Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, a frontrunner to be the Democratic nominee for vice president, has been on a tear, repeatedly branding Republicans—specifically former president Donald J. Trump and his running mate, Senator JD Vance of Ohio—as "weird," "just weird," and "weird people." He did so this past weekend during media appearances on MSNBC and CNN, and again at an event organized by the Harris campaign. Interestingly, this criticism is a new addition to Walz's verbal arsenal. What's more, it just might be an act of psychological projection.
As I've argued previously, Walz has driven the Land of 10,000 Lakes in a downright bizarre direction. Yes, Minnesota has long been a blue state, but it wasn't until Walz took office in 2019 that it embraced the kookiness of hard-Left policy made infamous by states like California and New York. Let's unpack why exactly Minnesota's government has become a case study in weirdness under Walz's watch.
First, Walz's record on crime is weird. Americans will remember the riots the racked the country following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. What many might not appreciate, however, is Walz's inexplicable failure to quell the violence and destruction in his own backyard. As Minneapolis burned, he waited too long to make what should have been an obvious decision: call up the National Guard. This delay allowed the chaos to escalate unchecked, resulting in what is estimated to be more than $500 million in damage, making it the second-costliest instance of local unrest in U.S. history, behind only the 1992 Los Angeles riots. The trauma and harm done to individuals and communities, though, is incalculable.
Also weird is the historic amount of fraud plaguing Minnesota during Walz's governorship. It seems that every week has brought a new disclosure. In 2022, Minnesota's U.S. attorney announced federal charges against the nonprofit Feeding Our Future, which stole $250 million from taxpayers meant for needy kids, making it the "largest COVID-19 fraud scheme in the nation." Horrifyingly, Walz's response was so outrageous, he earned a rebuke from a federal judge. Then this past month, it was revealed that more than $200 million of a $500 million Frontline Worker payment program went to people either committing fraud or with questionable eligibility. Yet the state continues to deliver contracts to crooked enterprises and not a single person has been fired.
With regard to fiscal matters, Minnesota's budget has never been weirder. In 2022, Minnesota was flush with COVID-related cash from the federal government, boasting the largest budget surplus in state history. At $19 billion, it was bigger than the full budgets of 17 U.S. states. But rather than providing tax relief to Minnesotans as he promised, Walz gave away the cash to virtually every Democratic constituency in the state, increasing the state budget by 38 percent in just one legislative session. To make matters worse, he raised taxes by a whopping $10 billion. It was the single most reckless fiscal step taken in the modern history of Minnesota.
Remarkably, the above merely scratches the surface of the weirdness of Walz's leadership. One could also mention, among other policies, the lack of a response to cratering test scores for Minnesota students, the free health care and college tuition provided to illegal immigrants, the dismissal of police officers from Minnesota public schools, and some of the most stringent COVID lockdowns in America.
As Kamala Harris considers naming Tim Walz to the ticket, Americans should know the weird direction he has taken Minnesota, and that he would be a force for weirdness in a Harris administration. Despite his newfound adoption of "weirdness" rhetoric, it was he who first genuinely merited the description of "weird." America should consider what that would mean if he stumbled into the vice presidency.
Jim Schultz is President of the Minnesota Private Business Council and was the Republican candidate for Minnesota Attorney General in 2022. Follow: @JimForMn.
The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.
