Former congressman and 2020 GOP presidential primary challenger Joe Walsh said Monday accused the Republican Party of acting undemocratically to shield President Trump for facing primary opposition as a handful of state party organizations have canceled their presidential primaries or caucuses

“They’re on their knees, prostrated in front of their king,” Walsh said to CNN’s Anderson Cooper. “Look, I apologize for my language, but this is absolute undemocratic bulls—t. What Donald Trump and the Republican Party are doing… think about this, Anderson. They are denying Americans the right to vote.”

Over the weekend state party organizations for Kansas, South Carolina, Nevada and Arizona all nixed their 2020 primaries, providing an obstacle for Mr. Walsh and fellow challengers former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford and former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld’s already long-shot bids to unseat Mr. Trump.

The incumbent president — who has a high approval rating among Republicans — said the states “don’t want to waste their money” on opponents who are “a total joke.”

When Mr. Cooper pointed out that other parties have canceled primaries in elections past, Mr. Walsh brushed it off, saying in such cases there were no challengers who had come forward to run against the president.

“It happened with Obama and the [Democratic] Party [in 2012] when there was no presidential primary opposition at all,” Walsh explained. “Right now, Anderson, you’ve got three credible challengers, two former Republican governors, and a former Republican congressman.”

“I know we get numb and I get numb in this world of Trump, because every day there’s a scandal, every day there’s an outrage, every day, Anderson, there are attacks on our democracy,” Mr. Walsh said. “But this goes well beyond.”

“Donald Trump is trying to prevent people from voting. Think about that. He’s in cahoots with the Republican Party to disenfranchise voters. Every voter in South Carolina, Arizona, and Kansas ought to be marching with pitchforks right now,” he said.

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