I have to be honest; I’d never heard of a “CommandSergeantMajor” before Kamala Harris chose Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate. I was never in the military so the various ranks, what they mean and in which order they come has never been a part of my life. But everyone I know who is or was in the military did know about it, and they all, to varying degrees, call BS on every excuse the campaign even could offer up in an attempt to explain it away. The simple fact of the matter is Walz has lied repeatedly about his military service, and if he’s willing to do that – up to and including engaging in stolen valor – what wouldn’t he, and the Democrats around him, lie about?He portrays himself as an Audie Murphy-type, the most decorated soldier in US history, when he’s more likeFraudieMurphy.
Honestly, looking over the record of Walz talking about his service, I’m not sure if there’s a incident of him speaking honestly about it.
I get that people change their stories over time, that memories fade and the size of the fish grows – and EVERYONE is the hero in their own story – but I can’t find a time when Walz referred to his service accurately.
While he did get to the rank of Command SergeantMajor, he was demoted when he backed out of deploying to Iraq with his troops. The got the promotion to CSM on condition he serve 2 more years – long enough to take the required courses for the rank and make it worth the National Guard’s time to have spent the money. Walz agreed to do that, then backed out.
I get how life can intervene in anything – I do love the old joke, “Want to make God laugh? Make a plan” –and the idea of deploying anywhere when there’s an open Congressional seatyou’ve been thinking about running for is a drag, which seems to be what happened here.
I understand all of that, an open seat is not very common and they’re really the best shot people new to politics have to win, so I don’t really have a problem with Walz seeing his opening and wanting to go for it. I do have a problem with the fact that he’s been lying about it since 2005.
Since 2005 and deciding to run for Congress, every single time Tim Walz has spoken or written about his military career he has lied about. Sometimes straight out lying by claiming to be a retired Command Sergeant Major, other times lying by implication that he was deployed into a combat zone.
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I don’t know that there’s a biography of Walz online anywhere that does not imply that he either retired at a rank he did not retire at, that he deployed to a combat zone (which is precisely what he dodged by retiring to run for Congress), or both.
To have deployed as part of Operation Enduring Freedom someone has to have been deployed as part of the war in Afghanistan, which is not limited to being in the actual combat zone or the country, if they were deployed in support of it.However, if you do not have a military background, the odds of you knowing that it applies to both people in the combat zone and people sent places to, say, ship supplies to the combat zonefrom several countries away is probably lost on you. I’m not belittling the service of anyone, but there are people who are clear and people who deliberately conflate to two, and those people don’t do it by accident, they’re slipping a little valor in their pockets.
Remember the dentally-challenged “noble Native American elder” the media hyped up as being victimized by Nick Sandmann, the one who creepily banged his little drum in Nick’s face? He was billed as a Vietnam veteran who ultimately was exposed to be like Connecticut Democratic Senator Dick Blumenthal who lied about serving IN Vietnam, only to have massaged the language to imply it – having served during Vietnam. Walz did the same thing, repeatedly, even on his own state government website.
There doesn’t seem to be any consequence for Democrats who lie about their military service, explicitly or implicitly. There doesn’t seem to be any consequence for Democrats who lie period. Bill Clinton is still a star in the party after using his Cabinet to lie on his behalf about his affair and not a single one of them resigned out of principle after he finally told the truth. The media paid out a fortune to Sandmann after lying about him and they act as though it never happened. Blumenthal is still a United States Senator.
At some point, and let it be with Tim Walz, a line must be drawn or responsibility exacted, doesn’t it? He did serve, and that should have been enough. But it wasn’t for him, like Joe Biden he felt compelled to embellish his biography because A) he must be wildly insecure (he was an assistant coach, not a head coach, ego is the only reason to lie about that), and B) because he could. Once you don’t get caught doing something like this you do it more, the fish gets bigger and bigger.
Fraudie Murphy should be commended for his service, but condemned for exaggerating and lying about it, and ultimately stealing the valor of those who actually did what Tim Walz only pretended to have done. He needs to answer questions, and not from a friendly MSBNC-like reporters, about it, and he needs to apologize for having done it. After that, it’s up to those who actually did serve how he pretended to as to whether or not they want to accept that apology.
Derek Hunter is the host of a free daily podcast (subscribe!) and author of the book, Outrage, INC., which exposes how liberals use fear and hatred to manipulate the masses, and host of the weekly “Week in F*cking Review” podcast where the news is spoken about the way it deserves to be. Follow him on Twitter at @DerekAHunter.
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