- The former Illinois congressman Joe Walsh appeared on CNN on Saturday to discuss Sacha Baron Cohen's new Showtime series, "Who Is America?" He said Cohen "duped" him into supporting arming toddlers with guns in a segment on the show.
- Walsh appears in a bit in which Cohen, disguised as an Israeli "anti-terror expert" named Col. Erran Morad, induces Republican politicians and gun lobbyists to support a program that would arm children as young as 3 years old.
The former Illinois congressman Joe Walsh appeared on CNN on Saturday to discuss Sacha Baron Cohen's new Showtime series, "Who Is America?" in which he said Cohen tricked him into supporting arming toddlers with guns.
On Cohen's show, which premiered Sunday night, Walsh appears in a bit in which Republican politicians and gun lobbyists endorse arming children to stop school shootings.
The segment is led by one of Cohen's new characters for the series, a fake Israeli "anti-terror expert" named Col. Erran Morad, who introduces a fake program, "Kinderguardians," which would arm children as young as 3 years old.
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Walsh, now a conservative radio host, was among several current and former politicians who appeared in the segment.
"The intensive three-week Kinderguardian course introduces specially selected children from 12 to 4 years old to pistols, rifles, semiautomatics, and a rudimentary knowledge of mortars," Walsh says in the clip. "In less than a month — less than a month — a first-grader can become a first-grenade-er. Happy shooting, kids."
In his appearance on CNN, Walsh elaborated on a series of tweets he wrote last week, saying Cohen "duped" him into appearing on the show by offering him "an award from some Israeli TV station because I'm a great supporter of Israel."
“After they conducted an interview, they had me read off of a teleprompter talking about some of the innovative products that Israel invented," Walsh said on CNN. "Then they had me read about this 4-year-old child in Israel who, when a terrorist entered his classroom, somehow he grabbed the terrorist's gun and held the terrorist at bay. And that was an example of how Israel trains and arms preschool kids on how to use firearms, and boy shouldn't we do that in America?"
Walsh said that he thought, as he was reading it, "Well, this is kind of crazy, but it is Israel and Israel is strong on defense," and that he only later "found out this whole thing was made up."
Walsh added in a tweet on Sunday, "No, I don't believe we should train & arm kindergarteners."
Watch the interview below and catch Cohen's show on Showtime On-Demand.
