Why Joe Walsh Left MAGA and Joined The Left

Summary

The Find Out Podcast: Episode Summary Title: Why Joe Walsh Left MAGA and Joined The Left
Release Date: July 10, 2025
Guest: Joe Walsh (Former Congressman, Talk Show Host, New Democrat)

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1. Introduction: A Surprising Political Shift

In this compelling episode of The Find Out Podcast, hosts Tim, Zach, Rich, and Luke engage in a revealing conversation with Joe Walsh, a former Republican congressman and conservative talk show host, who has recently transitioned to the Democratic Party. The hosts express astonishment and excitement over Walsh's political realignment, setting the stage for an in-depth exploration of his journey from the Tea Party and MAGA movements to embracing the left.

Tim [00:16]: "If you had told me 15 years ago that I would be talking to this person and that we were on the same political, the same side of the political aisle, I would have you checked into a hospital for evaluation."

2. From Tea Party to Democrat: The Journey Begins

Joe Walsh delves into his transformation, highlighting the drastic changes within the Republican Party and his growing disillusionment with its trajectory under Trump's leadership. He emphasizes that his core fear has always been "tyranny and excessive, oppressive government," a principle that led him away from his former party.

Joe Walsh [01:39]: "A weird, unique journey. The one constant from Tea Party to Democratic Party is I have always feared tyranny and excessive, oppressive government."

He hints at writing a book titled The One Constant, promising an unfiltered account of his political evolution.

3. The Breaking Point: Disillusionment with Trump

Walsh recounts his initial support for Donald Trump during the 2016 campaign, attracted by Trump's disruptive approach and populist appeal. However, over time, Walsh became disenchanted with Trump's constant dishonesty and authoritarian tendencies.

Joe Walsh [03:34]: "Every time he opened his mouth, he lied. And I can't have that."

A pivotal moment for Walsh was Trump's 2018 Helsinki summit with Putin, which solidified his decision to publicly oppose Trump, despite the personal and professional repercussions.

Joe Walsh [06:56]: "I went on my radio show that night and I said, I am going to do everything in my power to defeat him in 2020."

4. Election Insights: 2016 and 2020

The conversation shifts to an analysis of the 2016 and 2020 elections. Walsh reflects on the narrow margins in 2016 and attributes Trump's victory to a broader populist discontent among average Americans with the political system.

Joe Walsh [09:22]: "We have been living in a populist moment for a while now. What the fuck does that mean? That just means that average regular Americans are pissed off at a political system they no longer believe is listening to them."

Regarding the 2020 election, Walsh contends that Biden's victory was less about his own appeal and more about voter exhaustion with Trump's unmanageable presidency.

Joe Walsh [10:57]: "I think the reason Biden won in 2020, because we were fucking exhausted of four years. He wanted the old man."

5. Critique of Democratic Strategies and Failures

Walsh criticizes the Democratic Party for its failure to connect authentically with voters, arguing that their strategy of solely attacking Trump without presenting a compelling alternative has alienated potential supporters.

Joe Walsh [21:08]: "They hid Biden's condition and they didn't have a real election, the primary, blah, blah, blah. So they had pretty, a lot of Material to work with too. So I think it was too late by the time he got to Kamala."

He highlights Kamala Harris's campaign as a missed opportunity, suggesting that a more authentic and issue-focused approach could have garnered greater support.

Zach [15:13]: "If Kamala Harris had sounded like me for three months, I think she had a fighting chance, honestly."

6. Embracing Populism: A Path Forward for Democrats

Walsh advocates for a populist Democratic Party that resonates with disenfranchised voters by addressing tangible issues such as the economy, border security, and fair competition in sports.

Joe Walsh [22:56]: "I want a populist Democratic Party. I want a pissed off at the establishment Democratic Party."

He underscores the importance of addressing everyday concerns over divisive culture war topics, emphasizing that most Americans support marginalized communities but feel disconnected from the current political discourse.

Joe Walsh [28:21]: "Most Americans believe our transgender brothers and sisters... Right there is where 80% of America is on transgender Americans."

7. Candidate Profiles and Future Prospects

The discussion touches on potential Democratic figures who could embody the necessary populist energy. Walsh expresses support for Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) and Gavin Newsom, while also praising outsider candidates like Mark Cuban for their authenticity and anti-establishment stance.

Zach [42:14]: "Mark Cuban is the guy that always jumps out to me. He's like the good version of Donald Trump."

Walsh also contemplates the viability of challenging established figures like Lindsey Graham in South Carolina, suggesting that a principled, issue-focused campaign could attract disillusioned GOP voters.

Joe Walsh [50:34]: "If I could run... Everything that's wrong in our politics with one guy. Lindsey Graham."

8. The Critical Role of Authenticity and Messaging

A recurring theme is the need for authentic, unfiltered communication from the Democratic Party. Walsh criticizes the party's hesitance to speak plainly, advocating for straightforward messaging that addresses voters' real concerns without fear of offending.

Joe Walsh [26:35]: "Democrats are so perfectly consulted and overly polls consulted... America doesn't want that."

He emphasizes that Democrats must move beyond scripted narratives and engage with voters on common-sense issues to rebuild trust and support.

9. Concluding Reflections: The Road Ahead

As the episode wraps up, the hosts reflect on the challenges and opportunities facing the Democratic Party. Joe Walsh reiterates his commitment to rallying Republicans disillusioned with Trump to join the Democratic cause, emphasizing the necessity of a united front to combat the entrenched MAGA influence.

Joe Walsh [64:36]: "We've got to be Democrats now to defeat what that thing is."

The conversation concludes with a hopeful yet critical outlook on the future, underscoring the urgency for Democrats to adopt a more dynamic and relatable approach to regain and expand their voter base.

Key Takeaways

• Joe Walsh's Transformation: From a staunch Republican and MAGA supporter to a Democrat driven by a fear of authoritarianism and a desire for authentic, populist politics.

• Disillusionment with Trump: Critical turning points, including Trump's dishonesty and actions like the Helsinki summit, led Walsh to oppose Trump despite initial support.

• Election Dynamics: Analysis of the 2016 and 2020 elections highlights the impact of populist sentiments and voter exhaustion on political outcomes.

• Democratic Strategy Flaws: The Democratic Party's focus on attacking Trump without offering a compelling alternative has limited their ability to attract disillusioned voters.

• Populism as a Path Forward: Advocating for a Democratic Party that addresses real economic and social issues, moving away from divisive culture wars to connect with a broader electorate.

• Candidate Authenticity: Support for authentic, outsider candidates who can effectively communicate and resonate with everyday voters.

• Urgency for Change: Emphasizing the need for Democrats to overhaul their messaging and strategies to rebuild trust and expand their supporter base.

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Joe Walsh's candid insights provide a valuable perspective on the current political landscape, offering actionable strategies for the Democratic Party to reconnect with voters and foster a more inclusive, populist movement. This episode serves as a pivotal discussion on bridging political divides and redefining party dynamics in modern America.

Transcript

[Joe Walsh]

Foreign.

[Tim]

Hey, everybody, and welcome back to the Find out podcast. We have a very special episode today and before I introduce this guest, I'm just going to say that if you had told me 15 years ago that I would be talking to this person and that we were on the same political, the same side of the political aisle, I would have you checked into a hospital for evaluation because I just would not believe it. But, but this is. We are very, very happy and excited to have former congressman, former talk show hosts, and now newly. Newly. What's the word? I'm looking for a new Democrat. Joe Walsh has joined us today. So Joe, you, Tim, it's great to be with you.

[Joe Walsh]

Luke, Zach, good to meet you both guys.

[Tim]

Good to meet you too.

[Zach]

Excited to have you.

[Tim]

So Joe is the perfect, the perfect guest for this podcast because this podcast is obviously all about trying to move men leftward and or at least to the Democratic Party side. And Joe, you know, obviously you started out in the political world on the right, I think, self described Tea Party member, an original, maybe early on maga. And you have gone through quite the transformation. So we would love to hear a little bit about your journey. Joe, like how did you. Most people hear this and they're like, how is that possible?

