We discussed this last week when he was still “seriously considering” jumping in, but now he’s made it official. Former Congressman and conservative talk radio host Joe Walsh has formally launched his primary bid, hoping to nab the nomination from President Trump next year.

First a bit of disclosure. Walsh is a radio host broadcasting for our parent company, Salem Media. (Townhall)

Former Congressman Joe Walsh officially announced his candidacy for the 2020 Republican nomination today, vowing to defeat incumbent President Donald J. Trump. “Friends, I’m in. We can’t take four more years of Donald Trump. And that’s why I’m running for President. It won’t be easy, but bravery is never easy,” Walsh tweeted. “But together, we can do it.”

Friends, I'm in. We can't take four more years of Donald Trump. And that's why I'm running for President. It won't be easy, but bravery is never easy. But together, we can do it. Join me… join us: go to https://t.co/d40HA9h2Kz. Let's show the world we're ready to be brave. — Joe Walsh (@WalshFreedom) August 25, 2019

I’ll mostly leave this up to the readers in terms of making up our minds as to what we should think about this. As I mentioned last Thursday, I suppose I can see someone launching a primary bid to make a statement if they’re really opposed to the President (as Walsh clearly is). And hey… it’s a free country. Everyone who is a natural-born citizen over the age of 35 is entitled to take a shot if they wish.

But holy cow. Talk about a longshot. Does anyone seriously think that Joe can even make a serious dent in Trump’s numbers, to say nothing of actually carrying a state in the primary or winning the whole thing? I suppose I’d give him a slightly better chance than his other competitor, Bill Weld (in case you forgot Weld was running) because of the audience his radio show reaches, but that only moves his chances up to maybe three in a million versus one in a million.

Absent Donald Trump suddenly getting sick of the circus and resigning, there’s simply no way he loses the primary. And even if he did resign, that would pretty much make Mike Pence the default GOP candidate in 2020. And if that were the case, would Walsh even stay in the race? I mean, the only reason he’s running is his specific opposition to Donald Trump. I’m guessing he’d drop out if it were Pence on top of the ticket.

Just as a footnote, the President’s approval rating among Republicans isn’t what it once was, but it’s still easily above 70%. And there don’t seem to be a lot of undecided voters out there waiting for someone else to ride to the rescue. You either hate Trump or you love him. Well… a third category might be Republicans who may not be wild about him but still don’t want to hand the White House back to the Democrats.

Exit question: Does Donald Trump agree to any debates with Walsh and Weld? My guess is he’ll say not only no, but hell no. And why would he agree? He has nothing to gain from it and might potentially lose some support.