While European media like to present Tim Walz as a run-of-the-mill everyday American moderate—albeit with a ‘hip’ progressive bent—there is a decidedly darker side to the U.S. Democratic Party vice presidential candidate.
Nick Solheim, native Minnesotan and founder of American Moment, called Gov. Walz “a disaster for Minnesotans” and said in an op-ed that
the reality is that Kamala Harris and Tim Walz are the most radical Democratic presidential ticket in modern American history.
On the European side of the Atlantic, The Guardian talks of Walz as a down-to-earth former geography teacher and 24-year Army National Guardsman, possessing a “midwesterner [sic] dad charm.” The paper also quotes presidential candidate Kamala Harris as saying she is impressed by his “convictions on fighting for middle-class families.” And the BBC described Walz’s two terms in the Minnesota governor’s mansion as “one of the most productive legislative periods in state history.”
The BBC would have done well to replace “productive” with “progressive.” Under Walz’s governorship, Minnesota
- Instituted one of the most liberal abortion laws in the country, allowing unrestricted abortions up till the time of birth. The law, signed by Walz on February 2, 2023, repealed previous restrictions—including the ban on aborting babies viable for life and a requirement that abortions be carried out by a trained physician.
- Turned Minnesota into a “Trans Sanctuary State” promoting ‘medical tourism’ for children who want hormone treatment or sex-change surgery. The “trans refuge law” grants legal protection for children coming to the state for ‘gender-changing’ procedures and prohibits Minnesota courts or officials from complying with court orders from other states to extradite or remove children.
- Started providing state-funded menstrual pads and tampons in boys’ and girls’ school bathrooms after State Rep. Sandra Feist, who sponsored the bill, ‘explained’ to conservative lawmakers that “not all students who menstruate are female.” (The measure has earned Walz the moniker “Tampon Tim” on social media.)
- Ordered some of the country’s most draconian COVID measures, including lockdowns of churches, schools, and businesses, followed by a statewide mask mandate.
- Walz also ordered the setting up of a ‘snitch hotline’ where Minnesotans could report lockdown violations to law enforcement, resulting in thousands of reports of heinous crimes such as church gatherings and basketball pickup games.
- Under Walz, health care facilities rationed access to monoclonal antibody treatment for COVID based on skin color, giving higher priority to non-white people even over Caucasians with significant medical risk factors. Online pundits asked if this was a way for Walz to atone for his expressed “privilege as a white male.”
- Mismanaged the Funding our Future COVID program, resulting in the largest COVID fraud scheme in the country, erroneously paying out $250 million of taxpayer money.
- Allowed illegal immigrants to obtain driver’s licenses and argued for extending free health care and free college tuition to illegal migrants.
- A few days ago, Walz reposted part of a CNN interview where he criticized Donald Trump’s border wall, saying “‘Let me know how high it is. If it’s 25 feet, then I’ll invest in a 30-foot-ladder factory.”
- Welcomed refugees and migrants to the point where Minneapolis now has the largest Somali community outside of Somalia—”Little Mogadishu”. Labor participation in the migrant community hovers between 30 and 40%, meaning a majority relies on welfare. Minnesota was also home to 25% of the Islamic State recruits in the United States.
- As governor, Walz opposed a Trump law that expanded the states’ control over refugee resettlement, and famously said that “the inn is not full in Minnesota” and “refugees strengthen our communities.”
About that strengthening of the communities:
- Violent homicides are up 71%, carjackings up 548% under his governorship
- Walz failed to prevent massive destruction during the 2020 George Floyd riots by stalling deployment of the National Guard, saying the city of Minneapolis hadn’t filled out the correct paperwork
- Walz failed to keep his political opponents in the Minnesota Legislature informed during the riots.
- An official state senate investigation concluded that “Governor Walz was more concerned about his popularity and tweeting then he was about stopping the riots.”
- Walz has consistently endorsed candidates who promote defunding the police
- He actively supported the Minnesota Freedom Fund (as did Kamala Harris), which bails out criminals who lack the funds to post bail.
Or, in the words of Republican VP candidate J.D. Vance:
They make an interesting tag team because Tim Walz allowed rioters to burn down Minneapolis in the summer of 2020, and the few that got caught, Kamala Harris helped bail them out of jail.
As for his touted 24 years in the Army National Guard, two retired Guard officers in a letter to the West Central Tribune revealed that Walz quit the Guard in May 2005 after learning his battalion was being deployed to Iraq, leaving his troops without a non-commissioned officer. His battalion was deployed for 22 months—during which time Walz ran for Congress. Meanwhile, the soldiers he should have commanded were prohibited by Army regulations from speaking out against his candidacy.
And what does his Minnesota opposition think? Majority Whip Tom Emmer, a Republican, told the New York Post:
From overseeing the largest COVID-19 fraud scheme in the country, to asking neighbors to tattle on one another for violating lockdown mandates, to forcing hospitalized COVID patients back in their nursing home facilities — Tim Walz proved during the pandemic he does not have the competency to lead in times of crisis.
