Former Republican Rep. Joe Walsh continued his vocal opposition of former President Donald Trump on Saturday, calling him an “evil demagogue.”
Walsh appeared on MSNBC’s The Weekend to comment on the recent comments Trump made while on the campaign trail. In Ohio last month, the former president suggested the automobile industry will undergo a “bloodbath” if he is not elected to a second term. He also used the phrase “poisoning the blood of our country” during a December 2023 rally in Durham, New Hampshire, which critics pointed out resembles rhetoric used by Nazi leader Adolf Hitler.
“I mean Trump appeals to the worst of us, and [President Joe Biden]’s going to drive this home as best as he can,” Walsh said. “We’re living in a populist moment. … Trump is an evil demagogue who throws horrible stuff at us about this populist moment. The American people are angry.”
Walsh went on to offer advice to Biden’s campaign. Walsh, formerly a Republican representative from Illinois, spoke from personal experience. He challenged Trump in the 2020 Republican primary, only to end his campaign in February of that election year.
“I think Biden and that team needs to recognize the moment and appeal to the best of us,” Walsh said. “This is not who we are. I get we’re angry, and the Democrats need to recognize the anger, but not demagogue it like Trump is.”
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In 2016, Walsh voted for Trump, only to become a public critic of the president when he was up for reelection.
Walsh represented Illinois’s 8th Congressional District from 2011 until 2013. He flipped the previously blue suburban Chicago district in 2010, only to lose the seat to now-Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) in 2012. Today, it is held by Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL).
