Donald Trump instead of the Constitution and the law, they're gone. They've already left."

*Watch the full video below or at this link.

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https://www.alternet.org/2021/03/paul-gosar/

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Meet Rep. Paul Gosar: The GOP's leading ambassador to white supremacy

Igor Derysh and Salon March 03, 2021

Former Republican lawmakers slammed the GOP for its silence after Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., spoke at a conference organized by a white nationalist who praised the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, weeks after being linked to the rally that sparked the deadly attack

Gosar skipped Friday's vote on a $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package approved by the House to attend the America First Political Action Conference, which was organized by white nationalist Nick Fuentes, who mused about killing members of Congress days before the riot.Gosar later condemned "white racism" during an appearance at the Conservative Political Action Conference ahead of former President Donald Trump's speech over the weekend — and then met with Fuentes again after the event.

Former Rep. Joe Walsh, an Illinois Republican who was elected alongside Gosar during the 2010 Tea Party wave before rejecting far-right extremism after Trump's rise to power, said he was "stunned" by Gosar's extremist turn and expressed frustration that Republican leaders have stayed silent on his appearance at AFPAC.

"It's beyond disappointing," Walsh said in an interview with Salon. "This is where the party is now. The fact that this party— and we all contributed to it — but here we are in 2021, and one of their members keynotes a white nationalist event and the party can't condemn it. The party is telling the country that they're OK with white supremacy."

Former Rep. Denver Riggleman, R-Va., also slammed the party for failing to condemn Gosar for getting cozy with white nationalists, noting that Fuentes is a Holocaust denier who has pushed anti-Semitic conspiracy theories. (Fuentes has denied this.)

"This is what @RepGosar supports: Unambiguous anti-Semitism," Riggleman tweeted. "He should be condemned by the full House for speaking at AFPAC."

The Anti-Defamation League's Arizona chapter said in a statement that Gosar's appearance at AFPAC was "deeply disturbing."

"A member of Congress should never share a stage with Fuentes," the group said.

The Southern Poverty Law Center said it was "unimaginable" that Gosar would not be held accountable by his colleagues.

"Less than two months after the violent attack on the Capitol, Rep. Paul Gosar participated in a gathering of white nationalists at the beckoning of one of the movement's most notorious and hateful leaders who glorified the events of that day," Susan Corke, director of the SPLC's Intelligence Project, said in a statement to Salon. "While his colleagues were holding hearings to ensure that another violent insurrection will never again disgrace the halls of Congress, Gosar provided these extremists a mainstream platform and further stoked the hate that drives their movement."

Gosar, who was described by "Stop the Steal" organizer Ali Alexander as a key ally in organizing the Jan. 6 rally that preceded the riot, and who has extensive ties to extremist groups, skipped Friday's House vote, citing the coronavirus pandemic — although he previously joining a lawsuit arguing that voting by proxy in Congress is unconstitutional. "I continue to be unable to physically attend proceedings in the House Chamber due to the ongoing public health emergency," he said in a letter justifying his absence.

Gosar, who led Republican objections to the counting of Arizona's electoral votes, and later reportedly asked Donald Trump for a pardon related to his involvement with the rally, spoke at AFPAC after former Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, who was denounced by the GOP in 2019 for comments defending white nationalism and white supremacy.

The event was organized by Fuentes, a 22-year-old white nationalist agitator who promoted the Jan. 6 rally and originally gained prominence after the deadly 2017 "Unite the Right" march in Charlottesville. Fuentes, who has been banned by some social networks for making racist and anti-Semitic comments, called on the AFPAC audience to help America protect its "white demographic core" and accused Black Lives Matter activists of trying to create "a new racial caste system in this country, with whites at the bottom," The Washington Post first reported.

"If America ceases to retain that English cultural framework and the influence of European civilization, if it loses its White demographic core and if it loses its faith in Jesus Christ, then this is not America anymore," Fuentes said.

Fuentes, who attended the Jan. 6 rally but says he did not enter the Capitol, later praised the rioters as "patriots."

"I saw the police retreating and we heard that the politicians voting on the fraudulent election had scurried to their underground tunnels away from the Capitol," Fuentes said. "I said to myself: 'This is awesome!'"

Fuentes went on to mock Gosar's Republican colleagues and made fun of Rep. Madison Cawthorn, R-N.C., for using a wheelchair.

Gosar did not mention AFPAC or Fuentes on Saturday during an appearance at the Trump-headlined CPAC but abruptly interrupted a panel discussion to note that he disavows racism, with no apparent context. "I want to tell you, I denounce . . . white racism," he said. "That's not appropriate."

Gosar acknowledged to the Washington Post after the panel that he was referring to Fuentes' comments. He told the outlet that he accepted the invitation because "you don't accomplish anything by isolating" certain audiences.

"We thought about it, and we thought: There is a group of young people that are becoming part of the election process, and becoming a bigger force," Gosar said. "So why not take that energy and listen to what they've got to say?"

CPAC organizers did not comment on Gosar's appearance but blocked Fuentes from entering the conference with a group of maskless supporters.

