President Donald Trump’s campaign responded to the primary candidacy of former GOP Rep. Joe Walsh with one word: “Whatever.”
Trump campaign communications director Tim Murtaugh reportedly sent the dismissive response to ABC News following Walsh’s announcement Sunday.
“Whatever,” is the Trump campaign’s response to Joe Walsh’s 2020 run.@jonkarl: “The president’s hold on the Republican Party is as strong as it has ever been…there’s really no indication that he has any vulnerability whatsoever to a primary challenge” https://t.co/JmbrJeJ5lE pic.twitter.com/fa3HlO7gQT
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) August 25, 2019
“I’m running because he’s unfit. Somebody needs to step up and there needs to be an alternative,” Walsh told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos as he announced his official candidacy Sunday. “The country is sick of this guy’s tantrum. He’s a child. I’m going to run for president.”
Walsh told Stephanopoulos that he “doesn’t want” Trump to win, even if he loses the primary to the president.
“The country cannot afford to have him win,” he said. “If I’m not successful, I’m not voting for him.”
However, neither the Trump campaign nor the Republican National Committee seem all that worried about the president being replaced on the GOP ticket, especially given his popularity among Republicans. (RELATED: RNC Chair: Democrats ‘Want Porous Borders To Help Get Voters’)
Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel told ABC News in response to Walsh’s announcement, “President Trump enjoys unprecedented support among Republicans,” RNC chairwoman Ronna McCaniel told ABC. “He has already delivered a long list of incredible accomplishments for conservatives and the country. Republicans are firmly behind the president and any effort to challenge him in a primary is bound to go absolutely nowhere.”