President Donald Trump mocked Tim Walz on Tuesday, calling the Minnesota governor "a mess" after several state-level Democrats were targeted in a politically motivated shooting.
Reporters aboard Air Force One asked the president if he'd reached out to Walz following the fatal shooting of State Rep. Melissa Hortman. Per CNN reporter Kaitlan Collins, Trump called the gesture a waste of time.
“I’m not calling him. Why would I call him? I could call and say, ‘Hi, how you doing?’ The guy doesn’t have a clue," he said. "He’s a mess. I could be nice and call, but why waste time?”
Walz's camp shared a statement on the president's brush-off, saying that it was not the time to score points off your political enemies.
"Governor Walz wishes that President Trump would be a president for all Americans, but this tragedy isn’t about Trump or Walz," his office shared. "It’s about the Hortman family, the Hoffman family, and the State of Minnesota, and the Governor remains focused on helping all three heal."
Following his unsuccessful bid for the vice presidency last year, Walz has been a vocal critic of both Trump and his own party. As the Trump admin has run roughshod over the administrative state and done away with due process, Gov. Walz has had little time for smug recriminations from Democratic Party apparatchiks. He's argued for doubling down on protecting minorities and meeting Trump 2.0's authoritarianism with force, not "sternly worded letters."
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“I think there needs to be a more robust Democratic Party,” he told attendees of a Center for American Progress event earlier this month. “We have to have a robust strength of morals, value sticking up for those less fortunate — that's why I think it's a mistake to focus just on economics and allow trans children to get bullied.”
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