Despite Gosar's comments, Fuentes posted a photo of the two sharing drinks on Saturday.

"Great meeting today with Congressman Gosar!" he wrote. "America is truly uncancelled."

Walsh, who like many Tea Party-backed Republicans pushed racist conspiracy theories to win elections, said the appearance made clear how far Gosar had drifted to the extremist fringe from their time in Congress together in 2011 and 2012.

"Gosar was sort of nuts back then," Walsh said, "but we were all sort of part of the same Tea Party wave. Even though some of us were kind of nuts, it was all about the issues. I don't recognize these guys now. I mean, this crazy shit was fringe — now it's like the base of the party."

Walsh noted that just two years ago the Republican Party stripped King of his committee assignments after he questioned why the term "white supremacy "was deemed offensive.

"Maybe I'm naive, but back in 2010, if Gosar pulled something like this I got to believe [former House Speaker John] Boehner and leadership would have come down on him like a ton of bricks," he said. "It's amazing. He blew off a COVID relief vote to fire up a bunch of white supremacists, and the fucking party, they're not going to do a damn thing to him."

Republicans were recently forced to reckon with freshman Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., who has made comments pushing conspiracy theories and calling for Democrats to be executed. The party ultimately decided not to punish Greene, but Walsh predicted it won't even have the same conversation about Gosar.

In the pre-Trump era, Walsh said, the situation was quite different: Republican leaders would "bounce his ass off of committees, immediately the party censures him, and the party goes out of their way to condemn this Nick Fuentes and this white nationalist group." Now, he added, "I didn't see one Republican in the conference who condemned what Gosar did. … I don't think they'll even bring it up."

Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., has been one of the most vocal Republicans in opposing the racism and conspiracy theories pushed by his party's fringe, but like the rest of his colleagues has stayed silent on Gosar's speech. Kinzinger's office did not respond to Salon's request for comment.

Fuentes is understood as the leader of the "groypers," a fringe far-right group fueled by supposedly ironic memes, including specific Pepe the Frog poses. The ADL describes them as a "white supremacist group" who believe they are defending the country against "demographic and cultural changes that are destroying the 'true America' — a white, Christian nation."The FBI is currently investigating a $250,000 bitcoin payment Fuentes received ahead of the Jan. 6 riot, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Alexander, the "Stop the Steal" organizer, praised Fuentes' "hugely successful" AFPAC event over the weekend. Last week, Alexander hosted Gosar's chief of staff, Tom Van Flein, a former top aide to ex-Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, in a Clubhouse chatroom that also included indicted right-wing fraudster Jacob Wohl.

Alexander said after the Capitol riot, in a now-deleted video, that he had "schemed up" the Jan. 6 rally to put "maximum pressure on Congress while they were voting" to certify the election, in collaboration with Gosar and Reps. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., and Mo Brooks, R-Ala. Biggs and Brooks have both denied involvement with Alexander. Gosar, notably, has not.

Gosar previously appeared at a rally organized by Alexander in December, where he told supporters they planned to "conquer the Hill" to return Trump to the White House.

Gosar's office did not respond to questions from Salon.

Gosar has also come under scrutiny for his ties to extremist groups like the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys, some of whose members now face conspiracy charges after they were seen in videos leading the invasion of the Capitol.

The New York Times reported after the riot that Jim Arroyo, who leads an Arizona chapter of the Oath Keepers, promoted a "coming civil war," citing Gosar's appearance at an event held by the group several years earlier.

"We had Congressman Paul Gosar come to a meeting, he is the elected representative here in Northern Arizona," Arroyo said. "And we asked him, flat out — Do you think we are headed towards a Civil War? And he said, 'We are in a Civil War, we just haven't started shooting yet' ... So that is about to change."

The group has used that kind of civil war rhetoric as a recruiting tool, according to KNXV.

Gosar came under criticism last summer after posing for a photo with a member of the Proud Boys. In 2018, he met with the jailed leader of a far-right anti-immigrant extremist group and made comments about Muslim immigrants that were widely seen as Islamophobic. In 2014, he traveled with Arizona Republican Party chairwoman Kelli Ward to support the Bundy militia in its Nevada standoff with federal law enforcement, after rancher Cliven Bundy refused to pay grazing fees and stop trespassing on federal land.

"He's been involved with anti-Muslim groups and hate groups," his brother, Dave Gosar, told the Times. "He's made anti-Semitic diatribes. He's twisted up so tight with the Oath Keepers it's not even funny."

Dave Gosar and other siblings of the congressman bought ads to campaign against their brother in 2018 after he falsely suggested that the deadly Charlottesvile neo-Nazi rally was "created by the left" and carried out by an "Obama sympathizer." He also falsely claimed that billionaire Democratic donor George Soros, the target of countless anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, had bankrolled the event.

"We warned everybody how dangerous he was," Dave Gosar said after the riot.

Gosar condemned the rioters on Twitter, urging them to "not get carried away" while posting a photo of the mob scaling a Capitol wall. But he posted the same photo to the far-right social network Parler, which was used by some rioters to coordinate the attack, without any such criticism. "Americans are upset," he wrote in response to the image.