[Joe Walsh]

But I got to write the book, Timmy. I got to write the book. What a weird fucking journey from the Tea Party to the Democratic Party in 14 years. A weird, unique journey. I don't know of anyone else who's made the same journey, but these are very weird, unique times. I believe many. You probably believe the, the very thing our founding fathers feared sits in the White House right now. And he captured my former political party, the Republican Party, so easily, so many years ago. I helped get him elected the first time I was part of the Tea Party wave. Tea Party turned into maga and when Tea Party turned into maga, I started to go south. I am going to write the book the One Constant. And guys, nothing's off limits. It's. It's a weird journey. And I, the old Joe Walsh did and said that would offend everybody on this podcast. The one constant from Tea Party to Democratic Party is I have always feared tyranny and excessive, oppressive government. That's what the Tea Party generally was to me. And here we are 14 years later and it's my former party that is full on authoritarian. That's how come I'm a Democrat.

[Zach]

I'm curious about, do you have. Because I also was a former Republican. I wouldn't call myself a Trump supporter, but I was not averse to Trump for a while. And I had a distinct moment where I broke away from Trump and it was like, clear, like, I can't do this anymore. Do you have that moment or was it like a gradual shift away?

[Joe Walsh]

Both. Both, Zach. Yeah, it's funny. Both. Look, I voted for him in 16 when he ran in 16. I'm, I'm on conservative talk radio all over the country. I'm one of the bad guys. And I, I, I'll never forget that first debate in the summer of 2015 when Trump stood on that fucking stage with, like, night all the 95 other Republican candidates. Jeb. Remember Jeb and all of them. And, and Trump starts to speak at this debate. And I, my radio show, I was doing a live event for my listeners at some restaurant, and the minute Trump started to speak, all the Republican consultants from D.C. started calling and texting me saying, this guy's a joke, man. This is ridiculous. But everybody at that restaurant who listened to my radio show said, this guy's awesome. Finally, finally there's somebody talking to me. So I knew right then and there that, that he was something. And it, look, it's simple, guys. Like, I've always been a disruptive political guy. I think our political system sucks. I'm anti establish. The Republican Party establishment hated me. They didn't want me to go to Congress. I've always been a populist. So I understood what Trump's appeal was. His voters were my voters. They were my, my people. I didn't pay enough attention to who he was as a person that first time around. I figured, he'll get elected, he'll play a lot of golf, maybe he'll hire two good people and a few good things might get done right the minute Zach, that he won and I'm on again, I'm all over the country and I'm on Fox News every day. I had to start paying attention to him. And a month and a half after he got sworn in, in 17, I came home from my radio show and I turned to my wife and I said, this ain't going to end well for us. I said, I don't know. Well, I don't know exactly, but the moment's going to come in the next year or so where I'm going to publicly have to turn against him. And, sweetheart, we're going to lose everything, guys. When I went to Congress in 2010, I was the poorest member of Congress, the absolute poorest. And then I'm on talk radio around the country and on Fox News. And for the first time in my life, I'm making money. But I knew that was all going to go south. And Zach, primarily because I started to pay attention to him, and every time he opened his mouth, he lied. And I. I can't have that. So I generally started speaking out against him publicly over the course of a year, year and a half, and I got beaten up by my conservative talk radio people, by the advertisers, by my bosses. But then the final straw for me was Helsinki in the summer of 2018, when that traitorous stood in front of the world and said, I'm with Putin and, and not our own intelligence people. I went on my radio show that night and I said, I am going to do everything in my power to defeat him in 2020. And at that moment, I pretty much began to lose everything.

[Zach]

Jesus. I mean, it's. So you didn't notice this stuff as he was running in 15, 16 as much as you did once he got it, how was, how did you kind of miss it? Because, I mean, he was lying a shit ton during his run up to the first time as well. So was it just. You weren't focused on that. You were focused on the fact that he was just like every man's dream and, you know, he came up and said things that no other politician ever said, and you just kind of missed it. Like, is that what it was?

[Joe Walsh]

I was, I was a disruptive politician. I figured he's a disruptor, too. I believed our politics needed disruption.

[Zach]

Right.

[Joe Walsh]

I didn't though, Zach. I didn't take him seriously enough. I, like, I'd never watched the Apprentice. I just figured he's a goof. And I thought, okay, when he said, I want to burn it down and blow it up and drain the swamp. Well, excuse me, that stuff I'd been talking about for five, six years. So I figured, okay, he's a goof and he's. And he's offensive, but, you know, big deal. If you've got a rat problem in your house, I don't give a damn if the guy who comes over to get rid of the rats is an. Just get rid of the rats. So I, But I didn't pay enough attention to how often he lied. And I really, Zach, weirdly, I didn't necessarily care where he was on issues. I just figured we got to clean this thing up.

[Zach]

You liked his b.

[Joe Walsh]

But look, I was wrong. And, and if I could go back in time, and it's weird, I've, I, I've been publicly naked for the Last seven or eight or nine years, I've apologized a thousand times for helping get him elected. But if I could go back in time, man, I wish I had woken up faster. I'd have voted for Hillary in a heartbeat.

[Tim]

I mean, it's really, it's really interesting to hear you, you say this because I think that a lot of us on the left feel like that was a lot with a lot of people on the, on the right. And my, my follow up question, and I think you've kind of answered it, but for a lot of us on the left, the, the sort of Access Hollywood stuff was, I thought, that's my breaking point. I thought he was done. I mean, I didn't like, obviously I'm, I'm, I've been in Democratic politics forever.

[Rich]

I didn't like him.

[Tim]

Right. But like, it wasn't this, this visceral, you know, disdain that I have for the man now. But when I heard that clip or saw that clip with Billy Bush, the, the, the, the Democratic strategist in me went, thank God, that's going to sink him. And it didn't do anything.

[Joe Walsh]

Nope.

[Tim]

Is it just because people just were like, it's sort of like you said, like, where they were looking for disruptors and the rest of it was just whatever and like that's what famous people do or was it just I don't even care?

[Joe Walsh]

It's. By the way, that 2016 election was so fucking close. If James Comey doesn't do what he does, Hillary probably wins. If Hillary wakes the fuck up in campaigns in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, she probably wins.

[Tim]

Yes.

[Joe Walsh]

I mean, my God, we, here's the deal. We've. Trump, I recognize this in 2010. It was the beginning of Trump recognized it in 16. We have been living in a populist mom moment for a while now. What the fuck does that mean? That just means that average regular Americans are pissed off at a political system they no longer believe is listening to them. That's the attitude in the country. And so when Republicans tried to run against Trump in 28, like Marco, fucking Marco Rubio tried to run on like Morning in America again. What the fuck? People are fucking pissed off. And the Democrats nominated the poster child for the establishment.

[Zach]

Yes.

[Joe Walsh]

The anti populist. I still believe Bernie, if Bernie's the nominee in 16, Bernie beats Trump.

[Zach]

You think so?

[Joe Walsh]

I, I firmly do, yeah. Bernie's a populist. Bernie wasn't. Isn't a Republican or a Democrat. It was the beginning of people just saying it. I'm pissed at both of them. I want something different. Trump. Yeah, go ahead.

[Tim]

No, I just say, do you think Biden would have won?

[Joe Walsh]

I don't think so. I think the reason Biden won in 2020, because we were fucking exhausted of four years. He wanted the old man.

[Rich]

Yeah, yeah.

[Zach]

The company.

[Luke]

Yeah, yeah.

[Zach]

Well, Pat on the back, it's going to be fine, you know, but Trump.

[Joe Walsh]

Tapped into this populist moment.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Joe Walsh]

Now, now he is a populist. He's a fake populist, a faux populist. He's an evil populist. I tend to think populists can be good and, or bad. A lot of people think populism is a bad thing. I think Democrats got to get haha, my new party. We need to get over that. But, but at the time it was, he was a populist and the Democrats were asleep at the switch. So the average voter out there that's pissed off about real. They don't give a damn about that. I can grab them by the. You know what?

