Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz responded to President Donald Trump calling the former vice presidential candidate a slur typically used for people with disabilities in a shocking rant on Thanksgiving.
Walz appeared on Meet the Press on Sunday to speak about Trump’s comments, describing them as an example of the commander-in-chief’s “cruelness.”
“But I think we all know, both as an educator for a couple of decades and as a parent, using that term is just so damaging,” Walz told Kristen Welker.
Before entering politics, Walz worked as a teacher and spoke to The Independent in May about the ways he accommodated students with disabilities in his classroom.
Trump delivered a blistering and rage-fueled message this past Thursday, where he railed against immigrants from Somalia in Minnesota and blamed Walz, calling him “seriously r*****ed.”
“He’s normalized this type of hateful behavior and this type of language,” Walz said. And mainly, look, at first, I think it’s just because he’s not a good human being, but secondly to distract from using competency. “
Walz’s son Gus also has nonverbal learning disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and anxiety disorder. In 2024, Kamala Harris selected Walz as her running mate.
At the Democratic National Convention, Gus Walz received worldwide attention when he emotionally expressed his pride in his father and said, “That’s my dad.”
“This is what Donald Trump has done,” he said. “He’s normalized this type of hateful behavior and this type of language. And mainly, look, at first, I think it’s just because he’s not a good human being, but secondly, to distract from using competency.”
Trump’s words came ahead of the 50th anniversary of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, which said that students with disabilities are entitled to a “free appropriate public education.”
During the government shutdown, the Trump administration eliminated most of the staff at the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, though they were later reinstated after the shutdown.
Walz also responded to the idea that Democrats are policing language when they criticize the use of slurs against people with disabilities.
“You can use that word, sure,” Walz said. “You can use that language. But you shouldn’t. And that’s something that Donald Trump fails to realize. But again, Kristen, this is cruelness. This is meanness, it’s aimed at a broader community.”
In addition, Walz responded to his tweet, posted in response to Trump’s original post, calling for Trump to release the results of his MRI.
“Here we got a guy on Thanksgiving where we spent time with our families, we ate, we played Yahtzee, we cheered for football or whatever,” he said. “This guy is apparently in a room ranting about everything else. This is not normal behavior. It’s not healthy.”
Walz and Trump have clashed in the past, and he served as Harris’s main attack dog during the 2024 election, famously calling Republicans “weird.” But he received criticism for his cordial approach to Trump’s running mate, JD Vance, in their sole debate last year.
