Sidestepping questions over whether he will primary Donald Trump, former Tea Party Republican lawmaker Joe Walsh launched a brutal attack on the president comparing him unfavorably to one of his previous foes: President Barack Obama.
Speaking with CNN hosts John Berman and Alisyn Camerota, the former Illinois congressman refused to commit to running but sketched out what any GOP candidates running against the embattled president must do to have a chance to rally disaffected Republican voters.
"I think we overanalyze Trump, "Walsh began. "He's not complicated, he's a horrible human being. He's a bad, bad guy."
"Trump's a bully and he's a coward, and the only way you beat a bully and you beat a coward is to expose them, is to punch them," Walsh began. "Donald Trump's been a con man his whole life. He is a bad man who -- and we don't talk about this enough, John. Millions and millions of American children every single day in this country are learning. they're paying attention, they're learning that it's okay to lie and be a bully and be cruel. The only way you primary Donald Trump and beat him is to expose him for the con man he is. And if I did it, John, that's what I'd do -- I'd punch him every single day."
'He lost me at Helsinki about a year, year and a half ago when he stood in front of the world and said, 'I'm with that guy Putin and not my own people,'" he added. "That was it, that was ugly. and that was disloyal. But really, John, what's grown on me since 2016 is this troubling truth. Virtually every time he opens his mouth, he lies. I mean, we've never had that before. Look. I was in Congress with Obama and I called him out on a couple of doozies. But we've never had a president -- and this is pretty scary -- we've never been in a situation where every single time a president opened his mouth, it was a lie. I don't give a damn what your politics are, that's got to be called out."
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