[Luke]

Yeah, right.

[Tim]

No, that makes sense. Makes sense.

[Zach]

And it feels like it's like today too. I mean there's really not much of a difference.

[Luke]

Nobody talks about it.

[Joe Walsh]

They don't care. No, imagine guys, imagine people are like.

[Luke]

They'Re cool with it. That like they don't care. This massive cover up is happening right in front of them.

[Joe Walsh]

I was on, I was on some TV show yesterday morning and they asked me if Trump were actually the number one guy on Epstein's list. Baby, he was on that plane a thousand times.

[Tim]

Baby.

[Joe Walsh]

Would it make a difference? Hell no. Not among his supporters.

[Tim]

We're seeing it right now. Right? Because like they, Pam Bondi said she had the, the list on her desk a lot, but like she had the list on her desk and then came out and said, and, and J.D. vance pushed stuff out about the Epstein list and then all of a sudden they're like, just kidding, there's no list. And he, he killed himself.

[Joe Walsh]

Yeah.

[Luke]

It's a figment of our imagination and a rationalization of our tds. That's what it is.

[Joe Walsh]

Is.

[Tim]

Joe, is that like that reaction to that? Did that surprise you? Because I know we saw a few people, but mostly no, it's just, it doesn't matter.

[Rich]

Right.

[Joe Walsh]

Because again, but remember my vantage point, Tim, I'm, I'm on Fox News and I'm on conservative talk radio. And so my audience, everybody calling in didn't give a fucking damn or these are people going after the guy who's trying to go after the establishment. So it, it almost, it almost strengthened him among his core.

[Zach]

Yeah, yeah.

[Tim]

It's crazy. I mean, because there's like literally countless photos of him. I think even Jeffrey Epstein referred to Donald Trump as his best friend at one point. But I think it's true. You know, but you don't hear that. Right? On, on the, in the conservative media fear. Right? You don't get any of that stuff. Like, do people. I guess that's another question for you. Do people hear these things and see them or because they're so in Fox News and Turning Points USA and all of this garbage that they don't even hear it or it just doesn't even matter.

[Joe Walsh]

His base generally doesn't hear it. Yeah, but I found, like, I was out every day last year in a battleground state campaigning for Kamala Harris. How crazy is that? Right? Think about that. Just stop. Right? But I would hear every day two kinds of Trump voters. The hardcore maga. They don't get any of this. But there were a lot of Trump voters who said, I call them the. I don't care. They said, joe, I know Trump's an but. I know Trump's an but. The price of eggs. I know Trump's an but. The border.

[Zach]

Yep.

[Joe Walsh]

Those people, they, they hear this stuff. And those people, those people who voted for Trump are reachable. And if my new political party can fucking wake up, those people should be Democratic voters.

[Zach]

Yes, I say that all the time. It really is one of those situations where, like Democrats, I think Harris's biggest mistake was pivoting to attacking Trump as her primary focus in the campaign. Because those voters didn't hear a single thing of value from her. And they could have been convert if it come with set of messages where they went, okay, here's how this is going to get better. We're going to do it like that. It just, that was not their focus. And I think if she had been more focused on financial issues and explaining what she was going to do differently from Biden, so many of those people said, I don't like Trump and I'll vote for. Many would have voted for her and she would have won.

[Joe Walsh]

I, I agree with Zach. I agree with half of that. They needed to talk about that. But my God, if we've reached a point and I know the smart political consultants like Axelrod and Rahm Emanuel and all these people, James Carville, why the is James Carville still out there on TV talking?

[Tim]

I say this all the time. It drives me crazy. And the fact that he won one race in the early 90s in which a third party candidate made it possible. Like why are we listening to this.

[Joe Walsh]

This, this moment, this moment has utterly passed them by. But I still believe if we've reached a point where you can't get people to care about their fucking democracy or the rule of law, then, then I'm sorry, I'm going to go live in another fucking country. You can talk about the price of eggs and the fact that this bastard tried to overthrow an American election. And if you can't get people to care about both of those, then we're done. Then we're done.

[Tim]

So what do you think is the. Because obviously Democrats tried to several tactics on that clearly were not successful. What, what is gonna. I mean, obviously like that 30. That mega, mega. Like, I'm not even talking about them because I just don't even think it's worth it.

[Luke]

Useless.

[Tim]

But, but that 2010, 20%. Like what are the, what do we, how do we communicate with them? Because right now I think our brand is pretty toxic to a lot of them. And so how do we start chipping away at that? Because we won't win elections if we don't bring more people over to our side moving forward like we saw in November.

[Joe Walsh]

And it's easy to say to guys, but like, like Democrats, to most guys, just regular guys, Democrats are pussies. They're weak, they're out of touch, they're snobs. They don't get it. They look down on me, they laugh at me. Every one of those voters in Pennsylvania, Arizona, Nevada, Wisconsin that I talked to who said, joe, Trump's an asshole. But they all said, but Democrats are elites who look down on me. Yeah, so, so, right. Democrats have a real issue they got. And I, and I say this as someone who goes on MSNBC a lot. They gotta get out of their MSNBC cocoon and talk about, listen to real people with real issues and concerns. But Biden, in 2022, the midterm, he went all in on democracy, remember? He went all in and it worked and it staved off a humongous red wave. By 2024. Biden's 150 years old and he can't talk about anything. So I think the die had already been cast. And all these voters who think the system sucks, both parties suck. Well, okay, Trump's an ass, Joe, but look what Biden and the Democrats did. They hid Biden's condition and they didn't have a real election, the primary, blah, blah, blah. So they had pretty, a lot of Material to work with too. So I think it was too late by the time he got to Kamala.

[Tim]

I, I actually agree. I, I. And I think Kamala's internal polling, which people still don't haven't heard this message. She was in her internal polling. She was never winning. Like, so, so when I hear all these people say, like, the election was stolen, I'm like, first of all, no. Second of all, like, her numbers showed her losing. That's why they, you know, you heard their statements early on election night, which when people start saying, well, we need to, like, wait and see, that's a sign you're losing. Right? You're losing. And they were doing that early. And even before I was like, oh, so, like, they knew going in. Yeah, I think that debate was a killer, but I wish I was surprised at how many people said exactly what you just said. You didn't even have an election, so.

[Zach]

Why should I hear all the time.

[Tim]

Like, oh, my God, A real problem.

[Joe Walsh]

I can't tell you guys. I, I, I got to know Kamala. I don't blame Kamala for losing that election. I fucking blame Joe Biden. A lot, Joe.

[Zach]

100%.

[Joe Walsh]

Look, Donald Trump is a psychopath. He's humanly incapable of acting outside of his own interest. But let's be real. Joe Biden was a selfish old fart who put his own interest ahead of the country. He. He fucked things badly. And that again, to all these good, decent people in the middle who are just trying to get by every fucking week, and they look at what's going on, and they saw what the Democrats did. They know what Trump is, and they just. They shrug their shoulders and say they're all bad. So I'll at least vote for the guy who's talking about the border.

[Zach]

Yeah, that makes sense. We got rich here, by the way.

[Luke]

Yeah.

[Tim]

Quite a moment to walk into.

[Joe Walsh]

What the hell?

[Rich]

I didn't hate it. I'm gonna, I'm gonna be honest. I didn't hate walking into that. That's set the tone real quick. Everything.

[Joe Walsh]

Too much coffee?

[Tim]

Yeah. Well, we were just. We were just talking about. I mean, I don't think we have full agreement on this, but, like, Joe and I were agreeing that we think Kamala didn't really have a. She was toast before. And a lot of it was due to. Obviously, Biden's first debate was the most disastrous debate in history. There's no way to spin that as anything but. But also, like, had. He didn't quite say it, but had kind of said he wasn't going to run again. And that that was obviously causing problems with people in the middle and the right. And then the whole like you didn't hold a primary to elect afterwards was devastating for folks that maybe we would have potentially been able to grab.

