Tim Walz for Vice-President

Today, as expected, Vice-President Kamala Harris selected a running mate, and will begin a seven-day tour with him. But almost no one expected her choice of running mate: Gov. Tim Walz (D-Minn.). The only thing he brings to the ticket is ideological consistency. Which is to say, he is a communist, like his would-be boss, and openly defends communism under its euphemism, socialism. One must now ask: does Kamala Harris really think the American people are either stupid or crazy?

Previous speculation on running-mate choice

Before today, most people, speculating on Kamala Harris’ running-mate choice, would have predicted she would nominate Gov. Josh Shapiro (D-Pa.). Mark Halperin predicted a Shapiro pick eight days ago.

Some Republicans thought he would be tough to beat. Others predicted confidently that Donald J. Trump and Sen. J. D. Vance (R-Ohio) could beat a Harris-Shapiro ticket easily. Even so, a key strike emerged against Shapiro, and early: he is Jewish. Twenty or thirty years ago, that might have been a plus. (Witness Al Gore’s nomination of Sen. Joe Lieberman, then D-Conn., as his running mate in 2000.) But today is different. Even the presence of Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), also a Jew, as Senate Democratic Leader, does not suggest that the Democratic Party today welcomes Jews. In fact, ever since the Fourth Arab-Israeli War began, antisemitism has become a staple of Democratic Party politics.

Furthermore, Josh Shapiro put himself on record in support of Israel, and always has. He has even done a tour of duty as an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldier.

For those and similar reasons, many Democrats strenuously recommended that Harris not choose Shapiro. Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) had a radically different reason: he accused Shapiro of focusing on his own goals, not those of the national Party. Nevertheless Mayor Cherelle Parker (D-Philadelphia) also predicted that Harris would pick Shapiro. In fact, yesterday she strongly suggested Harris already had.

Walz is the one

But today the campaign made all that speculation count for nothing. True, Shapiro was on a short list of Vice-Presidential candidates. The other members of that list were Gov. Walz and Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.). But apparently Harris’ advisers dropped Kelly from consideration, because he had some embarrassments with which Harris didn’t want to deal. As to Shapiro, X influencer Brian McBride said this, in a now-deleted post:

Nina Turner said Kamala Harris will “lose progressives” if she chooses Josh Shapiro—all but ensuring Josh Shapiro will be the pick.

Well, it was not to be. Here is what X influencer West Bestern said about Tim Walz:

This, after Alpha News Minnesota said this (with embedded video):

This morning, CNN carried the official announcement: Kamala Harris did indeed choose Tim Walz as her running mate. In fact the two will appear tonight in Temple University’s Llacouras Center for their first rally. See also:

Walz enjoys the support of the progressive – that is, the far-left – wing of the Democratic Party. But evidently they held out little hope that Harris would choose him. Harris’ choice of Walz surprised Republicans, too. Kevin Poindexter, whom CNN asked for comment, said of him:

Tim Walz doesn’t even register on the fear-o-meter…. [His] joining the ticket as VP does not bring anything.

In fact it might be more accurate to suggest adding Walz to the ticket makes Harris weaker, not stronger.

A questionable service record

Already a controversy has boiled up over the governor’s service in the Minnesota National Guard. In November 2018, two retired Command Sergeants Major of the Guard published a letter in the West Central Tribune, denouncing Walz for “stolen valor.”

The CNN article says Walz “attained the rank of command sergeant major.” In fact his promotion was conditional upon him serving for two years in that rank. Instead he abruptly quit the service, as his battalion received warning orders to deploy to Iraq. This happened in May 16, 2025, a scant eight months after he received his promotion. He said he needed to retire to run for Congress. In fact he could have requested permission from the Secretary of Defense, a thing other reservists have done. This is key: he receives the retirement pay of a Master Sergeant, not a Command Sergeant Major.

So we see Walz exposed for lying. Now we see CNN lying to back him up. The article mentions him being a Command Sergeant Major. It says nothing about the Army breaking him in rank for non-fulfillment of conditions of promotion. This “correction” raises further suspicions:

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated Walz’s military rank in the Army National Guard. He attained the rank of command sergeant major.

Might this “earlier version” have stated that Walz had attained the rank of Master Sergeant, per his retirement papers? Mightn’t a strident memo gone out to give the desired version of the story? Tellingly, no version stating any service rank appears in the Internet Archive (“Wayback Machine”) except the current version. Timestamp: 19:00:00 UTC, or 3:00 p.m. EDT.

