On Tuesday, one week after being selected as Vice President Kamala Harris' running mate, Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) gave his first solo address since being added to the ticket. He delivered such remarks at an event for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) union in Los Angeles. While doing so, he made it a point to bring up his military record.
From the start, Walz has been haunted by claims of stolen valor. Nobody is denigrating Walz's military service, but rather many are pointing to how he's talked about "those weapons of war that I carried in war," about how he's been described as having served in Afghanistan as part of Operation Enduring Freedom, how he's misled on his rank, and how he retired early from the National Guard in 2005 when they were going to deploy to Iraq and ran for Congress.
In posting a clip of the event, Walz wanted to "be clear," and focused on pride in one's military service, which again, is not being denigrated.
"These guys have--are even attacking me on my record of service," Walz said, without responding to specific claims about stolen valor. "And I just want to say, I'm proud to have served my country, and I always will be," he said to cheers from the audience. He then talked about how he signed up for the National Guard and served for 24 years, though he left out how he's denigrated guardsmen as "19-year-old cooks."
He then referred to being a member of Congress as another form of service. "Then in 2005, I felt the call of duty again," he claimed, "this time being of service to my country in the halls of Congress." He said it was his students who "inspired me to run for that office," and he was "proud to make it to Washington."
Walz again repeated, with even more emphasis, "I am damn proud of my service to this country, and I firmly believe you should never denigrate another person's service record," he continued. "To anyone brave enough to put on that uniform for our great country, including my opponent, I just have a few simple words: thank you for your service and sacrifice."
His post has been hit with close to 8,000 replies and over 700 quoted reposts, including from the Trump War Room, which referred to him as "Freakish Timothy Walz" and called him a "liar."
Let me be clear: I am damn proud of my service to this country. pic.twitter.com/9a9rJSQurQ
— Tim Walz (@Tim_Walz) August 13, 2024
Freakish Timothy Walz lied about carrying weapons into war.
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) August 13, 2024
He held a sign claiming to be an OEF veteran.
He claimed for years that he was a retired Command Sergeant Major.
He abandoned his unit before they deployed to Iraq.
Freakish Timothy is a liar. https://t.co/ecdIsLjMLo pic.twitter.com/3CWTiASmlb
In response to Walz's claim that "these guys are even attacking me for my record of service," the Trump War Room responded with another post to make clear why it is, exactly, that Walz is being "attacked."
Such a post went on to mention the examples above.
WALZ: "These guys are even attacking me for my record of service."
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) August 13, 2024
(He's being attacked for repeatedly LYING about his rank, abandoning his battalion just as they were set to deploy to Iraq so he could run for Congress, and lying about seeing combat) pic.twitter.com/YwPECY295o
Walz didn't merely bring up his military record to defend. He also repeated his talking point of how it's supposedly the Minnesota way to declare "we respect our neighbors and we respect their personal choices," a point he likes to make often.
With such comments, perhaps Walz thinks he fits into that "folksy" or Minnesota nice category. But, as Spencer made abundantly clear in his column last Thursday, it's nonsense. In addition to the COVID lockdowns and asking neighbors to snitch on one another via a tipline during the pandemic, he also allowed Minneapolis to burn during the 2020 riots after George Floyd's death.
FREAKISH TIM WALZ: "We respect our neighbors and we respect their personal choices."
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) August 13, 2024
(Walz set up a snitch line so neighbors could tattle on each other for not triple masking outdoors) pic.twitter.com/qFkTtXK9Aw
Earlier on Tuesday, it was trending over X that a grandmother, Lisa Hanson, had been sentenced to 90 days in prison for violating Walz's lockdown orders. That doesn't sound like she was a neighbor who was "respect[ed]."
Walz was also the first one to refer to his Republican counterpart, Sen. JD Vance (R-OH) as "weird," and plenty of other Democrats have since gone with insulting former and potentially future President Donald Trump's running mate.
Vance has consistently had the perfect response to such an insult, pointing out that it's the price to pay for running, and turning it back on Walz by calling to mind his radical record. Vance himself is also a veteran, and has addressed Walz's stolen valor. While Vance can take it, it doesn't mean that he should, and also shows that Walz can't exactly claim "we respect" anybody.
With his insults and his far-left, extremist record, it's Walz who is the "weird" one, as Kurt broke down in his latest episode of "Unredacted With Kurt Schlichter."
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