In the days following the riot, Arizona Democrats called for the FBI and Justice Department to investigate Gosar and other state lawmakers "directly involved, as well as those who, through words and conduct, aided and abetted sedition, treason or any other federal crimes."

"The events of January 6 were not spontaneous, nor were they the random acts of a diffuse handful of unconnected individuals," the state Democratic party said in a letter to federal law enforcement officials. "For weeks prior to the breach, a group of Republican Arizona legislators and legislators-elect publicly advocated for the overthrow of the election results which encouraged precisely the kind of violent conduct that we witnessed."

CNN has reported that Gosar and Biggs asked Trump for a pardon related to their involvement with the rally that preceded the riot in January, but were denied.

Gosar's siblings have launched a new campaign to remove their brother from Congress in the wake of the riot.

"We feel it's our moral obligation," Dave Gosar told the Los Angeles Times, adding that his brother is "in my opinion, about as despicable a politician as I have ever seen."

"He started at an extreme place, he started at a bigoted place ... and he's gone even further into that," added sister Jennifer Gosar.

"Paul has no character, no integrity, no honor," agreed brother Tim Gosar, "and is absolutely as close as you get to a pathological liar."

Walsh predicted that despite calls for Gosar to be punished, the Republican Party will stay silent because of the effect Trump has had on the party over the last five years.

"This is one of Trump's impacts on the party," he said. "The party follows a lot of Trump's signals. Trump makes signals to a lot of these white supremacists and white nationalists. I mean, Donald Trump didn't go out of his way to condemn them. They're more welcomed now in the coalition, and I think the party gets that. So the party is much, much more loath to condemn people like this."

https://www.alternet.org/2019/08/exclusive-why-joe-walsh-is-the-perfect-candidate-to-primary-trump-for-democrats

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Exclusive: Why Joe Walsh is the perfect wingnut to primary Trump (for Democrats)

This article was paid for with reader donations to Alternet 2020.

Written by Joshua Holland August 25, 2019

Former Rep. Joe Walsh’s primary challenge against Donald Trump has been greeted by many Democrats and progressives with skepticism and a lot of reminders of what a toxic, bigoted and extreme right-winger Walsh has always been. They should be embracing his run with open arms, and perhaps even supporting his campaign. Doing so could prove to be a strategic investment that brings a handsome return.

In all likelihood, Walsh will only pull a few percent of the popular vote and win no delegates. But votes and delegates don’t matter. The process of someone like Walsh hitting Trump from his right flank during the primary season, when Democrats are otherwise occupied with their own race, has the potential to weaken Trump with the GOP base and Republican-leaning independents and yield dividends in the general election.

Since World War II ended, only one sitting president (Richard Nixon in 1972) has overcome a primary challenge (by someone who wasn’t an obscure kook) to win re-election.

Primary challenges expose a weak incumbent’s vulnerabilities and force him to litigate his party’s internal conflicts. A Monmouth poll conducted in February found that 43 percent of Republicans wanted Trump to face a challenger from within his own party; A University of New Hampshire survey found from around the same time found that only 56 percent of likely GOP primary voters in the Granite State say they definitely plan to back Trump in the primary.

Walsh can attack Trump from his right in ways that Democrats cannot. He can argue that Trump’s presidency has been a failure because he was unable to repeal Obamacare, build a wall on the Mexican border or significantly decrease immigration flows. He can hit him for the explosion of spending and debt that’s occurred on his watch.

More importantly, those arguments have a chance of being heard by his co-partisans. Because of negative partisanship and media siloing, even the best lines of attack Democrats can offer often fall on deaf ears within the Republican coalition, even if they’re perfectly accurate. Toward that end, Walsh’s belligerence and the fact that he doesn’t have a moderate bone in his body makes him an ideal messenger to take those arguments to Trump. While former Massachusetts Governor William Weld and 2016 candidate John Kasich might make arguments that appeal to the college-educated white suburbanites who have been moving toward the Dems in the past three years, Trump can easily dismiss them as squishy RINOS who are out of touch with the party’s base.

And Walsh, who promises to run a “TV-centric” campaign, will surely get under Trump’s skin. Any other incumbent with the overwhelming support of his base would stay above the fray and leave the primary fight up to surrogates, but Trump’s narcissism and feral instincts will force him to lash out and keep Walsh’s attacks in the news. Instead of focusing all of his energy attacking the Democrats while they navigate their own primaries, he’ll end up firing off childish taunts at people on both his left and his right rather than fighting on only one flank.

It’s unlikely that primary challenges by Walsh and other Republicans will have a major impact on the race, but they don’t have to. In 2016, Donald Trump won the Electoral College thanks to 80,000 votes cast in three states. If Nevertrump Republicans can bring down GOP turnout by a percentage point or two, and perhaps swing a handful of votes out of their column, it could make the difference in the contest or help decide a close Senate race or two. The possibility alone makes it a worthwhile effort.

news broke that Christine Blasey Ford—a 51-year-old professor of psychology at Palo Alto University in Northern California—had accused Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of attempting to rape her at a party back in 1982, many of the responses were fair-minded and even-handed. A long list of people have stressed that while Kavanaugh hasn’t been convicted of anything, they definitely want to hear, in detail, all that Ford has to say—especially in light of the fact that Kavanaugh is up for a lifetime appointment on the highest judicial body in the United States.

