TRUMP'S 2020 CHALLENGERS ACCUSE GOP OF TRYING TO PROTECT THE PRESIDENT AS INCREASING NUMBER OF STATES SCRAP PRIMARY CONTESTS
Trump's 2020 challengers rip GOP leaders for keeping them off state ballots
Republicans Bill Weld and Joe Walsh's long-shot campaigns against President Donald Trump are getting even more difficult as a growing number of states are cancelling their 2020 GOP primaries.
On Tuesday, Wisconsin became the latest state to block the two candidates from appearing on the primary ballot. So far at least nine states—Alaska, Arizona, Georgia, Hawaii, Kansas, Minnesota, Nevada, South Carolina and Wisconsin—have essentially decided to give their delegates to Trump without a contest.
Both Walsh and Weld slammed the decision to cancel primaries as undemocratic and accused GOP leaders of simply acting as the president's defenders.
"I get that impeachment is a big story, and it should be; and what is going on in Iran right now is a big story. This should be a big story too though. It's unprecedented. It's being done to protect Trump, period," Walsh told
Newsweek on Wednesday.
In a statement to
Newsweek, Weld added: "We do not elect presidents by acclamation, and, Donald Trump's wishes notwithstanding, we rejected the idea of a monarchy 240 years ago. By canceling primaries or denying challengers from appearing on the ballot, handfuls of Trump-controlled party officials are effectively telling millions of Republicans that they have no voice in the nomination process."