‘I Was a Divisive Political A**hole’: Ex-Republican Congressman Gives Blunt Assessment of Former Self
Former GOP Rep. Joe Walsh described his former Tea Party congressman self as a “divisive political asshole” during Tuesday’s Deadline: White House on MSNBC.
Walsh appeared on the program with Fred Guttenberg, whose daughter was killed in the 2018 Parkland school shooting. The pair were promoting their Two Dads Defending Democracy tour.
“Joe and I, years ago when I was on your show, Joe and I would go at it,” Guttenberg reminded Wallace. “We did not care for each other. We didn’t trust one another. And then one day, he reached out and we became friends. We met and we started talking and we realized we have an awful lot in common. We have a lot we don’t agree on, and we have a lot we don’t have in common. But we both love this country, we both democracy, and we are both going to fight for it.”
Wallace became emotional and referenced Judge Esther Salas, whom she interviewed on Monday. Salas’ son was killed in 2020 by a disgruntled former litigant who posed as a delivery man to gain entry to her home in 2020 and shot her 20-year-old son to death.
“Fred, you always make me cry,” the host said. “I’m determined to someday have you on and not cry. But this idea of what you lost, you know, I had Judge Esther Salas here yesterday. She lost her son to violence. You lost your daughter. I mean it’s all about the failures, not just of our policies, but the failures of our society, to stop the meanness, to crowd it out.”
Wallace then shifted her focus to the GOP and asked Walsh to respond:
They’re now enabling, green-lighting, stepping aside to make way for more cruelty. To make way for more author tear tactics being deployed on the American people they say they serve, they say they love. How do you call out the bullshit in the Republican Party in a way that wakes everybody else up? You don’t need to convert them all, I guess, into Biden voters, but how do you wake them up and get them to stop being a threat to our democracy?
Walsh’s answer was just as colorful:
Nicolle, I think a lot of it has to do with who’s trying to wake them up, who that messenger is. And look, you know my history. I was a divisive political asshole from the right. I was a Trump supporter. I left that world because I realized, Nicolle, you and I have talked about it, all the destruction that that leads to.
Here’s the point. You talked about toxicity. I don’t– Fred and I know who we want to win in November. I believe no matter who wins in November, this country’s going to be 100 times more divided. And if the American people continue down this road where we want to destroy the people we disagree with, our democracy’s going to fail.
And, Nicolle, I’ll fully acknowledge that MAGA, my world on the right, is further down that road. But man, damn near all Americans now are on that road where, “I hate the person I disagree with. I want nothing to do with them.” Fred and I are just trying to show people that it’s possible to listen to people you disagree with.
Watch above via MSNBC.
