Talk Radio Host Joe Walsh to Challenge Trump in Primary

RADIO ONLINE | Sunday, August 25, 2019

Conservative talk radio host and former Rep. Joe Walsh (R-IL) plans to challenge President Trump for the Republican nomination in 2020. Currently syndicated by Salem Media in evenings, the Chicago-based talk host also airs on News/Talk WIND-AM (560 The Answer), where he holds down the 5-7pm slot. Walsh, a former Tea Party congressman, supported Trump during his 2016 campaign but in recent months has called Trump a "liar and bully who is unfit for office."

"Mr. Trump isn't a conservative. He's reckless on fiscal issues; he's incompetent on the border; he's clueless on trade; he misunderstands executive power; and he subverts the rule of law. It's his poor record that makes him most worthy of a primary challenge," Walsh wrote in a New York Times op-ed this month.

In June 2014, Walsh was suspended from his two-hour show on WIND-AM. The suspension followed an on-air discussion about the Washington Redskins' team name, when he repeatedly attempted to use racial slurs on air to make a point about the Redskins name controversy. Walsh appeared to be protesting his ability to use the term "Redskins," but not other racially sensitive terms.

He also promoted the "birther" conspiracy during former President Barack term. "I said some ugly things about President Obama that I regret," Walsh said. Obama's time in office and said Obama was only elected because he is black," Walsh told George Stephanopoulos on Sunday to address instances of his own racism.

Walsh joined WIND in March, 2013 airing in afternoons from 7-9pm, before moving to 5-7pm in July that same year. He was elected to Congress in 2010 to represent Illinois' Eighth Congressional District.