Joe Walsh: GOP is a ‘cult’ and Trump a ‘would-be dictator’

Former Rep. Joe Walsh (Ill.), one of three Republicans challenging President Trump in 2020, called the GOP a “cult” and the president a “would-be dictator” as he denounced the decision to scrap primaries in some states.   

“I’ve given up on the Republican Party, the Republican Party is a cult, right. They no longer stand for ideals. The Republican Party right now is all about washing their leaders’ feet every day, that’s what they do,”  Walsh said Monday on CNN.{mosads}

“We’re going to take our campaign directly to Republican voters — and I’ll add in all 50 states. We’re gonna campaign in all 50 states, we’re gonna campaign in South Carolina, Arizona, Nevada and Kansas, because I believe if we let these Republican voters know that the president of the United States just took away their right to vote they’ll march on the headquarters of their state parties to get that right to vote back,” he said. 

State party officials have said the canceled primaries in several states including South Carolina and Arizona are an effort to save costs and use that money for other races. 

State parties of the same political party as the incumbent president have canceled nominating processes in the past. 

Walsh, though, said the canceled primaries are different this time “because it’s never been done when there’s been primary challengers.”

Walsh directly blamed Trump for the canceled primaries. 

“This isn’t Russia, I do not live in Russia. We can’t just cancel elections in this country, that’s what Donald Trump is doing, he’s literally canceling elections … he is a would-be dictator,” Walsh said. 

Walsh is challenging Trump, along with former South Carolina Rep. Mark Sanford and former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld.

All three criticized the move to scrap primaries in an op-ed published in the Washington Post last week, writing that “cowards run from fights.” 

“The saying ‘may the best man win’ is a quintessential value that the Republican Party must honor if we are to command the respect of the American people,” they wrote.