After all the spending, the trillion-dollar deficit, the trade war, the disrespect for the rule of law, the shredding of strategic alliances, the everyday vulgarity and innate cruelty, there's finally some noise on the right challenging President Trump.
Sure, former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld has been on the trail for a while, but he's making the case from the center-right, and who knows what's really left in his particular political tank.
Now come one or two Republican former members of Congress: Mark Sanford of South Carolina (also a former governor who blew up a promising career by trying to hide an extramarital affair, back when Republicans were capable of shame) and Joe Walsh of Illinois, most recently a talk-show host in Chicago.
Of the two, Walsh, who officially threw himself into the pool Sunday, has been most outspoken against the president's long string of indignities. He'll have to grapple with his own awful rhetoric, including, um, essentially calling for a race war against Black Lives Matter protesters. And calling President Obama a Muslim. He apologizes, but the sins are profound.
Trump's stranglehold on the GOP is such that no challenger has a chance in the primaries. Still, it's vitally important that party faithful be reminded of what they once claimed to care about.
Not only do we encourage primary challenges, we urge any conservative spoiling for a fight to press a third-party candidacy in the general election. Given increasingly aberrant behavior in this president, right-of-center voters unable to pull the lever for a Democrat should have a third choice.
Run, challengers, run.
