Minnesota Governor Tim Walz is learning the hard way that national ambitions don’t mix well with local hypocrisy. After losing his shot at the vice presidency, Walz is back home pretending to govern — and tweeting like a man still auditioning for Kamala’s approval. His latest post about the federal shutdown blew up in his face, as Minnesotans flooded his replies reminding him that the last thing they need is another D.C. virtue signaler with frozen-heartland roots.
It’s hard to blame them. Walz has spent years trying to package himself as a pragmatic midwestern moderate — “teacher, soldier, coach.” But as more of his personal mythology unravels, that folksy façade looks more like a carefully manicured résumé written for MSNBC. He claimed to have carried weapons in combat (he didn’t). He implied he faced down tanks at Tiananmen Square (he wasn’t there). What he was doing, according to those who were with him, was cozying up to Chinese officials — one travel companion even describing Walz as “Maoist to the core.”
That detail lands harder now that China’s fingerprints are all over the global stage — and all over Walz’s political career. His classroom exchange trips in the late ’80s have aged into something murkier: a tangle of stories, contradictions, and rumors about relationships that blurred professional and personal lines. The man who once accused others of misinformation now can’t keep his own biography straight.
Walz’s fall from national favor was swift. The Kamala-Walz ticket was supposed to be the Democrats’ heartland reset — a “values-based” campaign with enough Midwest corn syrup to cover D.C.’s bitterness. Instead, voters got a condescending hall monitor who tried to run a national campaign like a civics class. By the time he slunk back to St. Paul, his approval ratings were thawing faster than a frozen walleye in August.
Now he’s back to picking Twitter fights and auditioning for MSNBC panels while Minnesotans deal with rising crime, teacher shortages, and budget holes the size of Lake Mille Lacs. Walz’s strategy appears to be: blame Washington for everything and hope no one remembers he once wanted to be in Washington.
The irony? Minnesota has a long and storied history of failed running mates. From Hubert Humphrey to Walter Mondale to now Tim Walz — every generation produces a new reminder that political ambition ages poorly in the cold.
Citations
- Alpha News – “Man who says he accompanied Walz on trip to China calls VP candidate ‘Maoist to the core’” (Oct 2025)
- Star Tribune – “Walz faces renewed scrutiny over China trip, résumé claims” (Oct 2025)
- Fox News – “Former VP pick Walz blasted for misleading war stories, China ties” (Oct 2025)
- Minnesota Reformer – “Tim Walz under fire at home after failed national run” (Oct 2025)