The GOP is scrambling to find a line of attack against Kamala Harris’s VP pick — and it’s not going well
Tim Walz has made his debut as Kamala Harris’ running mate, and Republicans are struggling to apply their standard villainization playbook to the Minnesota governor.
Walz has been making waves for weeks now as a good-natured, relatable politician with a particular aptitude for dressing down the Republican agenda in terms that any voter can understand — and the GOP hates it.
Republicans are scrambling to paint the governor-turned-VP candidate as a devilish Marxist hellbent on running the country into the ground — their usual stuff — while leveling a bunch of other really weird attacks. Here are some of their most pathetic attempts to turn voters against Walz.
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NPR broke the news about the Walz endorsement this morning by interviewing a bunch of Republicans from his original House district.
Everyone in the DC news circuit was furiously insisting that Shapiro had to be the guy and Harris didn’t listen. So now expect this guy to get absolutely dragged in the press for the next three months.
Just had a conversation with someone about it… apparently he thinks that the reason she went with walz over Shapiro is that Shapiro tried to negotiate roles/responsibilities where Walz was like “what can I do?”
Don’t know if that’s just a rumor or fairly accurate, so don’t quote me on that.
In the paper world that is the DC circuit, Shapiro might have been the “smart” choice of political wonks.
In the real where people actually live… Walz makes more sense.
Really, the thing is that Shapiro might have helped deliver PA, where the effect Walz is having is immediate and obvious- he’s bringing a certain kind of optimism, joy, and grit.
NYT says that an insider told them the Shapiro thing. To summarize, Shapiro wanted to know his responsibilities and how they’d share the leadership, etc. Walz by contrast asked how he can help and told Harris not to pick him if he won’t strengthen her chance of winning.
Ultimately, Harris told the source after the Walz interview that she liked him a lot. And to be fair, her team told her after multiple focus groups and everything that all three final choices would have a path to winning so she went with her gut. Plus, research they had suggested that Kelly nor Shapiro would guarantee their states, anyway.
The article does suggest that this won’t be the last we hear of Shapiro as he does have higher ambitions.
given what he said in Philly, I wouldn’t be surprised to find he’s not on the cabinet or something.
I love the perspective you have on this. Choosing Walz definitely increases my confidence in Kamalas decision making.