Tim Walz defends military record in first solo campaign speech

Maeve Reston, Dylan Wells
| Washington Post

Los Angeles – Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz dismissed GOP attacks on his military service and the timing of his departure from the Army National Guard during his first solo campaign appearance, a week after being named running mate to Vice President Kamala Harris.

During a speech Tuesday before one of the nation’s largest public sector unions, the veteran National Guard member took a moment to address the recent scrutiny of his military record by former President Donald Trump and his allies, including his running mate, Sen. JD Vance (R) -Ohio).

“I strongly believe that you should never denigrate another person’s service history,” Walz said at the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) convention. “To anyone brave enough to put on that uniform for our great country, including my opponent, I have just a few simple words: Thank you for your service and sacrifice.”

Walz served more than two decades in the Army National Guard, and his military service was likely seen as an asset by Harris when he chose Walz as his running mate. But at least three of Walz’s former Guard colleagues publicly expressed their dismay at his decision to leave the service as the unit prepared to go to war in Iraq. Walz ultimately chose to leave the Guard in 2005 to run for Congress and won a seat in the House the following year.

On Tuesday, Walz noted that he enlisted in the Army National Guard two days after turning 17, encouraged by his father, who served in the military during the Korean War, and said he did so because of his love for his country.

“In 2005, I once again felt the call of duty, this time serving my country in the halls of Congress,” Walz said Tuesday. “My students inspired me to run for that office, and I was proud to make it to Washington. I was a member of the Veterans Affairs Commission and a champion of our men and women in uniform. I’ll say it again as clearly as I can, I’m damn proud of my service to this country.”

Trump’s campaign tried to capitalize on the controversy over the timing of Walz’s retirement. And Trump’s allies also focused new scrutiny on Walz’s comments during a 2018 gubernatorial campaign event, where he said, “We can make sure that those weapons of war that we carried into war” I’m not on the streets of America. A campaign spokesman acknowledged that Walz “misspoke” during the 2018 exchange.

Walz did not serve in combat, according to the Minnesota Army National Guard. Vance, who is also a veteran, drew particular attention to that 2018 comment: “When have you ever been in a war?” Vance said at a recent campaign event in Michigan, in comments directed at Walz.

After Walz said he would never disparage the service of a fellow veteran, Vance responded on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.

“Hi Tim, thank you for your service,” Vance wrote. “But you shouldn’t have lied about it. You shouldn’t have said you went to war when you didn’t. You shouldn’t have said you didn’t know your unit was going to Iraq either. Excited to discuss more in a debate.”

The Minnesota governor’s speech to AFSCME, which otherwise focused largely on how Democratic policies would benefit working-class voters, highlighted the fierce battle for loyalty of blue-collar voters playing out between Harris and Trump.

Before President Joe Biden announced he was dropping out of the presidential race this summer, some polls suggested that support for the Democratic ticket was waning among working-class voters. During the campaign, Trump repeatedly blamed Biden for raising prices due to inflation.

Trump also strategically courted key labor leaders as he tried to drive a wedge between union leaders and rank-and-file members, who he argued should be more receptive to his candidacy. He attended a meeting with the Teamsters union in January, and Teamsters President Sean O’Brien was one of the featured speakers at the Republican National Convention, though he did not endorse Trump.

As Harris and Walz seek to strengthen their relationship with organized labor in this new phase of the campaign, Harris unveiled a proposal last week to raise the minimum wage and eliminate tip taxes for service and hospitality workers. Trump first proposed eliminating tip taxes in June during a rally in Las Vegas.

Walz criticized the records of both Trump and Vance on Tuesday, saying they would “wage war on workers” if elected in November. Walz, a former teacher and football coach, highlighted his own union membership in his remarks, telling the crowd as he opened his remarks that he was “the first union member on a presidential ticket since Ronald Reagan.” . (Trump was a member of the Screen Actors Guild, but resigned after leaders considered removing him for his role in the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol.)

Walz questioned whether Vance “was an asset to this campaign or not” and mocked Trump’s work ethic — asking the boisterous, receptive audience to imagine whether Trump would end up as a McDonald’s worker.

“Can you just imagine Donald Trump working at a McDonald’s, trying to make a McFlurry or something? Walz asked. “He couldn’t drive that McFlurry car if it cost him anything.”

He later said that Vance “never voted for a pro-worker bill in his life.”

“The only thing those two know about working people is how to work to take advantage of them,” Walz said.

Tim Walz defends military record in first solo campaign speech

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