But on the far right, some wingnuts have been quick to either demonize Ford or turn her accusation into a Republicans-versus-Democrats argument. Kavanaugh is their guy, the GOP is their party—and Ford’s accusation, they immediately assume, is nothing more than a Democratic conspiracy.

Here are five of the most appalling reactions to Ford’s accusation that have come from the far right.

1. Sen. Mitch McConnell Turns Ford’s Accusation into an Attack on Dianne Feinstein

As Senate majority leader, Kentucky’s Mitch McConnell has been a ruthless, vindictive partisan whose top priority is sticking it to Democrats—not the wellbeing of the country. And he made that abundantly clear when, after learning that Ford had accused Kavanaugh of attempted rape, his knee-jerk response was to attack Sen. Dianne Feinstein (the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee) rather than wanting to hear what Ford has to say. McConnell views Ford’s allegation in strictly partisan terms, faulting Feinstein for not coming forward with the information she had on Ford and Kavanaugh sooner. But Ford, at first, had requested anonymity. And McConnell, always a Republican first and an American second, fumed, “Now, now, at the 11th hour, with committee votes on schedule—after Democrats have spent weeks and weeks searching for any possible reason that the nomination should be delayed—now, now, they choose to reveal this allegation.”

2. Donald Trump Jr. Mocks, Belittles Christine Blasey Ford

After Ford decided to reveal her identity, it didn’t take Donald Trump, Jr.—vice president of the Trump Organization—long to begin ridiculing and belittling her. In an Instagram post, the president’s 40-year-old son posted a mock “letter” that was written in crayon and labeled “Judge Kavanaugh’s sexual assault letter found by Dems.” The mock “letter” read, “Hi, Cindy, will you be my girlfriend? Love, Brett,” with boxes for checking either “yes” or “no.” And in a mocking tone, Trump, Jr. said of Kavanaugh, “Oh, boy, the Dems and their usual nonsense games really have him on the ropes now.”

3. Matt Drudge, Grabien News Attack Kavanaugh Accuser by Confusing Her With Someone Else

Matt Drudge’s The Drudge Report attempted to smear Ford on Twitter by linking to a hit piece on her that had originally been published by Grabien News. In the article, Grabien tried to paint Ford as a bad professor who had received a lot of negative online reviews from her students. One of the reviews, posted on RateMyProfessor.com on September 25, 2014, said, “Christine Ford is the worst educator I have experienced. Avoid taking her class and avoid any interaction with this person.” But the Christine Ford in that review is Christine A. Ford, a licensed social worker who taught at California State University, Fullerton—not Kavanaugh’s accuser Christine Blasey Ford, who is employed by Palo Alto University. In fact, Fullerton is in Orange County south of Los Angeles, and is well over 300 miles from Palo Alto. Grabien has since retracted the inaccurate story that the Drudge Report was so quick to promote.

4. Women for Trump’s Amy Kremer: Democrats Want to ‘Gin Up the Hysteria Machine’

Republicans had no problem with Sen. Feinstein when, in late 2017, she demanded Democratic Sen. Al Franken’s resignation in response to sexual harassment allegations. Franken didn’t get a pass from Feinstein simply because he was a Democrat: Feinstein wanted him to step down, party affiliation be damned—and the Minnesota senator resigned. But the minute Feinstein has legal concerns about a Republican Supreme Court nominee, Republicans view her as a one-woman hit squad.

During a September 17 interview with CNN’s Chris Cuomo, Amy Kremer (co-founder of Women for Trump) had the same knee-jerk reaction to Ford’s accusation as McConnell: she viewed it in strictly partisan terms, insisting that Democrats are trying to “gin up the hysteria machine” with a “dog and pony show.” Kremer also asserted that there should be no public testimony from Ford, only closed-door hearings—which is ludicrous. Considering that Ford is making a very serious accusation and that Kavanaugh, if confirmed, could still be on the Supreme Court 30 years from now, anything the Palo Alto University professor has to say on the matter should be heard publicly.

5. Joe Walsh Attacks Democrats for Waiting to ‘Drop This Dirt’

Even former Rep. Joe Walsh (a Tea Party wingnut) called Donald Trump, Jr. out for mocking Christine Blasey Ford, correctly denouncing him as an “uncaring, narrow-minded idiot” on Twitter. But Walsh, like McConnell and Kremer, has turned Ford’s accusation into an opportunity to play partisan politics, posting on Twitter, “So Dems waited until the very last minute to drop this dirt, and now they want to wait again to hear from her? You don’t think they’re trying to drag this thing out, do you?”

