Republicans Desperate to Blame “Antisemitism” for Kamala’s V.P. Pick

Conservatives have begun claiming that it was antisemitic for Kamala Harris to tap Minnesota Governor Tim Walz to be her running mate on Tuesday, instead of Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro. But when examining Walz’s actual record on Israel, their phony meltdown doesn’t quite ring true.

It seems that Republicans are hoping to push the narrative that Walz was selected over Shapiro because Shapiro is Jewish.

“Let’s be clear: Kamala didn’t *cave* to the antisemitic, pro-Hamas wing of the Democratic Party. She *belongs* to the pro-Hamas wing of the Democratic party,” wrote violently pro-Israel Republican Senator Tom Cotton in a post on X (formerly Twitter).

Conservative radio talk show host Dana Loesch claimed that picking Walz over Shapiro was done to “not upset their anti-Jewish voters who carry a lot of influence in their party now.”

Fox Business correspondent Charles Gasparino seemingly couldn’t believe that Harris had selected Walz. “Unless @JoshShapiroPA was caught in bed w a live boy or dead girl this VP choice tells you something scary about the Dem Party and antisemitism pure and simple,” Gasparino wrote in a post on X.

Before Walz was even announced, Republican vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance claimed that if Harris didn’t pick Shapiro, it would be “out of anti-Semitism in their own caucus and in their own party.”

Republican commentator Eric Erickson wrote simply, “No Jews allowed at the top of the Democratic Party.” Of course, of the 35 Jewish members of the current Congress, only two are Republican. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is also Jewish.

Like Erickson’s hollow critique, this conservative meltdown is completely made up: For a pick determined by so-called antisemitism, Walz’s appointment has already received significant support from pro-Israel groups.

As soon as Harris’s decision was announced Tuesday morning, the Democratic Majority for Israel released a statement expressing its support for Walz, and lauding the moderate Democrat for his record on Israel.

“As governor, he has been a steadfast supporter of the pro-Israel movement in Minnesota,” the statement said. “In the wake of Hamas’ barbaric October 7th attacks, Governor Walz ordered state flags to be flown at half-mast and condemned the ‘horrific attacks on Israel by Hamas,’ and, at a vigil for the victims, asked anyone who did not immediately condemn the assault to ‘reevaluate where you’re at.’”

The group highlighted Walz’s support of U.S.-backed military aid to Israel and work to increase Holocaust education in Minnesota. When speaking at an AIPAC conference in 2010, Walz called Israel “our truest and closest ally in the region, with a commitment to values of personal freedoms and liberties, surrounded by a pretty tough neighborhood.”

J Street, the liberal pro-Israel lobby also released a statement supporting Walz, obtained by Forward. “We know the Harris-Walz team will stand up for our shared values, protect our community, and pursue smart, pro-Israel, pro-peace leadership abroad. We’re all in,” said the group, which had previously endorsed Walz.

Recently, Walz has presented a more nuanced stance on Israel. During the primaries, he said that those who voted “uncommitted” to protest President Joe Biden’s support for Israel in its catastrophic military campaign in Gaza were “civically engaged.”

“People are frustrated, but it bodes well, for me, that they’re actively engaged to go out and cast this vote and ask for change,” Walz said at the time.

As pro-Palestinian protests spread across the country, Walz said that students “need to be able to express opinions,” and that included Jewish students as well. “When Jewish students are telling us they feel unsafe, we need to believe them, and I do believe them,” he said.

Walz’s apparent open-mindedness and more moderate position came in sharp relief to Shapiro, who has been egregiously bad on Palestine. As former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on CNN Monday night, dismissing Shapiro had little to do with antisemitism.

“I think it’s probably more about policy,” she said.

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz has only just been named as Kamala Harris’s running mate, but Donald Trump is already mad.

The Republican presidential nominee and convicted felon’s campaign immediately fired off a fundraising email Tuesday morning with some over-the-top but unspecific attacks, with an insane subject line not likely to gain traction beyond the MAGA faithful.

The email continued along the same lines.

“He’ll unleash HELL ON EARTH and open our borders to the worst criminals imaginable,” the email read. “He’ll rubber stamp Kamla’s [sic] GREEN NEW SCAM and light TRILLIONS of dollars on fire. But the real killer: he’s already pulled in MILLIONS in dirty cash to buy the White House!”

As The Washington Post’s Philip Bump noted, Trump probably had this email ready to go with an empty space for Walz’s name. The attacks on Walz could have been used against any generic Democrat (except perhaps Joe Manchin). But Trump and the GOP now have the difficult task of taking on the Democrat who coined the very effective “weird’ attacks against them. And compared to J.D. Vance, Walz is likeable, a great communicator, and has a compelling story.

We’ll have to see in the coming days whether Republicans and Trump will have any effective attacks against Walz, but if their flailing attacks on Harris are any indication, they may not have anything good.

Kamala Harris tapped Minnesota Governor Tim Walz Tuesday to join her presidential ticket, which may make way for a historic first.

Should Harris and Walz win in November, prompting Walz to step down from the governorship, Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan, a citizen of the White Earth Band of Ojibwe, would take his place. That means that Flanagan would become the first Native American woman to serve as a U.S. governor, as well as Minnesota’s first female governor.

Flanagan has served as Minnesota’s lieutenant governor since 2018, making her the highest-ranking Native American elected to executive office, according to her official bio.

