Republican presidential candidate and former Rep. Joe Walsh (Ill.) abandoned his long-shot primary challenge against President Donald Trump on Friday, and promised to dedicate his time to electing "any Democrat" in his efforts to oust the president.

In making his announcement, Walsh told CNN, "I would rather have a socialist in the White House than a dictator."

What are the details?

Walsh, a Tea Party conservative and longtime member of the GOP, broke the news that he was suspending his campaign on CNN, and blamed his own party, saying, "This Republican Party is not my Republican Party. It's Trump's political party, and I feel like I don't belong. I think it's a cult, and I think Trump needs to be removed."

The former congressman vowed to spend the rest of his time before the November election to send "any Democrat" to the Oval Office — even a socialist.



Walsh later reiterated to Fox News, "This is not easy for me to say, I probably don't agree with Bernie Sanders on any policy issue, but I would rather have a socialist in the White House than a dictator, a king, a man who thinks he's above the law."

He added, "I think that's a much more dangerous threat to America than a guy in the White House fighting for free college."



Walsh, a former Trump supporter, announced his presidential bid in August, telling ABC News' George Stephanopoulos of the president, "We've got a guy in the White House who is unfit, completely unfit to be president and it stuns me that nobody stepped up, nobody in the Republican Party stepped up, because I'll tell you what, George, everybody believes in the Republican Party, everybody believes he's unfit."

Anything else?

Walsh is the second primary challenger to President Trump to drop out of the race, behind former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford (R), who gave up his White House bid in November.

Former Gov. Bill Weld (R-Mass.) continues to press on with his campaign, despite President Trump's overwhelming support among Republicans.