2020 GOP presidential long shot Joe Walsh said he was “obsessed with race” in an appearance on MSNBC’s Deadline: White House.
Walsh, 57, announced his plan to challenge President Trump for the GOP nomination over the weekend. He plans to argue that Trump is “morally unfit” for the presidency.
The former Tea Party congressman has an extensive history of making incendiary remarks, with many of them directed at former President Barack Obama.
MSNBC’s Nicolle Wallace and John Heilemann peppered Walsh with questions about his commentary.
“The most disturbing thing for a lot of people, defected Republicans, the kind of people I worked with during my time in the Bush family political organization are the questions around race,” Wallace began. “Some of your past comments suggest that you weren’t always sensitive to race. How do you help heal what are in a lot of people’s views the most dangerous and malignant part of Trumpism?”
“I’m obsessed with the issue of race,” Walsh answered. “Look, I’m pretty outspoken. I push the envelope. I’ve got a podcast with a black radio announcer in Chicago, we do it every week called ‘Uncomfortable Conversations,’ and we talk about racism. I think America is afraid to talk about the issue. Sometimes I push the envelope too far, and I have, but I am so excited to lead a dialogue on that, on the issue of race. I work with a black pastor on Chicago’s south side. There’s an opportunity here for Republicans to get black votes, but not with this guy in the White House.”
Walsh was also confronted on the show for using the N-word on social media as well as for accusing Obama of being Muslim and and promoting the “birther” conspiracy theory.