[Joe Walsh]

But I, I campaigned my butt off for her. But I remember putting out an article two days before the election and I said the worst thing about Kamala winning, and I want her to win badly because Trump's a threat to everything we care about. But the worst thing about Kamala winning is it will put off the Democrats having to finally address the issues the Democrats have to address.

[Zach]

Yes.

[Joe Walsh]

And they've been living in this world where now I'm a Democrat. We have been living in this world where Trump is so batshit bad and crazy and un American that Democrats rightly felt like we can win by just saying Trump bad. Yes, November. November disproved that.

[Zach]

Yeah, huge mistake. There's no question. I mean, as a new Democrat, how do you feel about the party's, you know, lack of evolution? And like, as somebody who came from the right just like myself, like, how do you feel, feel about the best path forward probably for Democrats being adopting a more like Bernie Sanders style set of policies? I think that probably is the more resonant with the working class approach. How do you feel about that whole ecosystem that you're coming into?

[Joe Walsh]

So this may be a really weird answer from me, a guy who comes in from the right. And if you had to label me, I'm a conservative Democrat. I've made a bet that the party will be a big enough tent for a Joe Walsh and an aoc. Maybe I'm wrong. I think it has to be that big of a tent to succeed. Yeah. But I am an outsider anti establishment guy. So I want a populist Democratic Party. I want a pissed off at the establishment Democratic Party. I don't care necessarily where that attitude comes from. If it comes from Mamdani and the AOC wing. Or maybe this is an oxymoron, a charisma, a charismatic centrist, pissed off guy or gal. I just want anti establishment. Show me that we need that person.

[Zach]

I vote for that person. I love that.

[Tim]

Well, let's talk. I'm curious, Joe on the Mamdani thing. So obviously that guy is, is as far outside of the establishment on the left as you could possibly get. A 33 year old, maybe two term assembly, not your one term assembly member, also former rapper at one point and then comes out with a very, very, very left left. Leaning populist, platform freezing rents, government run grocery stores, a whole host of other things. When you saw him take the pa, like, what do you. What do you think? Is that the type of person or is that. Is he maybe too left for you? Well, what, like, because he is one of the most charismatic people aoc the same. Right. So where do you stand on. On Mamdani or a m. Doni like candidate?

[Joe Walsh]

Well, I'd be an absolute hypocrite if I didn't embrace him because I'm asking him to embrace me as a Democrat. Right. And so love that. And so look, that's New York City and he ran a hell of a campaign. A like I. We said a little bit ago that, that we're living in a populist moment and Republicans demagogue the moment. But Democrats have been awol. Well, that election a few weeks ago, that was a populist moment. Democrats are there. So I fully embrace him and I fully cheer him on. And I fully believe part of what the democr. Part of what our Dem. My Democratic Party needs to do is understand that this is a big fucking diverse country and the guy. The Democratic nominee in New York City should not be the same Democratic nominee down in South Carolina. If you want to take on Lindsey Graham. Right. You need Southern Democrats and you need good Northeast progressives. So we've got to embrace all of it, but most importantly, embrace the anti establishment energy. I can't say that enough. There is a unusually high number of people who voted for Mamdani, Trump and Eric Adams three elections in a row.

[Tim]

Yeah.

[Joe Walsh]

There something going on there?

[Zach]

Well, it's because they, you know, it's easy to be anti establishment when you're out of power. And I think that's what Democrats have to, you know, just get latched onto here is that, that's. If you go back in time, that's how the pendulum swings. It's just based on if you're out of power, then you just get back in power by being like, hey, I'm a change agent.

[Rich]

You know, I love how you characterize that. Progress looks different. I'm in a. I'm in a deep, safe red state. Progress looks different everywhere you are. And I think that's something that, the, that that the sort of the core Democratic, the people who are policing, I guess the Democratic messaging and the way that we talk about things have, have by and large come from increasingly concentrated blue areas. And I think, you know, that's partially out of survival. That's. Those are the places where we're still winning. And so that's where the leaders are coming from, Rich.

[Joe Walsh]

That's a great point. That's a great point, Rich. And that's, that's such a dangerous trap the party has fallen into. So there's been talk about me moving to the state of South Carolina because my wife and I fell in love with that state six years ago. And being a conservative Democrat taking on Lindsey Graham, I don't know if I'm gonna do it. But I do know you can't run a woke lefty progressive against Lindsey Graham down there.

[Zach]

Smashed.

[Joe Walsh]

So, so. And the other thing that drives me batty about Democrats, so many of them is there's this fear to just say what you believe. Don't worry about offending anybody.

[Rich]

Right.

[Joe Walsh]

There's a yearning for authenticity. I've never had that problem because I've always just said what I believe. But Democrats are so perfectly consulted.

[Zach]

Yes.

[Joe Walsh]

When they speak. And America doesn't want that.

[Zach]

Yeah, it's a serious problem. I mean, I think the way I look at it and the challenge that Democrats have is that Democrats are also the party that's embracing marginalized people. So they're trying to protect those people where the right just completely abandons them and says they don't give a shit. So the right doesn't necessarily have the same structural problem playing by different rules, Right? Exactly.

[Luke]

The game is different.

[Zach]

Yeah, completely. So, like, I completely agree with you. I think we need to be like dropping all that shit. But we have to understand the potential fallout of how that that plays because we are still going to want to be the party that is respectful to people and inviting people in and trying to like be the big tent. But at the same time, we got to be able to not walk on eggshells all the time. It's a very weird balancing act with the right. It's just like it, we'll say what we want because we're horrible people. It doesn't fucking matter.

[Rich]

I think it comes back to like what we were saying last week, how it's, you don't say we have to protect like, so you're running against Lindsey Graham. Let's say. You don't go and say we have to protect marginalized people and then have a 15 minute presentation on gender, you know, the gender identity.

[Joe Walsh]

Right.

[Rich]

You, you, you say we have to protect marginalized people because they're Americans. Full stop. And now let's talk about how talking about seven NCAA trans women competing in sports out of 500, 000 people is a massive Catastrophic distraction. While we're cutting energy, you know, new energy production, we're cutting you. We're, we're over everything that is economically our future, but also all of the people who are contributing to the diverse, you know, population that will be powering our future. So why are we talking about this stupid distraction when we should be talking about something that's really important?

[Joe Walsh]

Bingo. And as someone who used to be a culture war warrior from the right who would fucking tag Democrats with, oh, they all want defund the police. Like, when there was one school in, in Northern California that one Christmas said, you can't sing Silent Night at a Christmas pageant. Tucker Carlson. We'd all go on our shows the next day and say, democrats don't want any religious songs across America on Christmas.

[Tim]

Christmas. Right?

[Rich]

Bingo.

[Luke]

That's why we say Happy Holidays. Yeah, exactly.

[Joe Walsh]

Which, by the way, pisses me off. Happy Holidays. But we're not going to get into that right now. But we knew all of us on the right knew that Democrats would never fight us on this culture war stuff. And I think that's a big mistake because most Americans are with Democrats on all these culture war issues. Rich, you just nailed it. Most Americans believe our transgender brothers and sisters, God love you. We embrace you. Live your life, live your truth. You get the same damn rights that any American gets. You should be able to serve in the military. Gay, straight, lesbian, doesn't matter to me. And when it comes to transgender women in sports, let's just make sure the competition's fair. Bathrooms and locker rooms, let's respect everybody's privacy. Boom. Right there is where 80% of America is on transgender Americans.

[Zach]

Yes.

[Joe Walsh]

But Democrats for some reason are afraid to even say what I just said.

[Zach]

Oh, yeah, I don't know why, too. There's nothing controversial about it, at least in my mind.

