This past week was not a good one for Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN), who was Vice President Kamala Harris' running mate. Not only did the Harris-Walz ticket lose the 2024 presidential election, but they won Minnesota by less than President Joe Biden did in 2020, and it looks like Walz will have lost the Democratic trifecta for the state legislature. His speech on Friday in Minnesota has people talking and calling him out for the supposed message of unity he's going for.
"I think sometimes we can be quick to judge people who don't agree with us, to assume that they act out of cruelty or fear or self-interest. I don't think that kind of judgment is helpful right now, and I don't think it's right." Walz pointed out, though such an admission came too little too late. "I think we ought to swallow, and this is me in this, as I'm speaking about myself, swallow a little bit of pride and look a little harder to find common ground with our neighbors who didn't vote like we did in this election. Maybe we won't agree on every issue. Hell, maybe we won't agree on any issue, but maybe when the campaign signs come down, we all get a break from the rhetoric and the TV ads, and the fundraising texts--and I'm sorry about those," he said to laughter and applause from the audience, before once more turning serious.
"Maybe when we get a little break from this campaign that we're in, we'll be able to look at each other and see not enemies, but neighbors. And maybe we'll be able to sit down over a coffee or a diet Mountain Dew and just talk. Talk about our kids, talk about the lives we want to build for them, talk about the things that really matter, how we treat each other, how we look out for each other, and how we support each other in difficult times," Walz continued, as he received more applause for such a line as well.
"Maybe when we get a little break from this campaign that we're in, we'll be able to look at each other not as enemies but as neighbors."
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) November 8, 2024
Gov. Walz offers a message of unity when speaking to his supporters pic.twitter.com/eYgkCqzVOl
In response to the MSNBC clip, many users chimed in with explicit language to share how they felt about such a suggestion from the losing running mate.
As many users also referenced, he doubled down on equating President-elect Donald Trump's rally at Madison Square Garden rally on October 27 with a rally that the Nazis held on February 10, 1939. Beyond the other reasons as to why that's such a bogus comparison, including how many Jewish and pro-Israel supporters were at the rally, it's also worth reminding that MSG wasn't even in the same location at the time.
Further, such points from Walz seem to further justify going after one's political opponents, as the "enemies" he considers them to be. This is not just Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance, whom Walz constantly referred to as "weird," but also those who dared to support the Trump-Vance ticket. Trump won the popular vote this time, and such supporters amount to more than half of America.
— Mostly Peaceful Memes (@MostlyPeacefull) November 9, 2024
https://t.co/eu5UglAvs6 pic.twitter.com/XWEONSAK9C
— Mostly Peaceful Memes (@MostlyPeacefull) November 9, 2024
“nazi’s” “garbage”
— TazTears💦 (@TazTears) November 8, 2024
sure thing, skippy
Yeah, now that democrats lost, they want to stop the division they've practiced for the last 4 years. 🤣🤣🤣
— MoonCrow 🇺🇸 (@MoonCrow11) November 8, 2024
Walz's sudden change in tune rings similar to Harris' reassuring her supporters--whom she didn't speak to until Wednesday afternoon and was sharply criticized for such a move--that it would be all right. If Trump is "a fascist," though, and such a supposed threat to democracy, what business does Harris have making such points? Was she lying then when trying to fearmonger about Trump, or is she lying now? What about Walz?
One doesn't even have to look that far back, though. Walz's point in such a clip not only stand in stark contrast to how he and Harris have demonized their opponents, but also with what he said in that very same speech moments before.
In acknowledging how "losing stings," Walz also suggested the results were surprising to him, adding, "and it's okay to feel sad and scared and a little surprised, if I'm being honest." He also told the crowd a few moments later that "now more than ever, that important work continues, because we have a responsibility to keep this haven, this special place, Minnesota, safe and inclusive and strong, because our neighbors, they are counting on us." Of course, "safe and inclusive" to Walz and his far-left record means making his state a sanctuary for minor children to come from other states and go through procedures to try and change their gender that may involve genital mutilation and sterilization, as well as putting tampons in boys' bathrooms.
Still later in the speech, Walz expressed fear of the upcoming Trump-Vance administration, in the very same speech he talked about supposed unity with one's neighbors. In case there's any doubt, Walz looks to serve as a roadblock to Trump's agenda, just as other far-left governors, like Illinois' JP Pritzker, Massachusetts' Maura Healey, and California's Gavin Newsom do.
Speaking as if he were back on the campaign trail, Walz claimed Trump "is in it for himself, not the American people," and thus "we know what is coming down the pike" and so "we are going to have to be ready to defend the progress we made here in Minnesota," which includes defending his state against a supposedly "hateful agenda" that the Trump administration will bring. "As long as I am governor of Minnesota, we will be a state that respects democracy, a place where we do not demonize people who disagree with us," he even ironically declared.
Walz must have some short memory, and expects the rest of us to as well. The American people didn't buy what he and Harris were selling, though, and now he remains Minnesota's problem.
Let's not forget, Walz was rather emotional just days before as well, when he cried during Harris' concession speech on Wednesday, alongside Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff and his children.
NEW: Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff and Governor Tim Walz seen crying as Kamala Harris gives her concession speech.
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) November 6, 2024
Not surprising.
The moment came as Harris seemed to choke up herself during the speech. pic.twitter.com/qK0V5XklvF
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