A calm conversation with Joe Walsh, the man grabbing his musket if Trump loses

If you’ve been keeping up with the election, you’ve probably heard about an uptick in tweets with the hashtag “#GrabYourMusket.” These tweets, started by former Congressman Joe Walsh, call for civil disobedience at the end of this election, protesting the current state of American politics.

We interviewed Walsh to ask about his support of Trump, his muskets, and PC Culture in America.

What do you find most most appealing in Trump as a candidate?

I’ve said from the beginning it’s less about Trump, and it’s more about the people who support him. I believe that we are in the midst of a populist revolution in this country. He’s riding a big ol’ wave of pissed off Americans. I’m pissed off like a lot of his supporters. It’s really less about Trump, and it’s more about what he signifies and all of his supporters. That’s what I’ve always supported from the very beginning.

What, exactly, does Trump signify to you then?

Maybe I’m in a unique position because I served in Washington, D.C., but Washington, D.C. is broken. Our entire – pardon my language – fucking political system is broken. The elites, Republican and Democrat, have no clue about what’s going on out here, and the American people are fed up. That right there is how I feel. It’s why I ran for Congress, and that is what is behind Trump. I think it’s important, even if he doesn’t win, that this anger and disgust with our political system continues to grow.

What would your plan be on November 9, if Trump loses?

You know, if he doesn’t win, what needs to happen is this angry “I’m mad as hell; I’m not going to take it anymore” populism that’s out in the country right now: it has to keep growing. When I said, “If Hillary wins, I’m grabbing my musket” I, obviously, did not mean that literally.  If I, literally, wanted people to grab their guns, in the year 2016, I wouldn’t tell people to grab a musket, an antique gun. So that’s just silly. When I said “grab your musket” I mean “this is a call to arms.” I meant that all of us who are pissed off at our politics, we’ve now got to take back our government. We’ve got to practice civil disobedience. We’ve got to disobey the federal government. We’ve got to ratchet things up.

What is the chaos of a Clinton presidency that you fear more than the chaos you’d create with acts of civil disobedience?

It really doesn’t have a lot to do with Hillary. Two weeks before I tweeted the if Trump loses we have to “grab your musket” tweet, I tweeted that no matter who wins I’d be grabbing my musket because the revolution has got to continue. Hillary is the poster child for a career-long, corrupt, elite, PC politician. Nothing will change if she gets elected. Now, if Trump gets elected, might something change? Maybe. I have no idea what’s going to happen if Trump is president. None of us do. But what we do know is if Hillary is president, then the political system will keep going down this road, Republican and Democrat, where the elites try to ignore regular Americans. I think if Hillary is elected, it is really going to anger people a lot more than if Trump is elected.

I’m a young female voter, who will voting for the first time this year. What would you say to convince someone like me not to vote for Clinton?

Well I don’t know if I can convince you not to vote for her. But, I’d ask you point blank: do you like the way things are going in America right now? If you do, then by all means vote for Hillary. But I would say that, as a former Congressman, I can tell you our politics is broken for both Republicans and Democrats. I mean – look what Bernie did. If Bernie were the Democratic nominee right now, he’d be running away with this thing. Both political parties are broken.

You’re younger than I am, we’ve got $20 trillion in debt, and we’re bankrupting this country. When you’re my age you’re going to have to pay that damn bill back. If you vote for Hillary Clinton, we know one thing: government is going to keep getting bigger and that government debt is going to grow. Period. And that’s your debt. You’re paying that back. I’m not. I’m dead. I’m and old white guy. I’ll be dead. You’re paying that back.

Now – will it be better if Trump’s elected? Who knows. But, we know Hillary will make government bigger and make your bill bigger.

Republicans, right now, we suck with young people. Don’t we? Young people hate Republicans. Young people think Republicans are just a bunch of old, white guys. And, young people think conservatives are angry old, white guys. We’ve got a long way to go to try to get young people to support conservative ideas. Forget about the Republican Party because I think the Republican Party is dead.

Do you think Trump will be a breath of fresh air in the Republican Party?

Maybe. I think Trump is like a big middle finger to the federal government, to our political system. If he loses, his supporters aren’t going anywhere. I really mean that, when I say it’s really less about Trump; it could’ve been anybody. We had a great group of candidates with Rubio and Cruz and all these guys, but none of them understood how pissed off the American people were. A goof like Trump did. Is he the breath of fresh air? He’s enabled the breath of fresh air to come in. I don’t know if he’s the breath of fresh air.

I’m a former Congressman, and I say this because I believe it, and I said this when I got elected. I think we are in the midst of a second American revolution. I literally believe we are living in revolutionary times. This election is going to come and go, but this revolution in America isn’t going anywhere.

What are your thoughts on law and order in the United States?

Trump’s right. I do a lot of speaking around the country, and I do a lot of speaking on my radio show about cops. Cops in this country are under attack. Police officers in this country are under attack. There is a war on our cops, led by people like Black Lives Matter and the crap that people like Obama and other politicians have said. It’s created an environment in this country where people are attacking police officers. It’s got to stop. What do we need? Yeah, we need law and order. We can’t have any mixed messages. Talk to any cop who has to work in any of these urban, black areas. It is dangerous. Cops have to do what cops have to do. The American people should be behind them. That message of law and order, it resonates with a lot of Americans, because a lot Americans turn on their TV and they see these black protesters throwing rocks and bottles at cops. And we can’t have that in America.

What are your thoughts on political correctness, especially at a university level? And how would a Donald Trump presidency impact “PC culture” at universities?

Pardon my language, but these damn college kids have got to grow up. The best thing about Donald Trump, and this is the way I was when I was in Congress, is he’s politically incorrect. Political correctness kills people. It’s an absolute joke – what’s going on on our college campuses. People my age, we all make fun of it. But my God, we’ve got cupcakes, we’ve got babies, we’ve got all these little wussies on these college campuses who disinvite conservative speakers, and they run for their safe spaces the minute they hear something that makes them uncomfortable. We’ve got comedians like Jerry Seinfeld and others who won’t even perform on college campuses because they can’t offend anybody. My God – we’re getting to a stupid, un-American point in this country where it’s the left in America that cannot handle freedom and can’t handle free speech. If Trump does nothing but help get rid of political correctness, my god, it would be worth having him for four years.