Ex-GOP Rep. Announces He's Joining The Democratic Party Because Republicans Are 'Direct Threat To Democracy'

Former Trump-supporting GOP congressman Joe Walsh—who has since made his name as an anti-Trump conservative radio host—made clear that he is done with the Republican Party, announcing that he's switching his affiliation to the Democrats after regretting becoming a "divisive political a**hole."

Walsh actually left the GOP several years ago but declined to switch to the Democrats despite increasingly siding with them over Trump's anti-democratic behavior and regularly warning that Trump poses a significant threat to constitutional norms and the rule of law.

He's now, he announced, officially changed his mind.

Writing on X, he shared a link to his personal Substack and said:

"I’m a freedom-loving conservative. I left the Republican Party 5yrs ago. Today, I’m doing something I never thought I’d do - I’m formally joining the Democratic Party."

You can see his post below.

On his Substack, Walsh said unequivocally that Trump is a "tyrant":

"Let’s start with the obvious—a tyrant sits in the White House. The very thing our Founders feared most is here. Throw in the fact that one of our two major political parties is a real and direct threat to democracy and the rule of law. These are unprecedented, dangerous times in America."

"I know it. You know it. There are even Republicans who know it."

"Anyone who cares about the Constitution cannot sit by and watch as fundamental American values—the rule of law, democracy, pluralism—are attacked. Daily. To defeat my former party and defend democracy, we must do something different. We must assemble a broad coalition of moderates, progressives, and, yes, even conservatives."

"We’ve never been here before. Of course we’ve always fought about and debated policy—how best to pay for healthcare, whether taxes should be raised or cut, and how best to deal with immigration. But we’ve never before fought about actually remaining a democracy or abiding by the Constitution and the rule of law. Now we are."

Walsh said many of his policy positions remain the same—he's still a "border hawk," for example—but he's no longer the same man:

"I’ve opened my eyes and listened to people who don’t think like me. And by doing so, I gained a greater understanding of and appreciation for LGBTQ issues, structural racism, the need for empathetic immigration reform, the dangers of climate change, and the role government must play to help care for the neediest and most vulnerable among us."

"Most importantly, I’ve changed how I behave as a public figure. I went to Congress on a mission to get our debt under control and to shake up the political establishment. I was passionate about my cause—so passionate that I said and did things I regret, so passionate that I became, way more than I’m proud of, a divisive political a**hole. That’s no longer who I am."

Declaring his commitment to join Democrats who "fight for the soul of America," he explained, in part:

"I’m becoming a Democrat because I’m pissed off. I’m pissed off at the ignorant, lying madman in the White House who’s using his position to only enrich himself and his fat cat friends, while middle-class folks and small business owners and get screwed by his chaos. I’m pissed off at all of his GOP enablers, my former colleagues, who’ve abandoned what’s right to remain in power."

"I’m pissed off that he and his enablers have lied repeatedly to his voters year after year, and these good folks who’ve been lied to are gonna feel real pain—and Trump and his GOP enablers don’t give a damn. I’m pissed because the opposition party, the Democratic Party, should be every bit as righteously pissed off as me."

"And I’m pissed off because I love this country, and this country is so much better than what we’ve seen the past almost five months."

Walsh's call to "fight like we’ve never fought before" resonated with many who applauded his move.

Walsh has previously spoken out against Trump and his administration, but few predicted he'd change his registration.

He has long opposed Trump and previously made headlines during the first Trump administration for referring to Trump as a "traitor" for siding with Russian President Vladimir Putin over election interference claims in the 2016 presidential election, dismissing the findings of U.S. intelligence agencies that Russian operatives used cyberattacks to subvert the democratic process.

Additionally, Walsh once told CNN's State of the Union that Stephen Miller, Trump's senior adviser and immigration policy architect, exists merely to "filibuster and hurl personal insults."