[Tim]

I think they're afraid of getting into the specifics of it, and they don't feel like it's a winner. I mean, look, like the most effective ad that we've talked. Talked about a long time last year was Trump's ad about I'm for you and she's for they. Them. And even though, like, it's a completely absurd, it worked and we didn't say the thing that you just said, Joe, which is basically like, we respect everybody's right to exist. I mean, actually, John Federman, who I'm not super happy with at the moment, you know, but like, said basically, why? Who care? This is a stupid topic. I'm not do, like, this is ridiculous. And it worked. No one bothered him with it. Again, we just have to stand up and say enough. And then people kind of go, oh, Timmy.

[Joe Walsh]

It worked. Because again, the perfectly over consulted and overly polls Democratic Kamala Harris campaign said, don't even get into it. Fuck that punch back on that issue. It's like the border. Look, most Americans, if you're in this country illegally and you got a violent criminal record, get the hell out. But what Trump is doing now is utterly cruel and un American. So Democrats engage on that issue because most Americans are with you.

[Zach]

Yes. I mean, that was one of the critical things. It was like they, Kamala Harris just was incapable of keeping herself from like Biden's history. So she couldn't come out and be like, well, we fucked up on the border. We got to jump in and do X, Y. Because it made Biden look like an asshole. That like, but she, if she had done that, people would have forgotten about the old guy and gone, I like this lady. She's not, she's not full of shit. She's coming with some straight talk. Didn't do that. And it's the same shit across the transition, like across the board. She just like stayed away from all this territory and became very risk averse. And I do believe Steve going 20 minutes back, I do think she could have won if she had embraced that kind of mentality. I think a ton of people would.

[Joe Walsh]

Have been like, oh, Zach, I'll buy you a bottle of tequila because that's my booze. I, I, if Kamala Harris had sounded like me for three months, I think she had a fighting chance, honestly. But, but like we, we, look, Joe Biden legislatively had a hugely successful first four years. Yes, Joe Biden, modern American history done. But the bully pulpit is like 70% of a president's job. And for four years we had a president who was incapable of using it. So I mean, we had, we had the strongest fucking economy post Covid in the post industrialized world. Our president couldn't even talk to them. That right. So like come and, and Republicans then filled that void. Oh, eggs are $3,000 a dozen.

[Tim]

And.

[Joe Walsh]

And they're doing this every day, so. But again, by the time Kamala got.

[Rich]

There, yeah, she, she was dealt a terrible hand to play. It's like you got deuces and you know, go and go and win going.

[Joe Walsh]

By the way, the only play, Zach, was to go bananas.

[Zach]

Yes. Her only play was to come out and be like, fuck it, I'm my own person. I have ideas. We made some mistakes. We'll fix them. Like, she didn't do any of that. And it really was such a mistake.

[Tim]

Joe, I'm curious about the. Because there's been a lot of debate on the Democratic side about the weird angle of attack that they were using that Governor Walls were using. And then they stopped. Do you think that that was an effective attack or do you think that. Because to me it seemed like it was working and then they stopped and it seemed like all of our momentum kind of stopped. But, but I mean, correlation. I do think they're weird.

[Joe Walsh]

But you. I'm going to, I'm going to preface by saying I think you four guys are smarter than me. So I want to hear what you say about weird. It. To me, it was weird. To me, weird was weird. I didn't get it. I didn't understand it. And then truthfully, by the time walls got out there, like when she first pick walls, I thought, this is cool. Midwest guy, football guy can hunt, blah, blah. But then waltz gets out there. And you know what? Wal came across as weird Weird. Tim Walsh came his hand just. He didn't come across as a real tough guy. Maybe they didn't use him. Right. I didn't understand the weird. I would have just said wrong. This isn't who we are. This is un American. This is not who we are. I didn't get weird.

[Zach]

Yeah, I mean, I kind of understood it.

[Rich]

You have a better than 4th grade reading level though, right, Joe?

[Luke]

Yeah, I mean that's like the worst. That's the worst insult to a fourth grader is you're weird.

[Rich]

It is.

[Luke]

And it's, I think it worked really well because of the, that they're like insanely laser focused on. Right? Like you're, you're weird for thinking about everybody else's private parts. You're weird dog.

[Rich]

Well, and they're, they're hyper focused on this idea of like peak masculinity. And they're all alphas and everyone, it's like, dude, you guys are all betas. But anyway, they totally agree. They all want to be that thing. And, and that thing is normal, if nothing else. Like, we are the healthy, straight, white, ripped common sense, rich common sense. Like, we are the pure blood American people. And if you're like, you guys are weirdos. They're like, when it blows up their.

[Luke]

Hole and every time they tried to like combat it, they just fed into it more. Like they could never get it. They could never get it out of their mouths without beating, like without feeding into the allegation.

[Tim]

You Know, for us, obviously, like, it all makes sense to us. Right. But, like, did we win a single vote?

[Zach]

No.

[Tim]

By calling them weird? Right.

[Zach]

That's what I was going to say is I think that it was tailored to people who are already going to vote for Kamala Harris. Like, it wasn't. Like, it just made people who were on the fence about it feel, like, attacked. Like, whoa, you think I'm weird? Like, I've just. What is it getting you other than, like, it's just changing the narrative amongst the people who are already.

[Rich]

And it is just. I mean, it's just another version of an insult. I mean, I think the better thing is I liked weird because zealots and sycophants and fascists. Those are fucking college professor words. Like, those are words that educate people use when they're talking in the teachers lounge about their naughty students and, like, their. Their flunky students. But it's the flunky students who outnumber the pres. The professors, and they're the ones still going to the ballot box. You can't just say you are. You are a sycophant or that you. You or that you are all zealots and so don't vote.

[Tim]

Right.

[Rich]

Even cultists, and. Because they'll still just go vote. So you have to find a way to either. Like, I mean, I. I don't think insulting people is a great way to. To get them off the fence in your favor. But. But finding a way to use common language to connect with those people, I think was maybe half the battle. And then you have the other half and you reconnect it to economics as quickly as possible because it's still agreed.

[Joe Walsh]

I think weird was a little too cute.

[Rich]

Yeah, they were having too much fun with it.

[Joe Walsh]

Yeah. I think Democrats, like, with some of this culture war, they were afraid to just call it out for what it is. These guys are. If you lie to me every time you open your mouth, there's nothing manly about that. If you cheat, if you commit adultery, if I can't trust you. If I. If. If you're the exact opposite of how I would raise my kids, you're no man. You're a. If. If you lie about they're eating cats and dogs, you go after people like this who are just here for a better life. You're a. And a coward now. Maybe not that language, guys. No, I would use that language. I would use that langu call them out for. Because I come from that world. They live on the fact. And I talk to Maga Folk every day, like they're tough and I will say respectfully to them, you're Donald Trump. Che cheats on his what? On every one of his wives. Is that a manly thing to do? You.

[Tim]

Well, he's also the biggest baby on earth too, right. The second there's a mild like critique of him, he like loses his mind. I saw he got all mad about the Epstein thing the other day and.

[Luke]

Like, oh yeah, why are you even asking about this?

[Tim]

Yeah, that.

[Joe Walsh]

Give me the Democrat though, who will talk like this instead of talking like a, a professor or a, a, a the head of a committee with a 30 page PowerPoint. Yeah, no, just say what it is.

[Tim]

So, so speaking of that, do are there people that you see on our side? I mean you're obviously you.

[Joe Walsh]

I'm on your side now too. So you.

[Tim]

There's one, there's one like, and I think Fetterman does it a little bit. But like there's also a whole bunch of stuff going on there. But like what, what are there other examples of people or are these people that are yet to come and step forward?

[Joe Walsh]

Coming from Washington, like I do former congressman, I, I am loathe to look at Washington for this kind of a tough populist real voice. I don't know who that is. I haven't heard it yet, Tim. I, I haven't heard this kind of a voice yet.