Walsh likes to see himself as a law-and-order man, but when a Republican Supreme Court nominee is accused of attempted rape, it’s all the Democrats’ fault, in Walsh’s mind.

https://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/:{traitor:(style="background-color:#ffff66;"):}:-country-former-republican-congressman-says-hell-never-support-trump-again

http://www.lcv.org/elections/dirty-dozen/2012/joe-walsh.html

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

8/14/12

WASHINGTON – The League of Conservation Voters (LCV) today named Rep. Joe Walsh (IL-08) to its $1.5 million “Flat Earth Five” program, which aims to defeat five climate change deniers in the House of Representatives this election cycle. As part of this program, LCV will commit significant resources to defeating Rep. Walsh, who maintains that the science behind man-made climate change “is not clear yet.”

“Rep. Walsh’s constituents deserve better than a climate-denying Congressman that’s full of hot air,” said Navin Nayak, LCV Senior Vice President of Campaigns.

LCV will be spending at least $1.5 million across these five districts on television advertising, direct mail and an extensive phone program letting voters know that these members of Congress are dangerously out-of-step with their district on the issue of climate change. The program also includes LCV member mobilization and a strong media presence in the districts. More information about the Flat Earth Five can be found online at http://www.lcv.org/flatearthfive.

Despite overwhelming scientific evidence that humans are contributing to climate change, Rep. Walsh has said that “man's potential role in global warming has not been definitively determined.” Rather than take any action to address greenhouse gas emissions, Rep. Walsh believes that “[t]he role of the government should be to continue to research the subject.” Walsh is more proactive when it comes to the Environmental Protection Agency, which he claims “is destroying the country” and “ought to be scrapped.”

Last year, the Washington Post cited a National Academy of Sciences finding that “97–98% of the climate researchers most actively publishing in the field” believe that humans are contributing to global warming. Even the Department of Defense has recognized that climate change will play a “significant role” in the future security environment.

Rep. Walsh has an abysmal lifetime score of just 3% on LCV’s National Environmental Scorecard, a nationally accepted yardstick used to rate members of Congress on conservation and clean energy issues. For more information, visit http://www.lcv.org/scorecard.

Recently, LCV announced that Rep. Dan Benishek (MI-1), Rep. Ann Marie Buerkle (NY-24), Rep. Dan Lungren (CA-7), and Rep. Francisco Canseco (TX-23) also have been named to the Flat Earth Five program.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Walsh_(Illinois_politician)

William Joseph "Joe" Walsh (born December 27, 1961) is an American politician. He served in the United States House of Representatives for Illinois' 8th congressional district.^[1][2][3] He served in Congress from January 2011 through January 2013 after defeating three-term incumbent Democrat Melissa Bean by a margin of 291 votes in a surprising upset.^[4] He received little Republican Party support for his bid against Bean, but was popular with the Tea Party movement.^[5][6] Previously, Walsh ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. House of Representatives in 1996 and for the Illinois General Assembly in 1998.^[7][8] He called himself a moderate Republican in the 1990s, but he is now a conservative and a Tea Party activist.^[9][10]

During his first months in Congress, Walsh emerged as a sharp critic of the Obama administration, accusing the president of abandoning the U.S.-Israel alliance,^[11] and bankrupting the country.^[12] He also challenged Obama to secure the borders with "moats and alligators", if necessary.^[6] Walsh has maintained a no-compromise approach to legislating that includes rejecting any tax increases.^[12] He consistently voted against raising the federal debt ceiling and authored a balanced budget amendment to the United States Constitution.^[13]

Walsh's district was redrawn for 2012 by the Democratic-controlled Illinois state legislature.^[14][15] While he initially planned to run in his newly drawn 14th district against fellow Republican Randy Hultgren, he eventually decided to run in the remapped 8th district against Democrat Tammy Duckworth. Walsh lost to Duckworth in the general election on November 6, 2012.^[16]

Early life, education, and early career

Walsh was born and raised in the Chicago suburb of North Barrington, the fifth of nine children.^[17] He graduated from Barrington High School in 1980, where he was the class president and active in sports.^[18]He attended Grinnell College then earned a Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of Iowa in 1985.^[1][17] In the mid-1980s, he embarked on an acting career, taking lessons in stage, theater and television at The :{Lee Strasberg Theatre :(style="background-color:#ffff66;"):}::{and Film Institute:(style="background-color:#ffffff;"):}: in New York and Los Angeles.^[6][18] He completed a Master of Public Policy at the University of Chicago's Harris School of Public Policy Studies in 1991.^[1][19]

Described as a "former social worker" by The New York Times, CNN, and **Human Events**^[9][20][21] Walsh worked with the Jobs for Youth program in the inner-city Chicago area, teaching high school dropouts basic academic and job skills.^[22] He later taught American government and American history atOakton Community College and the Hebrew Theological College.^[22]

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Walsh's congressional website indicates he has advocated for "market-based solutions to education reform and urban poverty".^[22] He ran the Daniel Murphy Scholarship Fund, a Chicago-based, privately funded program which grants scholarships to low-income students to attend private high schools.^[22]He raised funds for two organizations advocating school choice: the American Education Reform Council, and the Milton and Rose Friedman Foundation.^[22] In addition, Walsh raised nearly $1 million over a five-year period for the Fabretto Children's Foundation, an international charity which uses education and micro-enterprise to alleviate poverty among Nicaraguan children.^[23]

