Washington: Former Illinois congressman turned radio talk show host Joe Walsh has announced he will challenge President Donald Trump for the Republican Party nomination at the 2020 US election.

"He's nuts. He's erratic. He's cruel. He stokes bigotry. He's incompetent. He doesn't know what he's doing," Walsh told the American Broadcasting Company's This Week. The long-shot candidate portrayed himself as a legitimate alternative in party where he said many are opposed to Trump but are "scared to death" of saying so publicly.

Former Republican congressman Joe Walsh addresses a Capitol Hill news conference in 2011.Credit:AP

His campaign slogan: "Be brave."

The other rival already in the race is former Massachusetts governor Bill Weld, the 2016 Libertarian Party vice presidential nominee who is regarded as fiscally conservative but socially liberal.

Undeterred from pressing ahead with his candidacy, Walsh said: "I think this thing … will catch on like wildfire." The former Trump booster added: "I'm a conservative. And I think there's a decent chance to present to Republican voters a conservative without all the baggage."

The one-word response from Trump's campaign to Walsh's entry: "Whatever."

Walsh narrowly won a House of Representatives seat from suburban Chicago in the 2010 tea party wave but lost a 2012 reelection bid and has since hosted a radio talk show. He has a history of inflammatory statements regarding Muslims and others and declared just before the 2016 election that if Trump lost, "I'm grabbing my musket".

But he has since soured on Trump, criticising the President over growth of the federal deficit and writing in a New York Times column that the President was "a racial arsonist who encourages bigotry and xenophobia to rouse his base."

The road ahead for any Republican primary challenger will be difficult.

In recent months, Trump's allies have taken over state parties that control primary elections in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and elsewhere.

I helped create Trump. There's no doubt about that. The personal, ugly politics. I regret that. And I'm sorry for that.

At the same time, polling consistently shows that Trump has the solid backing of an overwhelming majority of Republican voters. An Associated Press-NORC poll this month found 78 per cent of Republicans approve of Trump's job performance.

"Look, this isn't easy to do … I'm opening up my life to tweets and attacks. Everything I've said and tweeted now, Trump's going to go after, and his bullies are going to go after," Walsh said.

Asked whether he was prepared for that, Walsh replied: "Yes, I'm ready for it."

Walsh, 57, rode a wave of anti-president Barack Obama sentiment to a 300-vote victory over a Democratic incumbent in the 2010 election. He made a name for himself in Washington as a cable news fixture who was highly disparaging of Obama.

He lost his 2012 reelection bid by more than 20,000 votes to Democrat Tammy Duckworth, who was elected to the US Senate four years later.

Walsh told Obama to "watch out" on Twitter in July 2016 after five police officers were killed in Dallas. Just days before Trump's 2016 win over Hillary Clinton, Walsh tweeted: "On November 8th, I'm voting for Trump. On November 9th, if Trump loses, I'm grabbing my musket. You in?" Walsh later said on Twitter that he was referring to "acts of civil disobedience".

On Sunday, Walsh said he apologised for past divisive comments.

"I helped create Trump. There's no doubt about that. The personal, ugly politics. I regret that. And I'm sorry for that," he said.

AP

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