Former tea party Republican U.S. Rep. Joe Walsh wrote an op-ed in the New York Times on Wednesday calling for a primary challenger to take on President Donald Trump in 2020.

“There’s a strong case for President Trump to face a Republican primary challenger,” Walsh wrote. “I know a thing or two about insurgencies. I entered Congress in 2011 as an insurgent Tea Party Republican. My goals were conservative and clear: restrain executive power and reduce the debt.”

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The conservative radio host also accused Trump of stoking racial tensions. “The fact is, Mr. Trump is a racial arsonist who encourages bigotry and xenophobia to rouse his base and advance his electoral prospects. In this, he inspires imitators,” Walsh wrote. “Republicans should view Mr. Trump as the liability that he is.”

The controversial Walsh was also known as a racial firebrand but apologized for the incendiary things he said in the past and said he’s sorry for helping to elect Trump, calling the president on CNN a day after his op-ed was published an “unfit con man.”

“In Mr. Trump, I see the worst and ugliest iteration of views I expressed for the better part of a decade. To be sure, I’ve had my share of controversy. On more than one occasion, I questioned Mr. Obama’s truthfulness about his religion,” Walsh wrote in his op-ed. “At times, I expressed hate for my political opponents. We now see where this can lead. There’s no place in our politics for personal attacks like that, and I regret making them.”

Walsh joins “Chicago Tonight” on Monday to talk about his change of heart. Walsh is a nationally syndicated radio host of “The Joe Walsh Show“ on AM 560 The Answer radio. He is also the co-host of a weekly podcast “Uncomfortable Conversations“ with WVON 1690 AM’s Maze Jackson, a weekly discussion on race, politics and religion.

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