Joe Walsh: Donald Trump 'Acting Like A Third Grader' In Face Of Russian Hack

By Stephen Gossett in News on Dec 12, 2016 8:48PM

We’ve been so frequently gobsmacked in the past by comments made from former Illinois Congressman Joe Walsh’s—from his musket-grabbing promise to his call for “war” on President Barack Obama and Black Lives Matter—that he’s essentially lost his power to shock—or so we thought. But this weekend, and again on Monday, Joe Walsh sent our heads spinning—by being completely and utterly sensible and calling on Donald Trump and GOP leadership to push for a bipartisan investigation into Russian interference in the election.

After an uncharacteristically on-point Tweet-storm over the weekend, Walsh appeared on CNN on Monday afternoon with Brooke Baldwin to continue his curious new role as adult-in-the-room. “I think [Trump’s] acting like a third grader,” he said to Baldwin at one point. “Maybe a fourth grader,” he conceded when pressed. “I don’t think he fully gets.”

“I’m outraged at the lack of outrage, especially at my side, the Republican side,” Walsh said, speaking from Chicago. “I get that the country’s divided, by my God, a foreign government interfered with our election. That should piss everybody off. That should especially anger my side.”

When asked if he believed if Russia’s intent was to help Trump win, Walsh said, “Oh my gosh, Brooke, there’s no debate. It happened,” noting that 17 agencies confirmed the interference.

Sen. Mitch McConnell on Monday at last supported calls for an investigation, but said he did not advocate a special committee for the task. Ten electoral-college members also demanded a briefing from intelligence officials about Trump/Russia connections ahead of their vote next Monday, but only one elector is Republican.

Basically ever since Friday's bombshell report in the Washington Post that intelligence officials confirmed Russian agents had hacked the RNC and DNC in order to sway the election in Trump's favor, Walsh has been on an endless Twitter tirade against the tepid response of so many Republican congressional figures and, of course, the president-elect. (His Twitter call out ended up getting him blocked by Trump, Walsh said in the interview.) As the New York Times' Dave Itzkoff put it, "Woke Joe Walsh is really something to behold."