Walz is not required to leave his office to become Harris’s running mate, and could choose to stay in the office up until the moment he is sworn into the White House. Walz, who was elected for his second term as governor in 2022, has two years left in his term.

Flanagan was first elected to the Minnesota House of Representatives in 2015, where she served on the Subcommittee on Child Care Access and Affordability, and formed the state’s first People of Color and Indigenous Caucus.

After Flanagan was elected lieutenant governor alongside Walz in 2018, the two pushed for the highest child tax credit in the country, which Walz signed into law. The Minnesota Department of Revenue reported that the child tax credit was claimed on more than 215,000 tax returns in 2023, serving nearly 440,000 children for an average total credit of $1,244 per child.

Donald Trump is trying desperately to start a new nickname for Vice President Kamala Harris, and his latest attempt is the most pathetic one yet.

“People vote with their STOMACH, and food is now at an all time high because of Kamabla/Biden INCOMPETENCE. With them in charge, IT WILL ONLY GET WORSE,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social Monday night.

That’s right, “Kamabla.” What would be considered a typo from any other politician appeared in four of the former president’s posts over the course of Monday night.

“Kamabla Harris is afraid to Debate me on FoxNews. She will be easier to defeat on the Debate Stage than Crooked Joe Biden, just watch,” he wrote in another post on Truth Social, referring to his outlandish pitch for an arena debate, so he could get out of one he’d previously agreed to on ABC News.

Earlier Monday, Trump had tried to blame Harris for the stock market’s dip, calling it the “KAMALA CRASH,” across several different posts—but to no avail.

It seems that Trump’s previous nicknames for Harris, including “Laughing Kamala,” “Crazy Kamala,” “Lyin’ Kamala,” and even “Dumb as a Rock Kamala,” were actually perhaps too heady for the former president. He’d rather just misspell her name and call it a day.

Last week, during an appearance on Fox News after Trump’s disastrous appearance at the National Association of Black Journalists, Trump’s former adviser Omarosa Manigault Newman criticized Trump for mispronouncing Harris’s name “as a slur.”

“He does it intentionally to harm her, to make people see the otherness of Kamala Harris,” Newman said.

Trump’s new nickname for his opponent, along with all of his previous attempts, shows that his campaign is drowning in his own rage. Unfortunately for Trump, his particular brand of vitriol only appeals to his base—and even they seem like they’re beginning to defect.

Kamala Harris has chosen her running mate, and it’s Minnesota Governor Tim Walz.

Harris announced the decision Tuesday morning. “As a governor, a coach, a teacher, and a veteran, he’s delivered for working families like his,” she stated. “It’s great to have him on the team.”

It’s a fun announcement, given both Walz’s progressive credentials and how savvy he is with his attacks on Republicans. He has effectively criticized Donald Trump and J.D. Vance in TV interviews, even venturing into enemy territory on Fox News. And he’s credited with first inspiring Democrats’ “weird” attacks on Trump and the GOP, giving the party one of its most effective attack lines in years.

Walz’s internet presence has also led his supporters to turn him into incredible meme content.

He may even be a bigger Diet Mountain Dew fan than Vance.

So who is Walz?

As governor of Minnesota, Walz was in office when George Floyd was murdered by Minneapolis police in May 2020. He signed into law police reform legislation banning “warrior” training, restricting the use of choke holds by police, and introducing new de-escalation training for police as well as training on how to respond to people with autism and mental health issues. The bill also created an independent unit to investigate police-involved deaths and a community relations advisory council.

Last year, Walz signed into law a child tax credit plan for Minnesota, one of the most generous state plans in the country, which he said could reduce child poverty in the state by 33 percent. It was passed thanks to Walz presiding over a Democratic trifecta, with the party holding both the Minnesota House and Senate. This also allowed abortion protections, free universal school meals, paid family leave, and safeguards for gay and transgender people to become law in the state.

Before becoming governor, he served in Congress from 2007 to 2019, endearing himself to his Democratic colleagues. Several Democrats in Congress, including Nancy Pelosi, have spoken well of Walz in recent days.

“He was a great member of Congress. The people I know in Minnesota tell me he’s a great governor.… But more importantly, he’s a good guy,” said Representative Jim McGovern last week. “He’s down to earth, he’s the real deal, there’s nothing phony about him, and he calls ’em as he sees ’em, and he tells it like it is, and I appreciate the candor.”

In the past year, Walz has taken a relatively conciliatory approach to voters and protesters upset over Israel’s brutal war on Gaza, even with his record of pro-Israel advocacy in Congress.

“These are voters that are deeply concerned—as we all are. The situation in Gaza is intolerable.… We start bringing these folks back in, we listen to what they’re saying—that’s a healthy thing,” Walz said. On the campus protests, he said students “need to be able to express opinions” but also expressed concern for the safety of Jewish students on campus.

Walz’s personal story is also compelling. He grew up in rural Nebraska and served in the National Guard for 24 years, and was deployed to Europe after 9/11. He earned several commendations, including the Army Commendation Medal and two Army Achievement Medals. With a bachelor’s degree from Chadron State College in Nebraska, he taught for one year in China and later was a public school teacher in Alliance, Nebraska, and then in Mankato, Minnesota, his wife Gwen’s hometown.

While teaching geography in Mankato West High School, he served as the school football coach, taking the team to its first state championship in 1999. He also was the faculty adviser for the school’s first gay-straight alliance.

It looks like the Harris campaign recognized all of these achievements, and saw Walz as the best choice to win in November.

This story has been updated.