Tuesday, August 27, 2019

Opposition to Trump — from an unexpected source and for an unexpected reason

Joe Walsh apparently has had an epiphany.

You may remember him. He was part of the Tea Party caucus elected to Congress from Illinois in 2010. Now a conservative talk-show host, he originally was supportive of President Trump and said that he hoped that he would, shall we say, grow into the position despite his lack of polish.

Today, however, Walsh is saying that he regrets his actions, opposing Trump today because “he’s not a conservative” (which is true in any practical sense) and, as a result, earlier this week announced that he was running for president as a Republican.

As he wrote in The New York Times two weeks ago, “I soon realized that I couldn’t support him because of the danger he poses to the country, especially the division he sows at every chance, culminating a few weeks ago in his ugly, racist attack on four minority congresswomen.”

The biggest issue to me, however, is his willingness to say that he as a conservative had been wrong. That’s something that you almost never hear in politics these days.

We can talk about “civility” all we want, but unless we’re willing to face ourselves and recognize that we may have missed the mark things simply cannot change. Indeed, you can’t have civility without humility, and Walsh perhaps understands that today. It isn’t likely that he has even a legitimate chance to win, but I think the statement says plenty.

Good luck, Mr. Walsh.

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