Even after the loss of the Harris-Walz ticket last November, Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) continues to find himself making headlines. Last week, he dared to still go after Elon Musk, even after a district attorney in his state, Mary Moriarty, is seeking diversion rather than criminal charges for a state employee who allegedly caused over $20,000 in damages to six Teslas, which is a felony. Walz also ranted and raved against President Donald Trump at his state of the state address that same week. During memorable moments he seemed particularly proud of, Walz talked about freedom.
"Here in Minnesota, that freedom means several things," Walz said, as he referenced "hunger and poverty," but also "the freedom to worship, or not" as well as "who you are, any way you choose." As he continued, Walz proclaimed that "that is a birthright, not dependent on how much money you make, where your family came from, or the current issue of the day. That's what freedom looks like," to applause and a standing ovation from Democratic members.
It appears to be the one video clip of his address he posted to his X account, which he did on Saturday.
In Minnesota, freedom is a birthright. pic.twitter.com/L6an0vXXxE
— Governor Tim Walz (@GovTimWalz) April 26, 2025
The post has earned over 1,000 replies and plenty of quoted reposts, with many users reminding the governor of what his concept of "freedom" looked like during the COVID-19 pandemic. Minnesota had a tipline in place for residents to snitch on one another and businesses during that time, though protests still went on after the death of George Floyd.
You literally setup a snitch line to report our neighbors for having a BBQ.
— Dustin Grage (@GrageDustin) April 26, 2025
Stop gaslighting, Tim.
https://t.co/7IJrH3PGYn pic.twitter.com/9p6yoQvsY5
— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) April 26, 2025
Right when he was selected as then Vice President Kamala Harris' running mate last August, Walz's "COVID-19 Fanaticism" was also covered in a piece on the "7 Crazy Things Kamala's Running Mate Believes," which mentioned in part:
Walz was a COVID-19 militant. As governor, he issued a memorandum mandating indoor masking and set up a hotline to report residents who violated COVID-19 mandates. Walz refused to take the hotline down when asked to do so.
As of April 1, 2020, the state received approximately 500 reports of "suspected violations" of Walz's stay-at-home executive order. The number one report was of businesses that remained open when they "should [have been] closed." Bars and restaurants that violated Walz's guidelines ordering their closure faced criminal and civil penalties for continuing on-site sale operations. Businesses that didn't cooperate were reported to the Minnesota Department of Public Safety's Alcohol Gambling Enforcement Division, and law enforcement was dispatched to investigate complaints.
Spencer also wrote a column referencing how "Tim Walz Is Anything but ‘Minnesota Nice.'" In it, he wrote about how COVID policies in Minnesota were why he couldn't say a proper goodbye to his grandfather:
Walz’s COVID policies are also the reason, in the final weeks of my grandfather’s legendary life, I had to say goodbye to my hero through a window.
Regardless of vaccine status or testing, I wasn’t allowed into my grandfather’s care facility. So I parked myself in a folding chair outside his window in December bundled up in all the layers I could find while he sat inside with blankets piled on top of him to stave off the cold air coming through the window cracked just enough so I could talk to him.
The last time I saw him alive during that visit back home in Minnesota, we said goodbye with our hands up against opposite sides of the screen. That’s all I got. The next time I saw my grandfather I was delivering his eulogy, unsure if I was more mad that we didn’t get a proper goodbye or sad for the other Minnesotans who never got to bid farewell to loved ones in person at all thanks to Walz’s policies.
Other replies also brought up Walz's claims on free speech from 2022, which sure enough resurfaced for the 2024 election. "There's no guarantee to free speech on misinformation or hate speech, and especially around our democracy," he said on MSNBC, even claiming "I think we need to push back on this."
Well, Walz was the one people pushed back on, with Kurt Schlichter among those providing the pushback.
Hmmm pic.twitter.com/VVqMFkBP2c
— John Hasson (@SonofHas) April 26, 2025
HOLY SH!T
— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) August 7, 2024
Governor Tim Walz: NO RIGHT TO FREE SPEECH if the government decides it is misinformation or hateful
This man is a dangerous commie pic.twitter.com/hE8xGcRx87
Walz also brought up "freedom" as he went after Trump in another part of his address, towards the end.
"The president has also chosen, and I stress this, chosen, to tear up the values that once made America the shining light of the world. In this land of the free and home of the brave, we have university students being swept up, shoved into unmarked vans, and fathers being tossed into Salvadorian gulags without a hint of due process," the governor claimed about Trump, going for a narrative that Democrats have become obsessive with when it comes to Kilmar Abrego Garcia, an illegal immigrant dubbed "Maryland man" by Democrats and their allies in the mainstream media, though he came from El Salvador. There's evidence he is a member of MS-13 and abused his wife, and he also may have been involved in human smuggling. The "university students being swept up," as Walz laments, are pro-Hamas agitators lucky enough to be here in this country on student visas from another country.
"I want to be real clear about this. If you say you love freedom, but you don't believe freedom is for everybody, then the thing you love isn't freedom, it's privilege."
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