GOP Ex-Congressman Joe Walsh Will Conserve Conservatism by Voting for the Socialist

Joe Walsh, the one-term Tea Party congressman swept into office by the 2010 conservative wave, has taken his NeverTrumpism to comic new lows with his Conserving Conservatism™ endorsement of Bernie Sanders on Twitter this weekend.

I would vote for socialism over authoritarianism. https://t.co/DjMqUha53e

— Joe Walsh (@WalshFreedom) February 23, 2020

Today he’s gone and done it again, with a new op-ed for the Washington Post making plain that he’ll vote for Sanders if Sanders is the nominee.

In researching this column, I had to spend some time perusing Walsh’s Twitter timeline which has the all-too-ironic handle “WalshFreedom.” That Twitter handle might be the only thing he has left after losing his guns, his health coverage, and his 401k under a Sanders administration. Spending a few minutes scrolling through his feed is like spending 30 minutes watching a particularly deranged episode of The Rachel Maddow Show. He’s still spewing thoroughly debunked RUSSIA! RUSSIA! RUSSIA! conspiracy nonsense and everything else you would expect to read on the no-follower timeline of a progressive bot account. I highly recommend not clicking on the link.

Respectfully my friend, you & @JRubinBlogger need to chill. Like you, I want Trump to lose. There are more people who oppose Trump than support him. Don’t tell me Bernie can’t win. My God, TRUMP is President! ANYONE can win. All of us must unite behind WHOEVER the Dems choose. https://t.co/QGI4wnuxQr

— Joe Walsh (@WalshFreedom) February 22, 2020

In today’s WaPo op-ed, Walsh claims, “This isn’t complicated. ‘Never Trump,’ ‘never-Trump’ or, if you prefer, #NeverTrump has always been a straightforward concept — the word ‘never’ is right there in the name.” OK, fine, we get it: Walsh will never vote for Trump. It is possible, I suppose, at least in theory, to look at someone with Trump’s record of reshaping the federal judiciary with Federalist Society-approved judges, cutting taxes and regulations, winding down foreign wars, getting our NATO allies to boost their defense budgets, and decide, “Gee, he’s just not conservative enough.” It might help if you were off your meds and/or drunk, but let us stipulate that it is in theory possible if not likely.

So don’t vote for Trump, Joe. I think you’re wrong, but it’s a free country. For the moment.

However, Walsh doesn’t stop there. He could say he’s voting Libertarian. He could write in “Joe Walsh” or “Marco Rubio” or “Zombie Ronald Reagan.” He could even sit this one out.

But no. That’s not good enough. The True Conservative™ is going to vote for the socialist Sanders. Because Walsh is more conservative than you. Somehow.

“I’m not a Democrat,” he says in today’s op-ed. “It’s not my job to tell Democrats whom to choose. What I can do, and what I have done, is pledge that I’ll vote for their nominee.” Here’s where he gets all squirrely: “If it were up to me, Sanders isn’t the guy I’d put in charge.” Except it is up to Walsh — it’s up to all of us — on November 3. And Walsh says flat-out he will vote for the socialist.

It’s at that point (at the very latest) that Walsh surrenders any pretense to protecting “freedom.” Maybe he could change his handle to “ResistFreedom” or “WalshCollectivizedMedicine” or “WalshGulag.” Just for honesty’s sake.

Walsh concludes: “I’d rather have a socialist in the White House than a con man.” You think there’s a difference, Joe, really? Socialism is a con game, where everyone who isn’t part of the nomenklatura is a sucker, a mark. Trump’s “con” has been to deliver on his most important campaign promises. Sanders’ con is that he can deliver all the free stuff to all the victims (real or imagined) without bankrupting the country. Walsh seems to prefer that to four more years of awesome judicial appointments and protecting the nation against massive tax and spending increases, but whatevs.

You might be surprised — or not — to learn that Walsh is also pimping a new book he just published, with the totally responsible and grown-up title, F*ck Silence: Calling Trump Out for the Cultish, Moronic, Authoritarian Con Man He Is. It’s been on sale for a week and currently has exactly one review, so I’m guessing it isn’t tearing up the sales charts.

Actually, I don’t have to guess: