Summary

Minnesota Governor and former VP candidate Tim Walz is launching a town hall tour in Republican-held districts where representatives have stopped holding public events.

Starting in Iowa and Nebraska, he plans stops in Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Ohio. Walz says he wants to amplify voter concerns about the Trump administration and Republican policies.

He denies using the tour to prepare for a national run, instead framing it as a way to keep Democrats engaged post-election.

His team has received hundreds of invitations from local leaders.

  • exploitedamerican@lemm.ee
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    5 hours ago

    The neo liberals don’t like what sanders is doing so they are trying to do the same thing to offer their tepid right leaning centrism which is what brought us to this point. The billionaire owned democrats are always looking for a way to impose their tepid right leaning centrism and thwart any hint of leftward movement towards economic democracy. Their goal is to maintain this class dictatorship at all costs and allowing full fledged fascism to enter the highest office was preferable to any administration that resembled FDR from Gaining power.

  • dumples@midwest.social
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    23 hours ago

    I love Tim Walz as the anti-Trump. He has lots of experience as well as a great example of a true public servant. He isn’t rich and relies on the decades of public service he complete for his livelihood. As both a veteran and former public educator he can talk about how the cuts to the VA and Education departments are hurting everyone with some personal authority. Minnesota under his leadership got some massive progressive wins and minimized losses in 2024. Most importantly he looks like a Trump voter which apparently is needed for those people. Republicans are going full white male identity politics and he fits the bill.

    • barneypiccolo@lemm.ee
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      12 hours ago

      I would absolutely vote for him for president. I like Minnesota Progressives anyway, and he also possesses that natural trustworthiness that appeals to rurals that are going to be brutalized by MAGA policies over the next few years.

      Of course, it only matters if we can have fair, cheat-free elections, or even have elections at all.

      • dumples@midwest.social
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        32 minutes ago

        I like Minnesota Progressives anyway

        I have been a big fan since its less confrontation and quieter than either coastal politics or southern politics. Its boring and effective

      • finitebanjo@lemmy.world
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        8 hours ago

        I’ll vote any dem in the general but I think Walz is a terrible candidate in the primaries.

        We’ve already seen appealing to the conservatives fail in the general miserably, let’s not pick that candidate.

        • dumples@midwest.social
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          35 minutes ago

          He is definitely not an appealing to conservative candidate except for being white and not super young (He is 60).

          But look at what Minnesota did under his governorship was all simple none flashy midwestern progressive values. Free school lunches, trans refuge status, abortions rights into law (as well as a supreme court case), funding for schools and legal weed. He is a progressive just not very flashy about it.

    • BrianTheeBiscuiteer@lemmy.world
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      20 hours ago

      He’s also just a really nice guy and from what I can tell a great dad. That on its own is practically all the qualifications I need from a politician. I’d rather have a good-hearted idiot than a black-hearted genius (or idiot… which we currently have in charge).

      • dumples@midwest.social
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        19 hours ago

        I think the goofy dad demeanor is truly authentic and is disarming enough to get people to like him. Also I really enjoy his fisher stories where he tells the truth but makes it a little bigger or tuned to the audience. Since truth does not seem to matter anymore why not bend it a little bit

        • blattrules@lemmy.world
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          20 hours ago

          I’m hoping for him and AOC in 2028. Get him in there because he’ll be an easy transition and seems like a great candidate on his own and then set up AOC after him.

            • exploitedamerican@lemm.ee
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              5 hours ago

              Like the billionaire owned neo liberals would allow that. They lost their shit when sanders challenged them and did everything they could to prevent him from bringing any modicum of economic democracy to the us.

  • ReallyActuallyFrankenstein@lemmynsfw.com
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    1 day ago

    This is the way.