Walz the extremist

Questions about “stolen valor” aren’t the only reasons Trump and Vance can target Walz. He has taken some of the most extreme positions anyone has taken on various issues.

As governor, Walz signed a law requiring that public schools stock boys’ bathrooms with women’s “period” products. That has already earned him the nickname “Tampon Tim.”

Worse yet, in March 2023 he signed an executive order “directing State agencies to protect gender-affirming care.” That phrase stands for surgical mutilation and hormonal poisoning. According to The Daily Signal, that order also denies standing to any non-custodial parent in another State to sue to regain custody from a custodial parent, resident in Minnesota, who submits a child for such treatment.

Even earlier, in January 2023 he signed a new law “protecting” abortion on demand for any reason or no reason. That order extends to the moment of birth.

In December 2023, the governor changed the State flag to one strongly resembling the flag of Somalia.

This endorsement by Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) should give any loyal American pause.

A contributor calling himself “Brodigan” listed “Five things to know about … Tim Walz.” In order:

He let Minneapolis burn from riots in the summer of 2020.

His was a “lockdown” administration.

He changed the State flag (as mentioned).

He supports “transitioning” of children.

And he is an avowed socialist.

We can get out there. Reach out. Make the case. And for one thing, don’t ever shy away from our progressive values. One person’s socialism is another person’s neighborliness.

Reaction

Predictably, The New York Times reports that Democrats are embracing Walz as Harris’ running mate. Donald Trump’s national press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, warned that the governor has spent his time making Minnesota into “California North.”

It’s no surprise that San Francisco Liberal Kamala Harris wants West Coast wannabe Tim Walz as her running-mate – Walz has spent his governorship trying to reshape Minnesota in the image of the Golden State.

While Walz pretends to support Americans in the Heartland, when the cameras are off, he believes that rural America is ‘mostly cows and rocks’. From proposing his own carbon-free agenda, to suggesting stricter emission standards for gas-powered cars, and embracing policies to allow convicted felons to vote, Walz is obsessed with spreading California’s dangerously liberal agenda far and wide.

If Walz won’t tell voters the truth, we will: just like Kamala Harris, Tim Walz is a dangerously liberal extremist, and the Harris-Walz California dream is every American’s nightmare.

Some influencers have remembered some old clips of Walz expressing support for Israel, and equating denials of Israel’s right to exist with antisemitism. But those sentiments might not be current. Laura Loomer broke this story of the governor’s ties to the “Islamic State in Iraq and Syria” (ISIS).

She also details the governor’ association with the Dar al-Farooq Islamic Center in Minnesota. That mosque has seen 45 attendees leave to join ISIS, or the Somali group Al-Shabab. Its head, Waleed Idris al-Meneesey, is on record exhorting Muslims not to “participat[e] in non-Islamic courts” nor cooperate with law enforcement “in countries which do not rule by Allah’s dictates.” That sounds like an exhortation to flout the law.

Financier Bill Ackman, quoting Loomer’s post, noted the timing: “hours/days before Iran attacks Israel.”

Two other commentators, Todd Starnes and Erick-Woods Erickson, summed up the Walz decision succinctly: “No Jews allowed.”

Analysis

Most Democratic Party Presidential candidates either choose a moderate to hide their own extremism from the broader electorate, or choose an extremist to appeal to the Democratic base. Kamala Harris is the extremist choosing another extremist. Some influencers now suggest that ultra-radical leftists are turning on Harris for some of her “softening” statements. (A retreat from an anti-fracking policy is one such statement.) CNAV never believed any of these softenings. Harris’ selection of Walz clearly shows that she was lying.

Every influencer trying to handicap the general election agrees that the three prime battleground States are Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Minnesota is not one of these. Though Trump did take the campaign into “enemy territory” in Minnesota, few expected him to do more than force the Democrats to spend money there that they wanted to spend elsewhere. Has he actually forced Harris to chose the Governor of Minnesota and not a more moderate governor? Perhaps. But perhaps Harris was never going to nominate Josh Shapiro, precisely because he is Jewish.

So now, behold the Democratic ticket: two extremists. (Worse yet, Tim Walz seems to have flip-flopped on Israel already.) This is an even more extreme ticket than Walter Mondale and Geraldine Ferraro in 1984. This pick reflects either desperation or supreme arrogance – or perhaps both.