3 weeks ago
1
Former Republican Illinois Rep. Joe Walsh announced Tuesday he is formally joining the Democratic Party because “the stakes are simply too high to NOT become a Democrat.”
“Let’s start with the obvious—a tyrant sits in the White House,” Walsh wrote in his Substack, “The Social Contract.”
“The very thing our Founders feared most is here,” he said. “Throw in the fact that one of our two major political parties is a real and direct threat to democracy and the rule of law.”
Walsh, a former supporter of President Donald Trump who later ran against him, amassed a large following through his controversial statements online and on his radio show. In 2012, he declared American Muslims an imminent threat to national security and lashed out at Rev. Jesse Jackson, accusing him of trying to “keep African Americans down on some plantation.”
Associated Press
The former Republican has spent much of his recent past trying to distance himself from the bigotry he promoted in earlier years.
Acknowledging his past public remarks on Tuesday, he said, “that’s no longer who I am.”
“I went to Congress on a mission to get our debt under control and to shake up the political establishment,” Walsh wrote. “I was passionate about my cause—so passionate that I said and did things I regret, so passionate that I became, way more than I’m proud of, a divisive political asshole.”
Walsh added that he has since “gained a greater understanding of and appreciation for LGBTQ issues, structural racism, the need for empathetic immigration reform, the dangers of climate change, and the role the government must play to help care for the neediest and most vulnerable among us.”
“I’m still a conservative, but I’m not a conservative jerk,” he wrote. “For the past seven years, I’ve been on a mission to help heal the divide in this country—the divide I helped to create.”
Walsh’s announcement comes as the Democratic Party’s approval rating sinks to an all-time low. An NBC poll published earlier this year found that just 27% of registered voters say they have positive views of the party. A CNN/SRS poll found that Democrats’ messaging on the economy performed worse than Republicans’ over the past four months, with the GOP holding an eight-point lead on the issue.
Walsh was already a vocal critic of the president. He said he made the switch to the Democratic Party because “These are unprecedented, dangerous times in America.”
“Of course we’ve always fought about and debated policy—how best to pay for healthcare, whether taxes should be raised or cut, and how best to deal with immigration,” Walsh wrote. “But we’ve never before fought about actually remaining a democracy or abiding by the Constitution and the rule of law.”
He highlighted “decency, tolerance, understanding, empathy” as traits he believes are “vital” to politics, claiming the Democratic Party is the only party “these days” that “values and practices these traits.”
20 Years Of Free Journalism
Your Support Fuels Our Mission
Your Support Fuels Our Mission
For two decades, HuffPost has been fearless, unflinching, and relentless in pursuit of the truth. Support our mission to keep us around for the next 20 — we can't do this without you.
We remain committed to providing you with the unflinching, fact-based journalism everyone deserves.
Thank you again for your support along the way. We’re truly grateful for readers like you! Your initial support helped get us here and bolstered our newsroom, which kept us strong during uncertain times. Now as we continue, we need your help more than ever. We hope you will join us once again.
We remain committed to providing you with the unflinching, fact-based journalism everyone deserves.
Thank you again for your support along the way. We’re truly grateful for readers like you! Your initial support helped get us here and bolstered our newsroom, which kept us strong during uncertain times. Now as we continue, we need your help more than ever. We hope you will join us once again.
Already contributed? Log in to hide these messages.
20 Years Of Free Journalism
For two decades, HuffPost has been fearless, unflinching, and relentless in pursuit of the truth. Support our mission to keep us around for the next 20 — we can't do this without you.
Already contributed? Log in to hide these messages.
“Donald Trump is the worst of us, and, sadly, the rest of the Republican Party emulates his cruelty, dishonesty, and authoritarianism,” Walsh wrote. “We’re better than what we’ve seen every day these past four months. America is better than this. As a former Republican, I know that cruelty sells.”
English (US) ·