[Rich]

I gotta say, I was, I was almost completely out on Newsom for the bulk of the last, I mean all the way back to Biden may or may not leaving the race. I thought, you know, certainly on paper Newsom is a person who you want to be excited for as a Democrat, you know, coming from the fourth largest economy in the world and he runs the most diverse state in the country. Like on paper he has all of the arguments to make and now like, oh, it's a California liberal. Fuck that. That California is better run. Yes, they have problems at scale because they are a nation on their own. They are a nation on their own. They have problems at scale just like Florida and, and the basalt face eating guy and just like Texas and their flood disasters. All big states have issues. I think that's something you fight back on. You don't say, well, we'll be a president for all of Americans. But I was, I was out on him because when he came out with his podcast and everything like that, it was just like what the the are like. It was the most transparently political approach to I'm going to run in three and a half years.

[Tim]

Right.

[Rich]

But now with the ICE raids and this where they were just sweeping the park like it was a minefield full of, you know, it's absolute insanity. And I think that Gavin has figured out I need to be a fighter on behalf. Like, he's not using the language that you use, Joe, but, but that's also, you know, I mean, he was the mayor of San Francisco, but I feel like for a guy who was the mayor of San Francisco and came from that area, he has maintained his, his, I think his loyalty to the, to the, the values. But he has changed how he presents himself as a leader in a way that I'm starting to look at him more and more and think like, is this, is this, is this a show or is he the fighter? Does he have that fighter in him who can come and just say, we got to burn down all the shit that Trump did like, immediately and we have to rebuild a whole bunch of new things to make up for all the damage he did and get us right back on the right track if we're going to compete in a world with India and China and EU driving the future and not the United States.

[Joe Walsh]

So there's a possibility with him. But again, I go back to this word, authenticity. That's fucking it. That's gold. And he's got an authenticity problem and he has to prove that this is real because Gavin has a history, a boom, boom, boom.

[Rich]

It's not just the moment that he's.

[Zach]

Capitalizing, he's kind of swinging it around. Thing to sing.

[Joe Walsh]

Yeah. He's got a hurdle he's got to jump over.

[Zach]

But I got a guy, I'm curious what you think about him because he's not a politician. I've liked him from the jump, but he doesn't want to run for president so far. But Mark Cuban is the guy that always jumps out to me. I know he's not like, you know, whatever, yeah, maybe Jon Steve, but Jon Stewart, I don't know, Bar Cuban. The difference to me is that a lot of people in the middle are going to look at somebody like Mark Cuban and go, he's the good version of Donald Trump. He's a self made billionaire. He's got a billion different companies, he understands how the dynamics of the market work and he's a straight shooter and tell you exactly to your face what the fuck he thinks and what he doesn't think. He's not going to lie to you. That, to me is a great combination. Yeah, he's not a politician. Whatever. I think that's Actually, a plus. I don't know. I look at him and I go, to me, he sort of fits that mold of like, as long as he brings progressive policies with them, the delivery could be great.

[Joe Walsh]

Right? I think being an outsider is a really good thing.

[Zach]

Yes.

[Joe Walsh]

I spoke with Cuban at an event about a month ago and he just pissed me off. He. He got up before I did and he spent a half hour telling this audience of 2,000 people, quit criticizing Trump and tell us what you're going to do. Outsell Trump. Quit talking about he's a threat to democracy and the rule of law. This was like two months into Doge and he's telling this audience, just be a better salesman than Trump's.

[Luke]

Not great.

[Joe Walsh]

No, but I agree with him, though.

[Zach]

I mean, I really don't. I know it's not the right message at the time, but I do agree.

[Rich]

With two months into Doge, nobody. You can't buy anything from Democrats two months into Doge. So that's a very poorly timed sales pitch.

[Zach]

Poorly timed, but correct in the logic.

[Joe Walsh]

To your point, a guy, maybe Cuban, or a guy like Cuban, again, if authentic, could have real possibilities. Yeah.

[Rich]

I'm thinking George Soros. I mean, there would. What better way to stick it to MAGA than to take. I don't even know what the guy looks like. But these guys, they fall asleep thinking about George Soros and trans women playing in sports. That's all they think about. That's been there like 20 years. That would be great. Like George Soros and then like a trans volleyball player as vice president.

[Joe Walsh]

I'll tell you what, guys. When I was in the midst of my right wing radio days, when I was in a blase mood midweek and ratings really weren't great and I needed to pick up, I right away would go to Soros. I right away would just say out loud on the radio.

[Tim]

It's so funny because it's like royal. But it's like the right has like 50 sorrows. And they. Just because we don't have as many Democrat billionaires, they. But it's. Well, there's the anti Semitism part of it too. But. But I want to. Joe. So, by the way, this is.

[Joe Walsh]

Tim. One important point. That, that. And as I'm only a Democrat now for a month, as I talk to Democrats, this is a big part of what I talk about. The inside baseball is in private with my fellow Republicans. For years in private, we would talk about and laugh about how the Democrats would never fight to the death politically.

[Tim]

Yeah.

[Joe Walsh]

And we Always knew we would and we knew the Democrats were there. Keep talking. We have to disprove that. You're right. To these Republicans.

[Rich]

I like what Luke said a couple of weeks ago you said, you know, you go far enough left, you get your gun back.

[Joe Walsh]

Yeah, I love that. I love that.

[Tim]

Well, Luke, I'm curious, I want to hear from you as our, as our resident gen zer. Like, is what Joe, is, Is this what younger people are looking for in a candidate? A fighter? Like, I'm just curious from the.

[Luke]

Yeah, they, he's 100, right? That, like, that's what they want. They don't want stale, scripted. They don't want that.

[Tim]

Yeah, you know, I was curious. Do you think, do you, do you. Sorry, Luke. And then you, you should ask your question. Do you think a lot of these people, the young people who voted for Trump are gettable in 2026?

[Luke]

I don't think they like, okay. And like, half of them don't even really know what they voted for. And like, I've talked to some of them, they're like, I can't believe all the that's going on. And it's like, like, yeah, some of us who were paying attention knew this was coming.

[Joe Walsh]

Like, that's kind of why I was.

[Luke]

So vocal before it.

[Rich]

But you know, dude, when, sorry, my first election, I was 18, I, I had just turned 18. I voted for Ralph Nader in 2000 because he. Somebody from the green part, it's a deep red state. It didn't matter if I was in Florida then you could, you know, throw me to that, put me in.

[Tim]

You'd be off, you be off the pump.

[Rich]

Put me an alligator, I'll contrast. But I voted for him because somebody from the Green Party came and spoke at my high school and they used the expression republic rats. And I remember thinking, oh my God, that is the most clever, brilliant, harsh burn on the system that I had ever heard. I'm voting for Ralph Nader. And then like a month later, after the election, I was like, oh, fuck. Never making that mistake again. So, yes, to your point, kids are just fucking doing kid shit. And it's like, I like the guy who swears a lot and is an.

[Joe Walsh]

I do a lot of, I do a lot of talking on college campuses. And all of last year, I would go on college campuses and I'd get a group of 200 college kids and I'd say, look, Donald Trump is a threat to our democracy and the rule of law. And I'd explain why and show them how and they would just roll their eyes and they'd say, joe, love you man. But they're all up. And Biden's old, the Democrats suck. So in their mind the whole thing is up. And, and they like, they are more inclined young people to laugh at Trump, whereas I view him as a threat. And there are a lot of young people who told me, joe, the system sucks. I know he's a fucking bad dude. Let him go in there and just bottom out the whole system.

[Rich]

Yeah, well, that's what Republicans have spent 40 years doing is, is saying all of your, I mean this is courtesy, Arvin, like textbook playbook. All of the big institutions that run the country, the journalists, academics and the insider politicians, they're all destroying everything. Creates so much cynicism. I mean you don't have to go far. I could click into any social media site and see somebody saying burn it down, throw everybody out. It's like, dude, we have a 30 trillion dollar economy. We're still 30% some odd ahead of, of China as in the number two role. And you are so either clueless or just nihilist that you're saying you want to destroy everything and reset. But that's, that's where they got us. That's where right wing media has gotten us and that's what Trump capitalized on.

