“This is an absolute shame and I think you’ve got to call it out for what it is,” Walsh told CNN’s Brian Stelter on “Reliable Sources” Sunday. “The Americans who listen to Fox News and conservative talk radio are being lied to and manipulated every day when it comes to impeachment.”
Walsh has
staked his bid for the presidency on frequently and publicly criticizing Trump, and he’s called on other Republicans to speak out and do the same. Now, he’s calling out Fox News and conservative talk radio — a world he used to belong to as host of the Joe Walsh Show. His comments come just days after the House of Representatives voted along party lines and
passed a resolution formalizing the impeachment inquiry into Trump following
weeks of testimony on his
interactions with Ukraine’s president. Fox News declined to comment for this story.
On Sunday, Walsh said he believes Trump “deserves to be impeached.” But he said he’s worried that not all Americans are getting the same information about the president’s alleged actions.
“The vast majority of the American people understand that when it comes to Ukraine, [Trump] did something wrong,’ Walsh said. “But those people who listen to the opinion shows on Fox and those people who listen to my former world, conservative talk radio, have no clue because they’re being told every day: ‘He’s done nothing wrong’ … It’s dangerous.”
A new poll from the Wall Street Journal and NBC published Sunday found that 53% of Americans approve of the House impeachment inquiry, while 44% disapprove. As for the outcome of the probe, 49% of respondents said Trump should be impeached and removed from office; 46% opposed impeachment and removal. The results represent a shift in support for impeachment —
a similar poll in October saw more people oppose impeachment than approve of it.
Walsh said that when he worked as a conservative radio host, he “got pressure every day” from his syndicator to speak highly of Trump. Walsh’s show with conservative distributor Salem Media Network
was ended when he announced his candidacy for president.
He also claimed that his criticisms of Trump, even before his campaign began, have cost him airtime on Fox and other conservative outlets.
“I’m a conservative,” Walsh said. “They said: ‘We don’t want any conservative on Fox News who criticizes the president.'”
Walsh has made multiple recent appearances on Fox, including a segment in late August with Fox Business host Stuart Varney in which
Varney said he doesn’t believe Trump has ever lied to the American people. In August he was on Dave Anthony’s podcast Fox News Rundown.