    I am on the email distro for Tom Emmer from Minnesota just to keep an eye on what narratives are being pushed, and Republicans are already starting to target Walz with a slow drip of propaganda in these districts. This is what he sent out a few days ago:

    Minnesota’s Feeding Our Future scandal, the largest COVID-19 fraud scheme in the country, stole more than $250 million from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service. Instead of serving hungry children, this money was used to purchase real estate overseas, luxury vehicles, planes and boats. Tim Walz blamed this on a “culture of generosity” in our state. An independent audit compiled by the Office of the Legislative Auditor found that “inadequate” oversight and lack of action by the Walz Administration “created opportunities for fraud.”

    As Tim Walz flails and feigns outrage over the more than $600 million in fraud that has occurred on his watch, Republicans in Washington, D.C., are doing what Walz has failed to do: ensure these criminals and fraudsters face justic.

    Minnesotans deserve answers as to how their tax dollars were allowed to be stolen and squandered due to the incompetent policies of Tim Walz, and these criminals deserve to face justice. Rest assured, Republicans in Washington, D.C., will continue to demand accountability until each of these alleged fraudsters is convicted for their crimes.

    There will be weekly emails like this now that Biden is no longer a target. Walz needs to set a narrative with these people because Republicans are great at seizing the narrative.

    • jacksilver@lemmy.world
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      15 hours ago

      I love how they talk about all this fraud and criminal activity, and yet has anything actually been found?

      I mean don’t get me wrong, our government gets fleeced in a lot of ways, but it’s usually through government contracts to private companies, not the agencies themselves.

    • Dagwood222@lemm.ee
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      1 day ago

      Here are some things that Reagan had no control over whatever.

      Before he became President a Polish labor Union, Solidarity, began tearing away at the myth of the “workers’ state.” Pope John Paul II began speaking out against Communism. The soviets invasion of Afghanistan became a quagmire.

      Chernobyl nuclear disaster happened while Reagan was President. Three Soviet leaders died within three years.

      The final nail in the coffin was when hardliners staged a coup against reformer Gorbachev and the Soviet citizens went to the streets to protest.

      Somehow, we’ve been fed the lie that “Reagan destroyed the USSR and won the Cold War.”

      • Boomer Humor Doomergod@lemmy.world
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        1 day ago

        The Soviet war in Afghanistan didn’t help them much either. Though Reagan did have some influence there by selling weapons to the Mujahadeen, a move which had no repercussions /s

      • RowRowRowYourBot@sh.itjust.works
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        24 hours ago

        The central party stops financing outside accounts in 1967 which begins a decline in the USSR’s ability to purchase necessary goods that are not made within the Warsaw pact didn’t help.

        The Afghan war and the drop in the price of oil are also substantial factors in the decline.

    • dumples@midwest.social
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      24 hours ago

      I see they are trying to tie Tim Walz to Feed our Futures. I don’t know if it is going to work but it is expected.

      If you are following the trial of Aimee Bock its pretty obvious that the way the law was written was suppose to give our food aid fast with checking afterwards. In the middle of global pandemic whether this a good idea or not is debatable but I think it was. Also it was a large operation which sued to keep itself open. If you are interested I recommend the Sahan Journal which has been doing some great coverage.

  • foggy@lemmy.world
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    23 hours ago

    This is the right move.

    If they won’t face their constituents, get someone up there to face them and meet the people where they are to get some change in motion.

    • Cgers@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      23 hours ago

      As a Minnesotan, I’m worried this will alienate him from the state constituency and we’ll lose him (and then he’ll lose the presidential election cause Minnesota luck)

  • aceshigh@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    …. Is anyone dealing with the legitimacy of the last election and the next one? It doesn’t matter what the citizens vote for if their vote isn’t counted….

    • BrianTheeBiscuiteer@lemmy.world
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      20 hours ago

      We don’t have the evidence really but I think the “rigging” has mostly been in the form of disenfranchisement – making it hard for those most likely to vote Democratic. If we can flip the tables and get rural, traditionally Republican, counties to go blue then I don’t think the GOP is prepared to counter that.

    • Serinus@lemmy.world
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      23 hours ago

      AOC’s district leaned way more heavily towards Trump. Either they cheated literally everywhere or the results were valid.

