U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a Turning Point USA event at Dream City Church in Phoenix, Arizona, U.S., April 17, 2026. REUTERS Evan Vucci
Former GOP congressman and MAGA lawmaker Joe Walsh said it wasn’t Republicans’ bravery that sank President Donald Trump’s $1.8 slush fund. It was the infuriated voters filling up their inboxes with threats and outrage.
“Donald Trump's corrupt, illegal, horrible, $1.8 billion taxpayer funded slush fund to go after his political opponents and reward his political friends is dead,” said Walsh. “Trump administration appears to be backing off of its $1.8 billion anti-weaponization fund after rare GOP backlash. The slush fund is dead.”
Walsh said this was a refreshing change to many American voters, who feel nothing but angst as Trump and his administration tramples the rule of law with the help of Republican operatives in Congress and the court system.
“See, it's been so easy these past 17-18 months to feel helpless every f—— day, because we don't have a Congress. This guy Trump can do whatever he wants because we don't have a legislative branch,” said Walsh on his Tuesday podcast. “We haven't for 18 months.”
“And it seems like the courts, man — especially the Supreme Court — they’re in on it too. And [other] courts are struggling to keep up, and every day Trump's doing bad stuff and saying bad stuff, and it can feel really overwhelming and helpless.”
But enough, apparently, was enough with even the most helpless voter, said Walsh. Trump’s slush fund was just too obvious, too blatantly crooked, and serving all the wrong people.
“The slush fund is dead because of you,” said Walsh, “because the American people, upon learning about it two weeks ago, got f—— outraged and used that outrage constructively and bombarded their [congressional] members of and spread the word, shared it with everybody they knew and know on social media and elsewhere. And a huge backlash ensued.”
Walsh called Republican members of Congress are cowards, and he said they didn’t finally discover their spines or a sense of bravery when Trump proposed a plan to create a taxpayer-funded reservoir with which to buy his friends and supporters. The way Walsh describes it, they just found something new to be afraid of: their own constituents.
“Republicans in DC have let Trump know they cannot support [his slush fund]. Now, where do you think that comes from? That newfound courage, and it's not courage — don't ever put the word ‘courage’ with Republicans ever again. … Where do you think that came from? That came from the American people. Republicans found out. Republicans paid attention,” said Walsh. “Republicans realized overwhelmingly this is a really bad thing because the American people are outraged about it and they opposed it.”
“You did it. That's all. I wanted to start with that. Good News Tuesday. You do make a difference. Not always we don't, but you do make a difference,” said Walsh.