[Joe Walsh]

I agree, I agree, Rich, with a lot of that. Right wing media jumped on that, thank you very much. I did. But these institutions, God love them and preserve them and they're important. But generally academia media go on. Generally our center, center left. I mean the only reason Fox News became a thing so many years ago is because most of the media was center, center left and people center right and right needed a voice. So the, the left needs to recognize that and, but again, just recognize how disconnected regular people feel from their politics. Yeah, Yep. Yeah.

[Tim]

I mean, I think that's, that's one of the biggest issues, right, Is that like, you know, Rich, you made all, everything you said was right except like for that 21 year old in, you know, Ohio that doesn't have a job and probably and maybe has a crippling addiction is like I don't give a, about any of this stuff you're talking about and all I'm hearing about is bathrooms and you know, what is a problem. But with that, Joe, you said everything was on the table for talking here. So I'm going to put you on the spot a little bit. You mentioned you.

[Joe Walsh]

Tim, what are you going to ask?

[Zach]

God damn it, Tim.

[Rich]

I'm not going to Get a guest again, we're never going to get someone joining the show again.

[Luke]

All right, it's over.

[Rich]

Joe's our last guest.

[Tim]

All right, so Joe on the. I don't know if this was news, if you said this before, but Joe said that, you know, there's a possibility that he may be going to South Carolina to challenge Lindsey Graham. So I want to workshop that a little bit, because you are clearly talking about a path forward to win in some of these places that we haven't. If, let's just say, hypothetically, you jump in, what is your. What is your line of attack against Lindsey Graham and convincing what, 65 to 65% of north of South Carolinians who voted for him last time should vote for you?

[Joe Walsh]

And again, I'll never. And I'll never run from a question. I've been encouraged to think about it. I'm thinking about it. Yeah, you, Tim. Look, I'm old enough. Luke. You're. You're. You're all. Everybody here is younger than me. When. When I was in high school and college, there was this unique animal called the Southern Democrat.

[Rich]

Yeah.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Joe Walsh]

A Democrat who was pro gun and, you know, a little bit more conservative than the Democrat you find in my home state of Illinois. There's part of me that thought it's worth fighting the fight against Lindsey as a conservative Dem, if only to help show my new party how to fight on this stuff. I don't know if I'll do it, Tim, but what a gas for. If I could run. You talk about that. Everything that's wrong in our politics with one guy. Lindsey Graham.

[Zach]

Yeah, dude.

[Rich]

Talking out of both sides of his mouth, like, just the worst. Just the contrast of you and how you present your message and how Lindsey Graham finds a way to be wrong on every single thing. Even if he wasn't wrong in the past on that thing, he finds his way to being wrong. It would be. It would be a master.

[Joe Walsh]

I have. I have a handful of wet dreams. One of my wet dreams is one.

[Rich]

Of my don't say Lindsay ground. Don't say Lindsay.

[Joe Walsh]

No, no, no, not Lindsay.

[Tim]

It's.

[Joe Walsh]

But it's connected to Lindsay. One of my wet dreams is that John McCain comes back with us for 24 hours, and he and I. And I fly him into South Carolina and he just beats the hell out of Lindsay. Like, what the hell happened? Slaps Lindsay.

[Rich]

That's the UFC fight we need on the. The White House grounds. Like, in front of the White House. I want to see that. Zombie. Zombie. McCain versus real life.

[Joe Walsh]

Lindsay, to your point, I'm a Democrat who's a big pro gun guy. I'm a Democrat who is a defend the border guy. But I'm a Democrat who's like reasonable and let's find common ground. And what we're doing now with people, what Trump's doing now is, is, is utterly most. I still believe most Republicans in South Carolina don't believe we should be scooping up pregnant women up off the streets. So I'd go at Lindsey from a principled woke, conservative perspective. And my base has always been white rural folk. Those are the folk that sent me to Congress and listened to me on the radio for years. That's, that's who I'd talk to in a state like South Carolina.

[Rich]

You know, I just saw a stat the other day. There's a YouGov Yahoo poll and you know, they're probably, who knows who. I looked at the methodology, it looked fine. I think it said 62% of Americans support a legal pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants who are in the United States who have not committed any additional crime or any other crime other than just being here without documents. This is after like 50 years of these fuckers just racist attack after racist attack. Lies and demonize and, and the strong majority of Americans still can look at these, these individuals and say, is all you did, you overstayed your visa. Like that is a argument to, to go to, to go to war over because it's part of our country. I mean, the birthright, citizenship, all. He's stacking up all, everything in our favor. And I still haven't heard a single politician who just goes and says fuck off with the attacks on immigrants.

[Joe Walsh]

Immigrants.

[Rich]

Fuck off. All of my favorite people are immigrants.

[Joe Walsh]

Rich, if I'm with you right now, I'm fucking hugging and kissing you.

[Rich]

Amen.

[Joe Walsh]

Amen. I think, Rich, I think this fucking issue alone should, should bite Republicans and Trump in the ass in 26. Because this is not who we are. Defend the border. Yeah, but we don't do this. This is cruel. This is not who we are. And this is not what most Americans want. There's a huge opening for Democrats.

[Zach]

Yes. And you're, and you're watching it too. Like you're, you're watching physically watching people get hurt by the. It's so different from like economic arguments over. It's like you're watching people get dragged through the fucking street into a car by mass dudes with no American citizens too.

[Rich]

Yeah, the mask shit is so fucked up. And, and you could even see Trump, he knew this was going to happen. And that's why as the election was happening and in the aftermath of the, of the election, every big exit poll that was conducted said 15 point, 20 point margin on the economy is the number one issue over everything else. It was always, always, always the number one issue. And yet Trump, all through the election and after the election, especially starting in about October, he was saying, Americans voted for me for mass deportations and over immigration. That's why they put me in office. And you can look at all the polls and say they fucking didn't, man. They literally didn't. And they're telling you they didn't. Your people are saying that is not why they voted for it. You like a 1 priority.

[Luke]

You're doing it because you like it.

[Rich]

You're doing it because you like it.

[Luke]

And because you can't suck at the economy.

[Rich]

Exactly. You can't do anything to fix the economy. And so you understand you have to hard pivot to somewhere you can win, which is, you know, racism.

[Joe Walsh]

I have a fear. I have a dream. I have a fear that because Trump has been so bad these first six months and I've heard Democrats privately talk about this, they believe we can take back the House kind of by just saying, look at Trump, look at Trump, he's bad again. I have a fear that Democrats are going to fall back into that stance. Instead of threat to democracy, you're saying, well, and, or fuck this, we do not put military in fucking big parks in American cities where children are playing. Do that. Yeah, yeah, I, I want to hear that.

[Rich]

I same. I, I want to hear that.

[Luke]

I wanted to hear that.

[Rich]

Luke, you, I hear your videos on.

[Luke]

Yeah, that's normally what I do.

[Rich]

Yeah, I want to, we need to keep that energy and we need to turn it into more than just, hey, the pendulum swung back and we took the midterms. Look at what we did that we, we, the, the minority party has done that for 50 years. Every midterm election after somebody's elected, except for I think 2018, the party in power or 2022, the party in power loses seats. We will get some amount of that. So like let's just like the tide will come in, the tide will go out. We have to not see that as a validation of, you know, tepid politics. We have to actually triple down on that and say we need a filibuster proof majority in the Senate. That's what I want. And we also need a two thirds vote in the House so we could Actually maybe pass some fucking amendments that would make it so that none of the shit that Trump has done the past, you know, really 10 years could ever be done again. But will we, will we go that hard? I already know we won't, but we'll get, you know, we'll probably get halfway there and then we'll say look, and then it'll just be back to politics as usual.

