Tim Walz stops Kamala Harris campaign rally in Wisconsin to help supporters
Tim Walz was mid-sentence when he paused after noticing a supporter at Kamala Harris’ campaign rally in Wisconsin.
Welcome, Governor Walz!
Let’s put the parties aside for a moment and see how authenticity compares to falseness and self-betrayal.
Walz and his wife are teachers. Walz is a nice guy whose kindness and good nature quickly made him a favorite of Kamala Harris’s staff. Those qualities helped him challenge and defeat a six-term U.S. congressman in a red district that turned red again when Walz became governor. You can assume he’s also tough when he needs to be. He was a football coach.
JD Vance is a conman. While Walz justified his six-year term as governor by saying he actually helped the average citizen, Vance celebrates his personal success in his Hillbilly Elegy and suggests that others were lazy. Vance, although fairly conservative, detested Donald Trump as a dangerous demagogue until Trump became a convenient base for Vance to climb the political cliffs.
While Walz initially angered a stubborn opponent, Vance ducked as a non-Trump Republican when he first considered a run for the Senate, but later ran from the safer position of Trump bootlicker. Vance won the vice presidential nomination by mimicking Trump’s angry rhetoric and insults. Walz prevailed through humility, cooperation and a clear commitment to his ideals.
Walz is right when he says Trump and Vance are “weird guys.” How does Vance, who is happily married to an Indian woman, feel when Trump regularly insults non-Caucasians and mocks Harris for wearing a sari during a visit to her mother’s family home in India? Is Vance thinking of his close friend from law school, a transgender man, when he publicly demonizes such people? Walz noted that Trump never laughs, except at People. We also never hear of any close personal friends of Trump or even a dog – let alone a cat!
Trump’s team will attack Walz’s record, just as they currently blame Vice President Harris for the stock market crash. (Did Harris cause Simone Biles’s downfall recently?) Republicans in Minnesota have objected to many of his accomplishments, using a Democratic three-way combination he helped build. They will say he spent too much money helping people. They will say he didn’t call in the National Guard quickly enough after George Floyd was killed. (Oops—Trump praised Walz’s response.) Walz successfully governs a swing state, rolling up his sleeves and getting a lot done, all while demonstrating character and integrity.
They criticize the choice as anti-Semitic because it wasn’t Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro. I’m half Jewish, but I was hoping Harris wouldn’t choose Shapiro in the middle of a contentious war. I wouldn’t have picked a Palestinian either. (I bet Harris’ Jewish husband doesn’t think she’s anti-Semitic.)
The accusation is hilarious. Shapiro is a Jewish Democratic governor. One of three nationally. All Democrats. Last October, nine states had Jewish U.S. Senators. All Democrats. And Diane Feinstein had just left. There is no Jewish Republican U.S. Senator. None. The last one was Arlen Specter, who switched to the Democrats in 2009! Of the 24 Jews in the House of Representatives, only two are Republicans. How come Speaker Johnson doesn’t complain about this?
One reporter described Walz’s “easy-going warrior demeanor and cheerful presence.” Trump commentator David Brody of the Christian Broadcast Network said Harris and Walz “were very good in Philadelphia tonight. She seemed level-headed, confident and totally in control. It was an optimistic speech full of hope and change (cue 2008). Meanwhile, Walz showed off his folksy and spirited Midwestern personality.”
Joy and hope are not a bad recipe, as long as you consider that not everyone is cheerful in these difficult times. So far, it is a mystery to Mr. Trump.
Will we dance the Kamala Waltz on November 5th?