Walsh also worked on state and local government policy issues for The **Heartland Institute**,^[22] a libertarian free-market think tank based in Chicago. He helped launch conservative organizations that seek to limit government and elect fiscal conservatives to state legislatures such as the Legislative Education Action Drive and the Americans for Limited Government.^[22] He also did consulting work with the United Republican Fund, an Illinois political action committee helping to elect Republican state legislators.^[22]

He has also raised venture capital for a living, according to the Chicago Tribune^[24] with his campaign website indicating that he worked for Ravenswood Advisors, a Chicago boutique investment banking group which raised early-stage investment capital for new and small businesses.^[22][23] However, he never made much money^[6] and has pointed to salaries of $30,000 to $40,000 a year in the past.^[17] In 2010, he had a negative net worth of $317,498 according to the Center for Responsive Politics.^[25]

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Walsh won the Republican nomination for Illinois' 9th congressional district and faced longtime Democratic liberal incumbent Sidney R. Yates, age 87, in the general election.^[7] Walsh campaigned by riding his bicycle through the district. He engaged in self-admitted "outrageous" stunts during the campaign which included paying the doorman at Yates' Chicago apartment building $1,000 for being the first person to spot Yates in his district, and throwing a birthday party for Yates that included a cake decorated with 87 candles.^[9][26] Walsh denied he was trying to play the "age card".^[9] Yates responded that his own age was not a factor, and that Walsh was too young and inexperienced for the job.^[9] Yates also commented that the district was too liberal for Walsh, and tried to tie Walsh to conservative Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich.^[9] In response, Walsh distanced himself from Gingrich and said he considered himself a "moderate Republican";^[9] he also ran as a pro-choice candidate in the liberal-leaning district.^[27] Yates defeated Walsh 63%-37%.^[28]

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In 1998, Walsh challenged incumbent Democrat Jeffrey Schoenberg for the 58th district seat in the Illinois House of Representatives, which represents the Chicago North Shore suburbs of Wilmette and Evanston, Illinois. Walsh again ran as pro-choice on abortion.^[27] He drove a yellow school bus throughout the district during his campaign to focus attention on the issue of public school funding.^[29] He criticized Schoenberg for voting in favor of Republican GovernorJim Edgar's school-funding reform bill that would have increased state income taxes but given property tax relief to North Shore homeowners.^[29][30] Walsh lost to Schoenberg, 62%-38%.^[8]

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2010

Main article: United States House of Representatives elections in Illinois, 2010#District 8*

On September 28, 2009, Walsh launched an exploratory committee to run for the United States House of Representatives in the Illinois's 8th congressional district. The district includes parts of the northwest Chicago suburbs: Arlington Heights, Schaumburg, Gurnee, Palatine, Mundelein, Zion, Barrington,McHenry, and Woodstock.

In February 2010, Walsh won the Republican primary election, taking about 34 percent of the vote in a six-person field and moving into the district fromWinnetka, Illinois in April.^[27][31] The Republican establishment refused to put much stock into the district with National Republican Congressional Committee member Tom Erickson saying, "In the primary, we had really liked Dirk Beveridge or Maria Rodriguez. Those are the two candidates who we thought really had the potential to make this a very competitive race."^[32] Walsh's campaign responded that that GOP establishment was "a bit tone deaf when it comes to independent, conservative reform candidates".^[32]

For the general election, Walsh faced incumbent Democrat Melissa Bean, who was first elected in 2004, when she defeated Republican incumbent Phil Crane. In 2006, Bean had been re-elected with 51 percent and in 2008 with 60 percent of the vote. Bean was endorsed by the Chicago Tribune,^[27] theChicago Sun-Times,^[33] The Daily Herald,^[34] and the Lake County News-Sun.^[35]

Walsh criticized Bean for her 2010 votes in favor of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act^[24] and against the Stupak–Pitts Amendment that would have prohibited the use of federal funds to cover any part of the cost of any health plan that included coverage of abortion.^[36] He described himself as a Tea Party conservative activist.^[37] and obtained endorsements from two Tea Party organizations, conservative radio talk show host Tom Roeser, and many others.^[38]

The national Democratic and Republican parties did not compete or spend any money in the district, and the state GOP did not help Walsh.^[5] As a result, during the 2010 election cycle, Walsh's campaign raised only one-quarter as much as Bean's.^[6] He spent about $603,000 and ended the campaign about $362,000 in debt according to campaign finance reports,^[39] (with much of the debt due to post election ballot counting of the close race).^[10] As late as October, The New York Times forecast that Bean had an 88 percent chance at winning re-election. Even CQ Politics had the election as "Safe Democrat". Despite the lack of funding and his long-shot status, Walsh narrowly defeated Bean by a margin of 0.1% or 290 votes. The race was not called until two weeks after Election Day when provisional ballots were counted.^[4][40]

2012

Main article: United States House of Representatives elections in Illinois, 2012#District 8

