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Obama and Walz Go for Particularly Tone Deaf Moments on Campaign Trail

Rebecca Downs
Rebecca Downs  |  October 22, 2024 7:15 PM

Even when Vice President Kamala Harris isn't on the campaign trail to make a fool of herself, Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) and former President Barack Obama can be counted on doing so. That was perhaps no more prevalently on display than during Tuesday, just two weeks before the election. 

Walz is often making a fool himself, from his habits as a pathological liar, to his inarticulate responses, to his bizarre gesticulating. He's provided plenty of fodder for the campaign's critics, though keep in mind that this is the person who started the trend of referring to Sen. JD Vance (R-OH) as "weird." Walz isn't just taking aim at Vance, but now also Elon Musk, who has dared to support the Trump-Vance ticket.

Earlier this month, Musk campaigned for former and potentially future President Donald Trump during a memorable rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. It was a particularly touching tribute to Corey Comperatore, the firefighter who lost his life when he was struck with a bullet meant for Trump during the July 13 rally. There was a particularly iconic moment when Musk jumped into the air. 

While campaigning in Wisconsin on Tuesday, Walz referred to Musk as Trump's "running mate," to boos from the crowd. Once he made it clear he was done with talking about Trump and was ready to go after Musk, he pointed out how "Elon's on that stage, jumping around, skipping like a dips**t on the stage," adding, "you know it."

The Trump War Room was among those accounts all too happy to mock Walz for such a line, and they had plenty of fodder. 

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For someone who is supposedly "Minnesota nice" and wants to come off as "folksy," Walz isn't just "weird" himself, he's also quite nasty, with his choice of language and his tone. 

And, as Teri Christoph at our sister site of RedState pointed out, Musk had his own perfect comeback.

Walz had gone after Trump as well, by claiming that the Republican nominee "does not have stamina," similar to how the Harris-Walz campaign and their allies have claimed that Trump is "exhausted." 

Such lines of attack could hardly fall more flat. Meanwhile, Harris herself is off from campaigning on Tuesday as she prepares for "pretaped" interviews. Obama will be the one campaigning for her in Michigan, alongside Eminem. 

Those media hits and interviews that Harris has participated in have been a disaster, even when from friendly sources. They're also particularly inauthentic, with Monday's "town hall" involved "predetermined" questions, rather than those from the audience. 

Trump senior advisor Corey Lewandowski has also highlighted the rigorous schedule that Trump has, which many Americans can also see for themselves. 

Walz isn't the only one on the campaign trail who went for such outrageously tone deaf remarks, though. "I-I don't understand how we got so toxic and just so divided and so bitter and I-I-I get sometimes why people just don't want to pay attention to it," Obama offered to the crowd while also campaigning in Wisconsin. He also claimed that "I get that" in response to people who might get tired of the "circus" that is the political campaign. 

Perhaps Obama should look in the mirror. This has been a particularly intense presidential campaign, especially because Trump has been the target of multiple assassination attempts, with incendiary rhetoric from Democrats not exactly helping to ease tensions. 

Further, there's some of that bitterness within the Democratic Party as well, after President Joe Biden was forced out of the race and Harris was installed as the nominee without winning a single primary vote. Obama was reportedly involved in such a coup, with there being chatter about a threat of using the 25th Amendment against Harris. 

Such comments from Walz and Obama were both trending topics over X on Tuesday.