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President Trump has a new challenger for the Republican nomination. Former Illinois Representative Joe Walsh has thrown his hat in the ring for the 2020 nomination. The Tea Party politician has become a fierce critic of the president of late.
Walsh issued damning statements about the president when he announced his intention to run. He described the president as nuts, erratic, and cruel. Walsh went on to say that President Trump doesn’t give a damn about America and that the 25th Amendment should be considered to remove him from office.
Walsh is the second Republican to join the primary against the incumbent president. Back in April, former Massachusetts Governor Bill Weld announced his candidacy. Both men acknowledge that their campaigns are long shots, but they wanted to give voters a true conservative option in the primary.
While the primary challenges are not likely to amount to much, they do come at a sensitive time in Trump’s presidency. According to the latest AP poll, Trump’s approval stands at just 36%, the lowest since January. He remains deeply unpopular with Independents, with 65% disapproving of the job he is doing.
The president had enjoyed a slight bump in the polls earlier in the summer. A series of mass shooting tragedies and the protracted trade war with China have taken a hit on his approval rating the past few weeks.
Trump is likely to breeze past Walsh and Weld for the Republican nomination, but the general election might be a different story. At least 4 Democratic primary challengers are leading the president in early polls. If the economy takes a dive over the next few months, things will get very rocky for the president.