During the 2011 redrawing of Illinois' election districts by the Democratic-controlled state legislature, Walsh's home was placed in the 14th district, now represented by Republican Randy Hultgren, and the 8th district was reconfigured to favor a Democratic candidate. Walsh and nine other Republican Illinois Representatives filed a lawsuit alleging that the new borders discriminated against Republican and Latino voters.^[14][15] On September 21, Walsh announced that if the new district lines were upheld in federal court, he would run for election in the still heavily Republican 14th District against Hultgren.^[41]

In late July 2011, Walsh was endorsed by the Club for Growth to run against Hultgren.^[2][42] However, after several ethics issues regarding Walsh emerged, (such as charges of failing to pay child support, and driving on a suspended license), the Club for Growth distanced itself from Walsh, stating that it would wait until more facts were known before making a decision.^[43] In November 2011, Walsh was cited by the Family Research Council Action committee for his "unwavering support of the family".^[44]

In December 2011, Walsh decided to run in the redrawn 8th district,^[45] where he would likely face Democrat Tammy Duckworth, a former assistant secretary of the VA,^[46] in what seemed to pose a tough race for Walsh.^[47][48] In January 2012, the conservative political advocacy group Americans For Prosperity gave Walsh a 100 percent rating.^[49]

The ensuing campaign between Walsh and Duckworth emerged as a bitter race. At a July 2012 campaign event, Walsh accused his opponent of politicizing both her military service as a helicopter pilot and her Iraq War injuries which cost her both legs and the partial use of one arm. He said, "my God, that's all she talks about. Our true heroes, the men and women who served us, it's the last thing in the world they talk about."^[50][51] Walsh later suggested that she was, in fact, a "true hero," but that she should not talk about her service so frequently,^[52] and that her service should not command votes.^[53] Walsh decided to skip the 2012 Republican National Convention, distancing himself from establishment Republicans.^[48]

Walsh's campaign was bolstered by major financial support in the form of outside spending by conservative Super PACs.^[54] In September 2012Americans for Limited Government gave $1,950,000 to the Now or Never PAC, which then spent $2,022,039 to support Walsh and oppose Duckworth.^[55]Over $6.6 million in outside spending was reported in the race, with Walsh receiving more than $6 million of that total.^[56] Overall, Walsh outspent her $7 million to $4.7 million.

On November 6, 2012, Duckworth defeated Walsh 55%-45%.^[57]

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Several days before being sworn into Congress, The New York Times criticized Walsh for his willingness to accept donations from political action committees and lobbyists.^[10] After being sworn in, Walsh announced that consistent with his opposition to government-provided health care and the 2010 health care reform legislation, he would not accept congressional health care benefits.^[58][59]

During his early months in Congress, he emerged as a sharp critic of the Democrats' and Obama's fiscal policies, and posted a YouTube video in which he accused Obama of bankrupting the country. He also vowed, "I won’t place one more dollar of debt upon the backs of my kids and grandkids unless we structurally reform the way this town [Washington, D.C.] spends money!"^[12] He became a frequent fixture on cable TV,^[6][12] advocating a "no compromise" approach to deficit reduction that rejects any tax increases on the wealthy.^[12] He consistently voted against raising the federal debt ceiling and authored a balanced budget amendment to the United States Constitution.^[13] Walsh has also said that Obama was elected "because he pushed that magical button: a black man who was articulate, liberal, the whole white guilt, all of that."^[60]

During the election season, Walsh was asked what his approach to bipartisanship would be if elected. He replied it would "not be the time right now to extend your hand across the aisle."^[34]

In September 2011, Walsh was among 19 members of congress criticized for ethics violations in CREW's (Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington) annual report.^[61]

In November 2011, Walsh was videotaped meeting with his constituents, becoming visibly aggressive and swearing at a woman who questioned him about his comment that the marketplace and the banks were not responsible "for the mess we're in right now." He later apologized for being "too passionate".^[62]

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For the 112th Congress, Walsh has been appointed to leadership positions on the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Transportation Security (vice chairman), and the House Small Business Subcommittee on Economic Growth (chairman). A list of all of his committee assignments follows:

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Walsh holds other memberships related to his work as a congressman including: the Congressional Hockey Caucus, the House Republican Israel Caucus, the Republican Study Committee and the Tea Party Caucus.^[19]

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In his failed 1996 Congressional bid, Walsh was more socially liberal, favoring abortion rights and gun control.^[18]

Walsh holds fiscally conservative views. On taxes, he said he favors extending the Bush tax cuts, abolishing the estate tax and cutting both the capital gainsand corporate tax rates.^[24] He blamed joblessness on a reluctance by small businesses to hire and traced that reluctance to an uncertainty on tax policy.^[24]In November 2011, Walsh described the Occupy movement as composed of "generally spoiled, pampered, unfocused, clueless young people and a smattering of other people who don’t understand this country and are advocating anti-American solutions." When a constituent pointed out that veterans have also taken part in the Occupy movement, Walsh responded, "I don't know how many veterans are part of the Occupy protest. I can't imagine it's many. But anyone who would advocate socialist solutions to certain problems in this country ... they don't understand this country."^[63]

