The First Walz
First things first – it's stating the obvious, but the obvious sometimes gets obscured by fireworks and balloons: the race for the White House is between Vice President Kamala Harris and Trump. For all the analysis on her choice of Gov. Tim Walz to be her running mate – and all of that is important and necessary, since the VP must be able to take over as President on Day 1 – the only thing voters really ever focus on is the presidential candidates. So, whatever one thinks of Tim Walz, in the end the race is between Harris and the 78-year-old convicted felon, who is a racist, fascist and pathological liar with early dementia.
That said, I’m sure that many people were very surprised Tim Walz was Kamala Harris’s selection. Hey, I'm sure Tim Walz was surprised! But he was on the public list of people under consideration, and all would have been great choices -- they each had negatives, as does everyone (good heavens, look at "JD Vance"...and Trump!), but their positives all greatly transcended that. He wasn’t who I expected to be picked – though the day before, I was having lunch with a friend and discussing who we thought would be selected. Neither of us said Tim Walz...though, happily, after going through the top two names, I did add, oh, by the way, that I'd been hearing a lot about Tim Walz. And what I wrote on social media yesterday is that as lowkey and unexpected as the choice was, as governor of Minnesota Tim Walz struck me as the kind of candidate who most people would really like the more they saw and heard of him -- for how he presented his politics, but also how he presents himself. He’s very smart, and every time I saw him talk over the past months, he was a superb spokesman for the Democratic Party – for it, and also for what was so awful about Trump and (in specifics) why. He has a way of presenting his criticism in a blunt, but very positive way. And a way of presenting what he’s for with such kindness and joy. I saw a British reporter on MSNBC yesterday morning saying that after all the time he’s spent writing about Tim Walz, he describes him as a “happy warrior.” With an emphasis on both “happy” and “warrior.”
MAGOPs are trying to figure out how to define him, of course, though are caught unawares. At the top is of their efforts is claiming he is deeply progressive, almost a radical – the reality is that some of his positions are progressive, but he represented a purple-leaning-Red district in Congress for 12 years, the first Democrat to represent that district since 1898! Further, most of those "progressive" positions are supported by most Americans – helping people, helping children. And the larger reality is, whoever Kamala Harris selected, it’s near-certain that MAGOPs would have cried that that person was too progressive. But then, to today’s fascist MAGOP, pretty much anyone to the left of Attila the Hun is “too progressive.”
It should be added, importantly, that for all the MAGOPs’ cries of “progressive!!!”, Tim Walz governed with a one vote majority in the Minnesota legislature. Which means he had to work with both parties to get these policies passed and means, too, that the policies he advocated had to appeal to as much of the public on both sides as possible. Which helps explain him getting rave endorsements yesterday from the opposite ends of the Democratic palette -- Alexandria Ocasio Cortez and Joe Manchin (who's not even a Democrat anymore, but an Independent, and who had zero obligation to endorse Walz at all, let alone yesterday). As well as praise from Republicans who worked with him in Congress.
MAGOPs also hilariously tried to be divisive by claiming Tim Walz was selected because Kamala Harris and Democrats were scared to pick Gov. Josh Shapiro because he is Jewish. Hilarious, in part, because the Democrats’ Senate Majority Leader, Secretary of State, Attorney General, Secretary of the Treasury, Secretary of Homeland Security and Director of National Intelligence are all Jewish (not to mention Kamala Harris’s husband). But also, in part, because I’m hard-pressed to think of any MAGOP leaders who are. And also because Trump’s anti-Semitism is palpable, not to mention that the MAGOP is the party of “Jews will not replace us.” But above all, in the end, the reality is that if Josh Shapiro had been selected as the VP running mate, you know that MAGOPs would have tried to scare and outrage their base because he was Jewish. And in the end, at the Philadelphia rally yesterday, Josh Shapiro put aside any doubts and gave a soaring, magnificent speech in full-throated support of Tim Walz.
In fact, Shapiro's was a hard speech to top. And Tim Walz topped it. A wonderful speech – thoughtful, energetic, blunt, positive, funny, personal, forward-looking and, importantly, nothing cookie-cutter about it, but presented in a way that almost seemed off-the-cuff. And he not only is the person who coined the use of “weird” and “creepy” to define Trump and “JD Vance" that has been sweeping the party, but brought forth another phrase that is likely to become a battle cry when the race deals with MAGOP’s intrusive policies into Americans’ lives and banning so many things they don’t like –"In Minnesota, we have a golden rule: Mind your own damn business!”
(Remarkably, the Philadelphia rally wasn’t just covered live by MSNBC and CNN…but also on Fox! So, basically, Democrats had a rally and got two spectacular speeches from Harris and Walz (and maybe Shapiro) covered live, in full on national TV, even prior to primetime at the DNC.)
Finally, in all the early media analysis, the expression that got used the most to describe Tim Walz being on the Democratic ticket is that he was the “safe choice.” It was a phrase that bothered me because it was usually said somewhat pejoratively. With a shrug and a nod of the head, as if he was “fine,” with nothing special to offer, but was solid and wouldn’t offend. However, they had it wrong (if anything, Mark Kelly, a U.S. Senator and astronaut, probably would have been the “safe choice,” even with his many skills and qualities). Others might have been more exciting, high-powered choices, but what Tim Walz was was a smart choice. And by the end of the day, most of the media analysts seemed to agree.
He's the son of a farmer, a 24-year National Guard veteran, a high school teacher for 20 years, a high school football coach, a six-term U.S. Congressman from a purple-leans-Red district, and a two-term governor. He’s who has defined the race as being between Democrats and two candidates who are “weird” and “creepy.” And who has long been an eloquent, sharp, smart, funny surrogate for Democrats. Who can speak from personal experience of having a child named Hope from IVF. Whose politics have been in support of families, women and children, for protecting the environment, and a hunter in favor of safe gun laws – all of which MAGOP cry in fear as “progressive,” but most Americans support. And who comes across as…well, happy. Like his running mate.
(Pete Buttigieg made a great point about Tim Walz. He said that when you look at his resume, it's extremely varied -- but then you notice that it is all about helping others. Serving in the military, being a school teacher, being a football coach, representing his district in Congress, and then governor.)
Compare and contrast all that -- the resume and joy -- to Trump and “JD Vance”. Some people will of course hate the Democratic ticket. But Democrats are not trying to appeal to a party whose base is fascist. For most others, I suspect the comparison will be stark, forward-looking and positive.
And while there will be attacks from the MAGOP, Tim Walz is a former football linebacker coach. He knows how to prepare and play defense.
By the way, it’s worth noting one oddity. While Tim Walz may look much older than Kamala Harris, they’re both almost exactly the same age.
Trump's team was probably expecting the VP choice to be Josh Shapiro. Or maybe Mark Kelly. But not Tim Walz. So, just as they were caught off-guard running against Kamala Harris, they are likely unprepared to run against Tim Walz. And it shows in their initial response and Trump's own flailing, Being unprepared once in a presidential campaign is inexcusable. Being unprepared twice is a tell for who they are.
In his first social media posting on the new VP nominee to the Democratic ticket, Trump posted a wild, long screed (the only way it can be fairly described) that ended with crying out that, if elected, Tim Walz would “unleash HELL ON EARTH.” When you write something like that, you’d better hope your hyperbolic dystopia can be supported, because otherwise undecided voters (and even some of your own, most tentative voters) risk seeing you as even more unhinged than they did before.
This, put together quickly by the Meidas Touch people, is Tim Walz.
Comments