Walz dodges the truth again when asked about Harris' unity message

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) has bent the truth to his benefit on numerous occasions. While it appears that in many cases, Walz has done so out of habit, his attempt to bend the truth on "CBS Mornings" this week was clearly out of desperation.

Host Tony Dokoupil suggested at the outset of his Wednesday interview with Walz that Harris' "closing campaign message is all about unity" — a message possibly compromised by President Joe Biden's dehumanizing suggestion Tuesday that Americans who support President Donald Trump are "garbage."

"I want to get your reaction to the president's comments, but I want to put it into a larger context of your recent comment comparing the Sunday Trump rally to a Nazi rally," said Dokoupil. "I would also throw in there Obama's bitter clingers, 'gun and religion' comment from a while back, the 'deplorable' line from Hillary Clinton's campaign, and the way that Democrats are seen by some voters as disrespecting them."

'They cling to guns or religion.'

Dokoupil was referring to:

• Biden's Oct. 29, 2024, suggestion to Voto Latino that "the only garbage I see floating out there is [Trump's] supporters."
• Walz's Oct. 27, 2024, suggestion regarding Trump's Madison Square Garden campaign event Sunday that "there's a direct parallel to a big [Nazi] rally that happened in the mid-1930s at Madison Square Garden."
• Clinton's Sept. 9, 2016, suggestions at an expensive New York City event that "you could put half of Trump's supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables" and that "some of those folks — they are irredeemable, but thankfully, they are not America."
• Barack Obama's April 6, 2008, suggestion that working-class voters in Pennsylvania and the Midwest who were ambivalent about supporting him were "bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment."

Dokoupil said, "I have to ask: Does that undercut this closing message of unity from your campaign?"

Kamala Harris' running mate fired back, "No, certainly not."

'I think Vice — uh, President Biden — was very clear.'

"I've represented rural areas. I've represented Democrats, Republicans, independents. Same thing with the vice president," said the Democratic governor, suggesting that Harris — who has demonized pro-life Americans, previously argued that traditional Catholics should be disqualified from judicial appointments, and told Christians at a recent campaign event that they were "at the wrong rally" — represented all Americans.

"Look, you saw a presidential speech last night at the Ellipse that is the best of America," said Walz. "One that's talking about unifying us. One that's talking about bringing folks to the table."

Walz quickly jettisoned the unity theme to accuse Trump of being divisive, to insinuate that the Republican president was somehow responsible for Biden's dehumanizing language, and to once again bend the truth, this time about Biden's "garbage" statement.

"I think that the frustration we've seen since January 6, the frustration with Donald Trump's rhetoric of division, it does fire passions," continued Walz. "I think Vice — uh, President Biden — was very clear that he's speaking about the rhetoric we heard, and so it doesn't undermine it. People are hungry to come back together."

Some revisionists on the left have similarly suggested that Biden's "garbage" remark was not directed at millions of Trump supporters, but instead at Trump's rhetoric.

Politico, for instance, falsely reported that "Biden, in a Zoom call with the organization Vote Latino, said 'the only garbage' was the 'hatred' of Trump supporters who said such things about American citizens."

Despite such rewrites of what happened, it is clear from the footage of Biden's remarks that he was unmistakably trashing Trump supporters.

Americans might ultimately unite, just not in the way Walz is hoping.

A recent MinnPost-Embold Research poll indicated that even in his home state, the race has tightened up, showing Harris leading Trump by only three points.

According to the latest AtlasIntel poll, Trump is up two points nationally. Averaging recent polls, Nate Silver's FiveThirtyEight polling outfit alternatively has Trump trailing by 1.4 points.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!