Joe Walsh: Challenging Trump for the GOP nomination taught me my party is a cult
Real conservatives think for themselves. Trump Republicans have been brainwashed.
By Joe Walsh
Joe Walsh is a former Illinois congressman.
When I announced my primary challenge to President Trump last year, I knew running against him for the GOP nomination was the ultimate long shot. Even now, after impeachment, after three years of vulgarities, inanities, betrayals and racist screeds, he has a 94 percent approval rating among Republicans in the latest Gallup poll.
My chances are slim * don*t worry, I know.
It*s been made even tougher by the party canceling primaries to shield the president from being challenged. And by Fox News, and the rest of Trump*s lapdog conservative media, denying me airtime. But I*ve been on TV, I*ve served in Congress and I hosted my own talk-radio show. I don*t need the airtime. More than anything else, what*s made this challenge nearly impossible * to a degree that I didn*t fully realize when I first hit the trail * is how brainwashed so many of my fellow Republicans seem to have become. I hate to say it, but the GOP now resembles a cult.
I was already sensing this, but I was slapped hard in the face this past week at the Iowa caucuses: Last Thursday, the president came to Des Moines for one of his narcissistic rallies. I was in Des Moines, too, so I tried to talk to some folks outside the event before they went in * makes sense, right? Here*s a captive audience of Republican voters. But it turned out to be one of the most frustrating (and frankly, sad) experiences I can recall. I asked dozens of people a very simple, straightforward question: *Has President Trump ever told a lie to the American people?* And every single person said, *No.* Never mind that thousands of his misstatements have been meticulously documented. No, they said, he*s never lied.
I brought up his years-old claims that, unlike President Barack Obama, if Trump ever became president, he*d be too busy to play golf. Most people responded by saying they don*t care whether Trump golfs. But three people said that Trump has never golfed since he*s been president. No one said that they thought he did anything wrong with Ukraine. No one knew that our annual deficits just blew past $1 trillion. Everyone believed hundreds of miles of new wall had been built. (Fact check: False!) When I asked whether they thought Mexico was paying for the wall, most people said yes but were at a loss to explain how. On and on it went: CNN was the enemy and Rep. Adam B. Schiff (Calif.), along with the rest of the congressional Democrats, were lying traitors.
I also phone-banked this week, calling potential Republican caucus-goers throughout Iowa. I always knew it when I got a strong Trump supporter on the line by the language they used and the tone that they took: They*d say no president has been attacked like Trump has or no president has had to deal with such hatred and opposition. (Again: Not true!) They*d get defensive and throw out more lies and half-truths: China is paying for the tariffs, Joe Biden was covering up for his son, and Russia didn*t do anything in the 2016 election were all popular. On and on it went: I ended my two hours of phone time each day pretty bummed out by the mis- and disinformation I*d heard.
Then came Monday night: I went to a caucus and gave a speech to about 3,000 Iowa Republicans. I*ve never been to a MAGA rally, but it sure felt like one. The president*s daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, spoke first and underscored the Trump bottom line: Perfect phone call; Democrats bad; keep America great. Crowd goes wild. I then got up to make my pitch, and * as you may have seen * it didn*t go well. I got booed for saying that our party needed to do some soul-searching. I said the party is going to be a party of old white men unless we become more inclusive. More boos. I said we shouldn*t be okay with a president who lies all the time. I said we need a president who*s decent, not cruel. I said, you might enjoy Trump*s mean tweets, but most people don*t. I said we must be better than a president who makes every day about himself. Boos. And more boos. One woman yelled that she loves the president*s tweets. The crowd cheered her.
No thanks, Joe Walsh. Your primary challenge might only help Trump.
I reminded folks that I*m a conservative, but I said conservative policies aren*t good enough. Decency, honesty and compassion matter, too. But they wanted nothing to do with it. There was more booing, more yelling, and I caught a middle finger or two. I*m a big boy, and I can take a tough crowd, but leaving the caucus that night, I realized once and for all that nobody can beat Trump in a Republican primary. Not just because it*s become his party, but because it has become a cult, and he*s a cult leader. He doesn*t have supporters; he has followers. And in their eyes, he can do no wrong.
They*re being spoon-fed a daily dose of B.S. from *conservative* media. They don*t know what the truth is and * more importantly * they don*t care. There*s nothing that any Republican challenger can do to break them out of this spell. (Thanks, Hannity.)
Part of me was dejected. But part of me was still hopeful * that a conservative movement based on compassion, honesty, opportunity and inclusion can and will emerge someday soon. I may not always have appreciated that; I may not have always said it. But I*m not part of a cult! I try to learn from new information, and I think for myself. Clearly, that*s not the Trump GOP. I have faith, though, that there are enough principled conservatives out there who think like I do.