Can #NeverTrump GOP Presidential Wannabe Joe Walsh Run on Deficit Reduction and Win?

One-term Tea Party congressman and current political talk show host Joe Walsh announced Monday that he will challenge President Donald Trump in the Republican primaries. The policy component of Walsh’s pitch is about debt, deficits, and tariffs, though the main thrust is about Trump’s deficient character and fitness. So, uh, about that.

Let's hope that when the Islamists next strike they first behead the appeasing cowards at CNN, MSNBC, etal who refused to show the cartoons.

— Joe Walsh (@WalshFreedom) January 14, 2015

Well, now Walsh confesses that “I said some ugly things about President Obama that I regret,” and that “I think that helped create Trump.” Can a reformed blowhard make a dent in the unreformed fella sitting in the Oval Office? So begins today’s Editors Roundtable edition of the Reason Podcast, feauring Nick Gillespie, Katherine Mangu-Ward, Peter Suderman and Matt Welch.

The gang also discusses the rest of the #NeverTrump primary field, the president’s latest trade bleatings, the chaotic G7 meeting in France, the Amazon forest fires, the passing of David Koch, and plenty besides.

Audio production by Ian Keyser.

Relevant links from the show:

“The 2020 Race Is Completely Unpredictable Because Politicians Are Awful,” by Nick Gillespie

“Mark Sanford Gives Himself Two Weeks to Decide if He Wants to Be Trump Roadkill,” by Matt Welch

“Bill Weld Raises a Pathetic $688,000 in Second Quarter,” by Matt Welch

“Donald Trump, Scaredy-Cat,” by Matt Welch

“Don’t Be Fooled by Polls Showing GOP Interest in Challenging Trump,” by Matt Welch

“Trump Announces Higher Tariffs. At Least He Called Them ‘Taxes.’” By Eric Boehm

“As Trade War Escalates, Trump Has Impotently ‘Ordered’ American Businesses Out of China,” by Eric Boehm

“The Trade War Is Going So Well That Trump Might Bail Out Apple,” by Eric Boehm

“Don’t Panic: Amazon Burning Is Mostly Farms, Not Forests,” by Ronald Bailey

“Elizabeth Warren’s Plans Don’t Add Up,” by Peter Suderman