There’s been a lot of reaction to Kamala Harris’s selection of Gov. Tim Walz (D-Minn.) as her running mate, and one of my favorites comes from Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who destroyed Tim Walz and his abysmal record as governor of Minnesota.
“We all remember the [Black Lives Matter] riots of 2020 in Minneapolis,” he said during a press conference in Steinhatchee, Fla., on Tuesday morning. “Those were riots that Harris egged on and raised money to bail out the rioters with the Minnesota bail fund. And they were riots that Tim Waltz, as governor, sat back and let happen. He sat back and let the city of Minneapolis burn. That city has been gutted as a result of those riots. We would never allow that to happen in the state of Florida. So this is a ticket that really represents the spirit of those 2020 BLM riots.”
DeSantis continued, “And you have a very vapid San Francisco Democrat, and then you’ve got an Ilhan Omar-style leftist, Tim Walz, who has the same policies as his fellow Minnesotan, Ilhan Omar. We do not need an America that represents the failed policies of San Francisco or the failed policies of Minneapolis. We do not need to see poop on the street and cities burning down. That is not a prescription for America to work its way back. And I can just tell you, as governor of Florida, particularly in that 2020–2021 period, people fled those jurisdictions. And they’d come to Florida, and they would tell me about the mismanagement, and about letting the inmates run the asylum and how that just destroyed the quality of life. And so I think it was in that period, you were five times more likely to move from Minnesota to Florida than vice versa, and that’s a result of people fleeing those failed policies.”
“Why would we want that for the United States of America?” DeSantis concluded. “Where are people gonna flee to? We can’t have everybody live in the state of Florida. I can tell you that.”
Ron DeSantis takes down Tim Walz
🔥🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/uomOUIP6hX
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) August 6, 2024
DeSantis also attacked the newly formed ticket on social media.
Harris-Walz: most left-wing ticket in American history.
Minnesota was ground zero for the BLM riots of 2020. Harris egged it on and Walz sat by and let Minneapolis burn.
— Ron DeSantis (@RonDeSantis) August 6, 2024
He also called Walz “an unbridled leftist, an Ilhan Omar-style Democrat that puts ideology above all else.”
In 2021, Minnesotans were roughly five times more likely to move to Florida than vice versa.
They were fleeing a state that, under Gov. Tim Walz, turned its back on law and order, increased taxes, and imposed unscientific coronavirus restrictions, harming children and destroying…
— Ron DeSantis (@RonDeSantis) August 6, 2024
Exclusively for our VIPs: Why Did Kamala Harris Pick Tim Walz?
Expect a lot of focus on Walz’s handling of the BLM riots in the coming weeks. Harris has been trying to rebrand herself as the law-and-order candidate, and selecting Walz undermines that messaging dramatically.
“[H]e’s been a disaster for Minnesota and is by far the most partisan governor that I can remember having,” Minnesota GOP Chairman David Hann told Fox News Digital last week. “Going back to 2020, certainly – he did nothing to try to stop the riots going on in Minneapolis. I think he was fearful of alienating his ‘progressive’ base, who were supporting the riots. Kamala Harris was raising money for the rioters.
