'Stakes are too high': Trump drives former Tea Partier into the Democratic Party

Joe Walsh long ago left the Republican Party, but his time as a political independent has come to an end.

The former Republican congressman, who was swept into office as part of the Tea Party wave in 2010, and long-shot GOP challenger to Donald Trump in 2020, announced Tuesday that he had formally joined the Democratic Party.

"The stakes are simply too high to NOT become a Democrat," Walsh wrote on his Substack page. "Let me explain why."

"Let’s start with the obvious — a tyrant sits in the White House," Walsh added. "The very thing our Founders feared most is here. 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. These are unprecedented, dangerous times in America. I know it. You know it. There are even Republicans who know it."

Walsh called out Republicans who have appeased Trump or opposed him as he attacks what the former lawmaker called "fundamental values. [including] the rule of law, democracy [and] pluralism," and he urged them to unite – as Democrats – in a broad coalition that includes even conservatives.

"Without freedom, democracy, and the rule of law, America ceases to be," Walsh wrote. "And currently, only the Democratic Party is on the side of all three of these core American values. There isn’t a third party coming to the rescue any time soon. Right now, the Democratic Party is democracy’s lone defender and best hope."

Walsh admits he's changed in the seven years since he first publicly spoke out against Trump, and while he still considers himself a "border hawk [and] unabashed gun rights advocate," he's softened his views on social issues.

"I’ve opened my eyes and listened to people who don’t think like me," he said. "And by doing so, I 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 government must play to help care for the neediest and most vulnerable among us."

"Most importantly, I’ve changed how I behave as a public figure," Walsh added. "I went to Congress on a mission to get our debt under control and to shake up the political establishment. 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 assh*le. That’s no longer who I am.

Walsh said he finally changed his party registration because the first four months of Trump's presidency have angered him even more than he imagined, and he marveled that the Democratic Party could be home to a conservative like himself and a progressive like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY).

"From the Tea Party to the Democratic Party, all in the past 15 years," he said.

"What a wild, crazy, unprecedented political journey it’s been," Walsh added. "My constant thread on this journey, my lodestar, has always been my reverence for freedom, democracy, and the rule of law. Along the way, I’ve rediscovered my reverence for decency and tolerance, for pluralism. Only one of America’s two major political parties today is squarely on the side of decency, tolerance, pluralism, freedom, democracy, and the rule of law — the Democratic Party. So I join that party. I proudly and humbly join the Democratic Party."