Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, the man responsible for the Democrats’ bizarre political strategy of calling Senator JD Vance “weird,” has launched another strange attack on former President Donald Trump’s vice presidential nominee.
During a interview On the Anderson Cooper 360 show, which promoted more gun restrictions, Walz claimed he could get more gun shots on a pheasant hunt than Vance.
Minnesota Democratic Governor Tim Walz appeared to question Senator JD Vance’s (R-Ohio) shooting skills, saying the vice presidential candidate could not hunt pheasants like he did.
“That’s JD Vance’s thing when he talks about guns. I guarantee you he can’t shoot pheasants like I can,” Walz said Tuesday on “Anderson Cooper 360°.”
“And that’s part of it, but you know what, I guarantee I don’t want weapons of war in classrooms. And there’s no reason why you can’t have reasonable restrictions on that without violating the Second Amendment,” he added.
Vance has leaned heavily on his personal story of his Appalachian roots in his bid to be former President Trump’s vice presidential running mate. During his speech to the Republican National Convention earlier this month, he told an anecdote about finding 19 loaded guns in his grandmother’s house that was met with thunderous applause from the audience.
Walz also insisted on the “weird” stereotype, which has been widely mocked and rejected on social media, when asked if it would appear that he was insulting those who support Trump and Vance.
“I grew up in a town of 400 people and graduated with 24 classmates and 12 cousins. I know those people. They are – that’s not what this is about. I’m talking about those people over there that we have to make our case to,” he said.
“These are people who feel like the Democrats are talking down to them, that they have not enriched themselves where they are, that they are trying to be who they are,” he added.
Walz further defended his operate of the word on CNN, saying that calling Harris’ opponent “weird” was an “observation” and “not an insult.”
Walz is reportedly taken into account as Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate. Some on the left support this, pointing to his roots in the Upper Midwest.
Although Harris is doing better than President Joe Biden in key voting blocs, Democrats running in rural, competitive districts this fall worry that the former California senator and attorney general could do even worse there than the president — particularly in swing states in the upper Midwest. Walz, 60, who spent 12 years in Congress representing a Republican, mostly rural district in southern Minnesota, could bring the kind of vibe to the ballot box “that you would meet at a backyard barbecue in the Midwest,” they argue, and that could assist prevent another Democratic free fall in rural areas.
Walz “has had to compete in tough races, and I think that’s a great equalizer because Kamala Harris has a very impressive background, but she’s also been in California, where Democrats have a big majority, so it helps to have someone who has had to fight in close races,” said Iowa state Rep. JD Scholten, who narrowly lost a congressional seat in conservative, rural western Iowa in 2018 and argues that Democrats need to refocus on rural voters.
First, Walz engages in the usual fear-mongering about the ownership and carrying of firearms by law-abiding citizens, using the hackneyed “weapons of war” argument. He wants to make it seem as if teachers and school personnel who are allowed to be armed are marching through schools with rocket-propelled grenades strapped to their backs, waiting to blow up anyone who looks suspicious.
In reality, in states that enact laws allowing teachers to be armed, teachers can be armed if they so choose, as long as they follow the guidelines and undergo appropriate training. The goal is to make it easier to stop potential school shooters, rather than simply trying to disarm lawful gun owners and pretend that this will somehow stop school shooters.
Besides, the “weird” argument has already backfired. As conservatives have pointed out, calling someone “weird” if you believe men can get pregnant probably wasn’t the best move. Maybe Democrats should just stick to calling everyone racist and sexist if they don’t vote for Harris in November.
