Let's Shut Down the Attack on Tim Walz's Military Record Right Now

That's enough weirdness from the weirdos

Getty

Earlier this week, the already electric Kamala Harris campaign received another massive surge of excitement — that’s still going strong as I type this — when she officially confirmed Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate. The delightfully affable governor went from virtual unknown to viral sensation in late July when he delivered the catchphrase of the election following the inert rollout of JD Vance as Donald Trump’s running mate: “These are weird people.”

Like Walz himself, the message is simple but effective. By now, you’re probably aware of the calculus behind him joining the ticket. Walz is just a regular, dadcore dude brimming with progressive bonafides. A football coach that championed the LGBTQ student club in the ‘90s. That’s no small thing. Walz is the type of guy that I’d be tickled to have as a neighbor because I’m an awkward dork who types on a computer all day and has the handyman skills of a walnut. Not only would Walz help me change the oil in my lawnmower — Apparently, you have to do that? — but he wouldn’t pepper me with Facebook shit like “Did you hear the high school has kitty litter in the bathrooms now?” or complain about outdoor kitchens from the local Nepalese population. (Jason Aldean conveniently forgot to mention a little something about small towns: There are flavors of racism for everything!)

Anyway, all of this brings us to another facet of Walz’s electoral appeal: He’s a veteran. But not a splashy one, or the type of swinging dick who took every drop of post-9/11 jingoism straight to the dome. Walz, like a lot of guys from blue collar families, joined the National Guard when he was 17 so he could pay for college. That’s wholesome, all-American stuff that only got more wholesome as he re-enlisted several times (24 years in total) and worked as a school teacher. It doesn’t get more salt of the earth than that.

Naturally, the Republicans are freaked out by Walz joining the ticket and are frantically grasping at whatever straws they can get their weird little hands on like the “Tampon Tim” nonsense. “What kind of monster makes teenage menstruation less of a nightmare?!” is a helluva tactic. Great stuff, guys.

However, one line of attack has gained a small amount of traction: Walz’s retirement from the military. In a nutshell, Walz is being accused of “abruptly” resigning when his National Guard unit received deployment orders to Iraq in 2005. I’m sure you’ll be surprised to learn that this narrative is pure, uncut horseshit. Like the Far Left smear campaign that tried to accuse Josh Shapiro of covering up a murder, this attack is another reheated leftover from the 2022 election. Walz has already been down this road before, and he beat the charges.

During Walz’s gubernatorial campaign, his Republican opponent brought out a guy named Thomas Behrends, who served in Walz’s unit and trotted out the storyline that Walz “bailed” on his unit when the orders for Iraq came in. That was not the case, and another soldier in Walz’s unit set the record straight while providing some revelatory context about Behrends.

Via The Star Tribune:

Joseph Eustice, a 32-year veteran of the guard who led the same battalion as Walz, said the governor fulfilled his duty.

"He was a great soldier," Eustice said. "When he chose to leave, he had every right to leave."

Eustice said claims to the contrary are ill-informed and possibly sour grapes by a soldier who was passed over for the promotion to command sergeant major that went to Walz.

It should be noted that Eustice made it a point to say that he won’t be voting for Walz, but he couldn’t let this line of attack stand. “I love him as a soldier; I don't care much for him as a politician,” Eustice said. “The man did nothing wrong with when he chose to leave the service; he didn't break any rules.”

The other key revelation that Eustice made is that Walz spoke to him about leaving the military to run for Congress. According to CNN, Walz filed that paperwork in February 2005 — five whole months before his unit received orders to go Iraq. Whoops.

Emphasis mine below:

Walz retired from the Army National Guard in May 2005, according to the Minnesota National Guard. In a 2009 interview for the Library of Congress, Walz said he left the guard to focus full time on running for Congress, citing concerns about trying to serve at the same time and the Hatch Act, which limits political activities for federal employees.

Service members often submit their paperwork for retirement months before their retirement date. It’s unclear when Walz submitted his papers for retirement.

The Harris campaign did not immediately respond when asked about when Walz submitted his retirement paperwork.

A National Guard article on his unit’s deployment states that it received alert orders to deploy to Iraq in July 2005, two months after Walz retired.

That’s the ballgame, folks. Walz started making moves to run for Congress in early 2005, if not sooner. He filed the necessary paperwork to retire after 24 years of service and he was out of the military two months before his unit received orders. Case closed.

If you’re thinking the timing is a little convenient, this sort of thing happened all the time back then. How can I say that so confidently? Because another member of the National Guard came to Walz’s defense during the 2022 election, and it was someone who didn’t even know him. They were that grossed out by the attack.

Via The Star Tribune:

DFL Ramsey County Commissioner Trista MatasCastillo, another Guard veteran who served at the same time as Walz but didn't know him, called Jensen's attacks on the governor's service "disgusting."

MatasCastillo said military orders are unpredictable. The commissioner said she was an air defense officer and transferred to a new command shortly before her previous one was deployed.

"It happens all the time," she said "We don't get to decide when and where we deploy."

With Republicans in full panic mode over Walz appealing to wide swaths of the population that’s tired of the GOP’s freak show politics, there’s another attack on Walz’s military service in the mix. It’s even more of nothing burger, and I almost didn’t bother addressing it, but let’s pop this one in the kisser, too.

In a campaign video from Kamala HQ, Walz endorsed common sense gun control measures like banning assault rifles by citing his military service. “We can make sure that those weapons of war, that I carried in war, is the only place where those weapons are at.”

Pretty innocuous, right? Well, local upholstery seducer JD Vance and his battalion of right-wing chuds are trying to make hay out of the fact that Walz never saw combat. Unsurprisingly, Meghan McCain is feasting on this “stolen valor” buffet because everyone knows only one person in the entire history of the United States ever saw combat, and it was that guy she’s always squawking about. I want to say they’re related somehow? — Eh, it’s not important.

Here’s the thing: Walz served through both Iraq Wars. He was even part of a service deployment for Operation Enduring Freedom in Italy. So while he didn’t see combat, he did carry a weapon during wartime that he was trained and prepared to use. More importantly, that was more than enough experience to make a salient point about where those weapons don’t belong: Inside schools mowing down children.

But, in the spirit of fairness, I’m willing going to give this line of attack the intelligent and detailed response it deserves, too. Ready?

Blow it out your ass.