Article snippet: WASHINGTON — Joe Walsh, a conservative radio show host and former Republican congressman from Illinois, is expected to announce he is running for president as early as this weekend, presenting President Donald Trump with a challenger from the right his critics hope will weaken the president in the 2020 election. Walsh stands virtually no chance of wresting the Republican presidential nomination from Trump, whose approval rating with Republican voters is consistently in the high 80s, and whose political aides have been aggressively moving to tighten their control over state parties to thwart primary challenges. But those encouraging Walsh, a Tea Party conservative who served one term in the House and went from staunch Trump supporter to acerbic critic, hope he can appeal to reluctant Trump voters who are open to an alternative. In 2016, Walsh wrote on Twitter that he was voting for Trump, adding: “On November 9th, if Trump loses, I’m grabbing my musket. You in?” Now, Walsh is calling the president a “racial arsonist” and hoping to turn his fighter personality around on Trump to help defeat him. Before his likely announcement, according to two people who have spoken with him, Walsh has hired a senior political adviser, organized meetings with high-profile Trump antagonists in New York City, and published an op-ed in The New York Times with the goal of previewing his campaign message. Walsh has yet to definitively say whether he is running. “If I do it, it’s going ... Link to the full article to read more