By C. Douglas Golden September 19, 2024 at 5:14am
Want to talk about “weird?” According to former President Donald Trump, the only time that Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz had an in-depth discussion about him was when he was afraid of a group of people carrying American flags.
That anecdote came during the GOP presidential nominee’s appearance on Fox News’ “Gutfeld” on Wednesday night, in which Walz’s penchant for declaring Republicans “weird” — something which, according to The New York Times, vaulted the relatively obscure Minnesota governor into the veepstakes — came up.
As Greg Gutfeld himself noted, it’s odd hearing that insult come from Walz’s mouth, since he’s “a strange dude” himself.
What on earth is wrong with this guy? pic.twitter.com/ChpL0YySoV
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) September 13, 2024
“No, he’s a strange guy,” Trump said, before relating the humiliating story.
“He called up years ago — I was in the White House — and he said, ‘My house is being surrounded by American flags,’” Trump began.
“I said, ‘Is that a good thing or a bad thing?’” Trump continued. “He said, ‘I think they’re going to attack me.’”
Yes, apparently, they were MAGA people and this was during unrest in Minneapolis/St. Paul over COVID-19 restrictions.
Are you voting for Trump?
“He said, ‘Could you put out a word that I’m your friend?’” Trump related. “I don’t even know him. But it’s the only time I ever spoke to him.
“And if you look back long ago — tweets, before Truth [Social] hit — tweets, long ago, I put out a statement: ‘He’s a good man, the governor, he’s on our side.’ I didn’t know him, but I didn’t want him to get hurt. And everybody put down their flags and they left.”
President Trump says that the only time he has ever spoken to Timothy Walz was when he became scared when a group of protesters with American flags surrounded the Minnesota Governor’s mansion and asked President Trump to save him.😂 pic.twitter.com/cWHHVgDbBe
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) September 19, 2024
And yes, Walz was apparently very scared. According to a 2021 interview with Politico, the governor alleged the call happened after the governor’s mansion was surrounded by protesters, including members of the far-right group the Proud Boys.
Walz remembers the exchange being a bit more confrontational, noting that Trump had tweeted “LIBERATE MINNESOTA!” before.
“What does ‘Liberate Minnesota’ mean? What do you want me to do differently? What do you think that I’m doing or not doing?” Walz claimed he asked then-President Trump during the interview. “I never got a response.”
“I just asked, and I said I just really, really wanted to clarify exactly what you mean,” Walz said. “I did not jump to the conclusion on that. And it wasn’t facetious when I asked him — this was in April of 2020, it was pre-George Floyd.”
The Democrat vice presidential hopeful added: “Just to be very candid, the rhetoric that the president engaged in, and then was amplified by others, changed the whole dynamic especially in a state like Minnesota.”
Oh — you mean rhetoric like this, which was echoed by the alleged would-be Trump assassin, Ryan Routh, on his social media account, rhetoric from the White House which essentially calls Trump a would-be dictator?
Democracy and freedom are on the ballot this November.
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) June 22, 2024
It is worth noting that Trump and Walz did speak on conference calls during the George Floyd riots, calls which were misrepresented by the Harris-Walz campaign to make it look like Trump was praising the Minnesota governor for his response when he was doing just the opposite.
Thus, if you want the definitive version of whether there was an actual threat from organized Proud Boys that was actually created by Trump, or a more generalized anxiety from the governor over pro-Trump protesters angry with Walz’s COVID restrictions, you be the judge. Considering how “weird” Walz has made his relationship with Trump — such as it was — out to be, however, this sounds like a fairly plausible version of events.
C. Douglas Golden is a writer who splits his time between the United States and Southeast Asia. Specializing in political commentary and world affairs, he’s written for Conservative Tribune and The Western Journal since 2014.
C. Douglas Golden is a writer who splits his time between the United States and Southeast Asia. Specializing in political commentary and world affairs, he’s written for Conservative Tribune and The Western Journal since 2014. Aside from politics, he enjoys spending time with his wife, literature (especially British comic novels and modern Japanese lit), indie rock, coffee, Formula One and football (of both American and world varieties).
Birthplace
Morristown, New Jersey
Education
Catholic University of America
Languages Spoken
English, Spanish
Topics of Expertise
American Politics, World Politics, Culture
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