Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz on Tuesday defended calling former President Donald Trump and his running mate, Sen. JD Vance, “weird,” explaining he’s trying to dismantle the Republican ticket’s power through observation and is not making judgements about their supporters.
“It’s an observation, and I didn’t come up with it,” he told CNN’s Anderson Cooper, saying his Republican relatives in southern Minnesota agree with him.
Walz, who’s on Vice President Kamala Harris’ short list for a running mate, said he’s deploying the term as a tool, explaining, “this is ‘the emperor’s wearing no clothes.’”
Walz also drew on his experience as a former public school teacher.
“Look, I’ve dealt with bullies. Twenty years in the classroom,” he added. “This is about making sure you take away this perceived power he has.”
Walz said he wanted to be “very clear” that when he uses the term “weird,” he’s not speaking about supporters who go to Trump rallies, saying, “those are my relatives.”
Walz also said that Vance is “all wrong” when he talks about forgotten Americans. Noting that he grew up in a town of 400, Walz said people at Trump and Vance’s rallies “felt like Democrats have spoken down to them, that we’ve not gotten them reached where they’re at.”
The Minnesota Democrat took a further dig at Vance, insisting that while the Ohio Republican talks about access to guns, “I guarantee you he can’t shoot pheasants like I can.”