On entitlement reform, he suggested cuts would have to be made.^[24] "The first thing we need to do is acknowledge that everybody is going to have to give on Social Security reform and Medicare reform," he said.^[24] Walsh opposes the extension of unemployment benefits.^[24] He said the benefits have already been extended for too long and that attention should be paid to the cost.^[24] Following Obama's state of the union speech, Walsh remarked that he did not believe there should be a social safety net because it is not in the Constitution.^[6]

Walsh also tends rightward on social issues. On global warming, he said the science behind it was "not definitive" and that U.S. economic interests should come first in any discussion of climate agreements.^[24] Walsh also criticized Obama's immigration policies, saying the president had made only token efforts toward securing the borders.^[64] In May 2011, while holding a toy alligator in his hand, Walsh announced on the House floor that he would support tough border legislation even if it involved building moats and filling them with alligators.^[64]

On abortion, he said to reporters on October 2012 that abortion is never medically necessary to save the life of the mother, saying that "with modern technology and science, you can’t find one instance" of a medically necessary abortion.^[65] In response, the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, a professional association representing over 90% of board-certified obstetrician-gynecologists, said in a statement that "“contrary to the inaccurate statements made yesterday by Rep. Joe Walsh (R-IL), abortions are necessary in a number of circumstances to save the life of a woman or to preserve her health”.^[66]

Walsh holds strongly pro-Israel views. In a May 2012 op-ed for the Washington Times, Walsh advocated for an Israeli annexation of the Palestinianterritories, arguing that the Palestinians living there could be given "limited voting power" within the Jewish state and encouraging them to move toJordan.^[67] This led to accusations that Walsh advocated apartheid and the "soft" ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from their ancestral home.^[68] He wrote a column in The Daily Caller stating that Obama is "not Israel's friend" and should not have criticized Israel for continuing to build settlements in the occupied territories.^[6][11] Walsh also argued that most American Jews are liberal and therefore, side with the Palestinians and vague ideas of peace, instead of with Israel.^[11] He stated that in order to achieve peace in the Middle East, the U.S. must publicly choose Israel's side, so that Palestinians will "face the combined wrath of Israel and the United States".^[11]

In November 2011, Walsh, along with fellow Tea Partier Ron Paul, met leader of the French National Front and anti-Islamist activist Marine Le Pen during her visit to the United States.^[69][70]

Walsh campaigned to get Chief Minister of the Indian state of Gujarat, Narendra Modi, a diplomatic visa to the United States, which had previously been denied to him due to allegations of violations of religious freedom against Muslims during the 2002 Gujarat riots. Walsh said that Modi had “quite a successful track record” of fiscal responsibility, described him as “kind of like a Tea Party free market guy in India, which I found very appealing" and noted that “has been recognized across the world for establishing Gujarat as the most business-friendly state in India and is widely believed to be a serious contender for the 2014 election for Indian Prime Minister.”^[71][72][73]

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Walsh has been married twice, and has five children.^[23]

Following Walsh's victory in the 2010 Republican primary, it was reported that a bank had foreclosed on his condo and he had been evicted in October 2009, but that he and his family were living in a rented house in the Chicago North Shore suburb of Winnetka at the time.^[74] A GOP spokesman said that voters would likely identify with Walsh's financial troubles.^[74] He was also reportedly facing a lawsuit by a former campaign manager who claimed Walsh owed him $20,000 for services.^[74] and had had federal and state tax liens in the 1980s and 1990s (all paid by 2001).^[17] Walsh explained that the major portion of the past due taxes were on a college trust fund he received from his grandfather and that neither he nor his family had been aware that the funds were taxable.^[17] He also explained that his more recent financial struggles have made him more attuned to the difficulties faced by the average constituent.^[17]

In July 2011, the Chicago Sun-Times reported that Walsh's ex-wife, Laura, was suing him for $117,437 for past due child support dating from 2005 for three of the children.^[12] Walsh allegedly had told his ex-wife that he did not have the money because he was out of work; she had later seen from his campaign disclosures that he had been employed.^[12][75] Walsh's attorney said that Walsh did not owe "anywhere near that amount," and that he had had no more problems paying child support than "any other average guy".^[75] Walsh and his ex-wife began working out a settlement of the disputed past due amount in late July 2011.^[12] Walsh's financial problems inspired the proposal of a bill which would forbid people owing more than $10,000 in back child support from running for office in Illinois.^[76] On April 20, 2012, a settlement was reached, and the case dismissed.^[77] As part of the settlement, Walsh issued a statement on behalf of himself and his ex-wife which read, in part, "Having resolved these issues together and cleared up these mistakes in private, we now agree that Joe is not and was not a 'deadbeat dad' and does not owe child support."^[77]

In August 2011, the Chicago Tribune reported that Walsh lost his driving privileges from mid-April to mid-July 2011 because he let his insurance lapse. In response, Walsh criticized the Tribune for "wast[ing] time and ink scrutinizing [his] driving record over the last 22 years rather than Washington's unsustainable spending".^[18]

On February 1, 2013,Walsh filed a motion to terminate child support obligations, claiming that as he was now unemployed he was unable to contribute to the support of his five children.

Walsh has now become an on air personality on Chicago's talk station WIND-AM. The first show aired on March 25, 2013.^[78]