[Joe Walsh]

Right? And Rich, that's my fear. And then, then you're looking at a President J.D. vance in 28. Because just, just if there's one, if there's one thing I want everyone listening to us to understand, coming from MAGA like I do do, this thing is bigger than Trump and Trump could be gone in two years. MAGA now is the Republican Party and they've got smart, smart thinkers and talkers and leaders who will represent maga. So it's here to stay.

[Tim]

I, I agree and I think, I think everybody is right that we can probably fall over ourselves into taking back the House by a few, by a few seats. Yeah, but I don't want that. I want, I want a 50 seat majority or at least I want us to fight for that. And we can't do that if we just say basically our message is return to normaly. Which makes me want to tear my hair out.

[Joe Walsh]

Oh my God.

[Tim]

Because the reality is that the government was broken before. Like I worked in the government for five years and actually Joe, I was probably in the Obama administration when you were in Congress. Yeah, you were too. And I was. And I, you know, I saw a lot of broken shit there. Like we don't address it. I think that, and I think this is probably even more important for the presidential candidate that will succeed in 20 for 2028 is, is a, a vision for a different country that has the same values but like that we operate differently. The government was, bureau was, is bureaucratic, it is too slow. The hiring processes are totally up and like Democrats need to, I think Democrats could just like steal this from Republicans. And that's the populist message that we're talking about is like I don't want to return to normalcy. I want to return to something better because we were not, we were not in a good place as a country when Joe Biden was president.

[Joe Walsh]

President.

[Tim]

Like we weren't. And we're never going to get by this unless the Democrats actually put forward an agenda that really does work for everybody because right now we don't have it.

[Joe Walsh]

Give me a, give me a common sense, centrist, decent, tolerant, get Done. Platform. Give me that. And give me a populist who can talk to that. But if I have to settle for a populace on the far left, I'm all in, too.

[Rich]

Well, the far left is center, though, because it's economy like far, you look at far left everywhere. It's about, it's about jobs, it's about income, it's about production, it's about taking care of your people. We just need to not have, be the, we just need to casually scooch out the racist, like isolationist part of populism that usually comes along for the ride. Like, yes, we need to protect our jobs. And that means keeping brown people out of the country. No, no, no, that's not what that means.

[Tim]

Not that part.

[Rich]

Huge, massive investments in infrastructure and in job creation and manufacturing. New technologies like green energy. I don't even want to call it green energy or alternative energy or renewable energy. We need to just call it energy, new energy, future energy. Like we, there are, there's room to do that. And we're going to have to do that if we're going to compete with China.

[Joe Walsh]

I got elected in 2010 because Democrats, Tim, you know, everybody knows, passed Obamacare.

[Rich]

Yep.

[Joe Walsh]

And when Democrats passed Obamacare in 2009, Democrats knew that bill was going to beat them up politically in 2010. I'll tell you what, guys. Republicans privately know that this big ugly bill should beat them up next year. The difference is, Tim, you know this. When Democrats passed Obamacare, even though they knew it kill them politically, they believed in the bill.

[Rich]

Right.

[Joe Walsh]

Privately, most Republicans think this is a bad bill, that bill. And so, my God, Democrats, we've been handed another gift. Let's drive it home.

[Tim]

Yeah. Well, Joe, I'm going to ask you one more question. We're at the hour, Mark, and I told you we do an hour. But do you see, is there a candidate out there for 2028 that like. No, obviously no one's announced, but is there somebody that like, at least piques your interest as who may jump in for 2028?

[Joe Walsh]

No. That's such a great question. And I'm sorry that I'm not going to give you a name because I, I, I don't, I don't see him or her. Y. I know the moment we're in. I know where regular people are. And I, as of yet do not see a Democrat meeting this moment. I, I just don't.

[Tim]

I actually agree. I, I'm not sure. I mean, there's a bunch of candidates that I think are good, but you Know, I think. I don't know if at this point in 2007, if we knew that Barack or 2006, we. We weren't really, you know, so, like, I think there could be somebody comes that we don't even.

[Joe Walsh]

Even.

[Tim]

We don't even know about. So.

[Rich]

Tim, just to bring us home.

[Tim]

Yeah, just.

[Zach]

We.

[Rich]

We can't end the podcast without calling this out, because we. We have. We sold, like, more merch, I think, after our last episode than. Than we've sold.

[Luke]

Rich's endorsement is way better than Tim.

[Rich]

Maybe ever, but definitely in the process. So we're thinking, like, if we're going to have podcast merch that has slogans on it, like, if it says, like, I. You know, I. I got got on the Find out podcast or whatever, like.

[Zach]

Luke's, you know, maybe not bad.

[Rich]

And mine is like, oh, that's. I need to work that. Mine's like, oh, that's Rich. Tim's was gonna be, hey, everybody.

[Tim]

And that's because I say that at the beginning, everyone.

[Rich]

And Tim felt like that wasn't good enough. And so you, Timmy. That is you, Timmy. I think Joe gave you your slogan. Like, I think.

[Tim]

You know what? Like, if you had. If we talked about me going back in time 15 years years ago. Honestly, if we went back in time 15 years ago and said, joe Walsh will tell you to off twice, I'd be like, I would believe it. Then I would believe it. I would think you'd be negative rather than ingest, but no, maybe that is it. Okay, I'll take it.

[Zach]

I like it.

[Joe Walsh]

This. That's my slogan. This. This is not who we are.

[Tim]

It is not. Well, Joe, thank you guys have been great.

[Joe Walsh]

This is a lot of fun. Tim, you told me this wouldn't be fun.

[Tim]

Oh, I did not say that. Oh, you.

[Joe Walsh]

Joe.

[Tim]

Joe. It is. It has been. First of all, I. I want to say, like, when I originally. I think we kind of met a little bit on. On Twitter at first, and I remember one of our friends, Cliff, I reached out to him because I was like, is this guy for real? Like, this is a big change. And he. He told me, he's like, talk to Joe. Talk to Joe, and you'll see. And. And I think over the past few years, like, you. Your. Your turn of heart has been genuine. And I know that, like, some people in the Democratic Party have not welcomed you. And I would just say to everybody listening, like, Joe, you're. You're the real deal. You have made. You have made amends, and, like, you have done what we would have wanted so many Republican officials to do, and really, you're the only one. And, you know, I just wanted to say how much I appreciate it because it is so important. And you tossed your livelihood down the drain to stand up for what's right. And I just wish there were more of you on the right than just you.

[Joe Walsh]

Then give me this final word, Tim F. I mean, this. No. Around. You very early on stood by me, and it's. Look, I know I've had to prove myself right, obviously from the Tea Party, the Democrat Party. That's a big change. But you. You stood there. I remember when I turned against Trump seven years ago publicly, I looked behind me thinking, a bunch of Republic Republicans are going to follow me. Nobody did. So I became a Democrat a month ago. I'm going to work my ass off to get other Republicans to join me because it makes no sense to stay in this. No man's never Trump independent lane.

[Rich]

Right.

[Joe Walsh]

We've got to be Democrats now to defeat what that thing is.

[Tim]

Yeah.

[Rich]

And we got to let you guys in.

[Joe Walsh]

Yep.

[Tim]

Yes. That's the other piece. And that's where, like, I think a lot of our job is to.

[Joe Walsh]

To.

[Tim]

Is to hold the door open for you and welcome you in because we need everybody. The math doesn't work anyway. Other way.

[Joe Walsh]

Tim, Rich, Zach, Luke, if you guys don't have tequila in the room, I'm not coming in. I'm not gonna.

[Rich]

I think I've got. And over on my car.

[Tim]

I've. I've got some, so you're always welcome. So, Joe, thank you very much. Also, everybody should go subscribe to Joe Substack the Social contract. Right. I got that right.

[Joe Walsh]

You got it right?

[Tim]

Social contract on Substack. Please do that. And thank you again, Joe. Also, got to put our pitch out for our merchandise. If you want to get some, go to findoutpodcast.com and if you want to subscribe to our substack find out podcast.substack.com thank you, Joe. Thank you, everybody. We'll be back next week. Have a great weekend, everybody.