      There was a misleading post about “bullet ballots”, but if you looked into the numbers they didn’t check out.

      • aceshigh@lemmy.world
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        23 hours ago

        If you look into bullet ballots there are outliers that need to be investigated but weren’t. Not to mention Trump has admitted to manipulating the votes several times, even within the last couple of days. It’s on video.

        • Serinus@lemmy.world
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          21 hours ago

          The numbers in that “bullet ballots” post were lies. They were convincing if true, but they just weren’t true. North Carolina didn’t have 7.1% bullet ballots, for instance, and the swing states weren’t significantly different from their surrounding states, as he claimed they were.

          Part of the reason that post sounded so good is that he gave easily verifiable numbers. But those numbers didn’t verify.

          • aceshigh@lemmy.world
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            8 hours ago

            It’s really interesting that we look at the same document and have vastly different interpretations of it.

      • prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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        22 hours ago

        AOC’s district leaned way more heavily towards Trump. Either they cheated literally everywhere or the results were valid.

        This logic makes no sense… Those are obviously not the only two possibilities there.

      • Cgers@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        23 hours ago

        There’s enough questionable and suspect evidence that an investigation is warranted. If nothing else, it will put the question to rest. The American people deserve a through investigation.

    • Sixty@sh.itjust.works
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      23 hours ago

      Nope! But, who can? Not the broken government. It’ll be on the citizens to stop waiting for a savior.

  • SpookyLights@lemmy.ca
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    19 hours ago

    “What’s the move Tim?”

    “I’m going to pander to the right even harder.”

    “Excellent, not only will this definitely shift a bunch of trump supporters to our side, it will rally moderate and left leaning voters to us when they realize how brilliant of a strategy it is to mirror our opposition! 2028 is a lock!”

      • SpookyLights@lemmy.ca
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        18 hours ago

        Could you please explain what he is doing then? Because my impression after reading the article was that Walz is focusing on right wing voters, and not on the other ~70% of Americans. I’m not trying to be divisive. To me this looks like a continuation of the Democrats strategy over the last 10 years of pandering to the center. Which clearly hasn’t worked. So what am I not seeing?

        • katy ✨@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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          9 hours ago

          because republicans are cancelling town halls and there are large swaths of republican voters angry with the gop and musk

          same reason why bernie is doing it

        • Jakeroxs@sh.itjust.works
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          14 hours ago

          So here’s the important bit, I know where you’re coming from on this as dems have been courting the right by watering down their policies in an attempt to appeal to them. That’s not what Walz is doing, much like Bernie, he’s preaching the progressive ideals to the right to try and show them how and why it would actually benefit them, along with attempting to dispel republican lies.

          Also apologies on the tone of the original comment, I didn’t have enough time to explain and was just irritated.

          • SpookyLights@lemmy.ca
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            10 hours ago

            No worries. I guess my point is that they’re overall such a small percent of the voting bloc. And what percentage of them could he sway? I’d be willing to bet not many at this point in time. Harris didn’t lose because Republicans didn’t vote for her, she lost because everyone else didn’t vote for her.

        • ReallyActuallyFrankenstein@lemmynsfw.com
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          16 hours ago

          Point it out if you are seeing something else, but all I see the article saying is he’s doing town halls.

          If you agree that the right has captured rural voters by lying to them, and left policies would actually benefit them, then at some point someone needs to communicate that to them in an effective way. Yes, there’s a lot of brainwashing to get through, but Walz seems like a good bet to talk to rural voters in a way they’d accept.

      • brucethemoose@lemmy.world
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        1 day ago

        Not OP, but it appears Democrats are going to take the “high road” and campaign like it’s the 1950s. Again. In person, “addressing voter concerns,” focusing on policy.

        This is how you become president: Lie, loudly, frequently, through your teeth on social media. And shill every influencer you can to amplify it, like a pyramid scheme. That’s how you reach people: through their phones, hacking the engagement system, shamelessly. And Dems are going to keep losing until they figure that out or their party is outlawed.

        • prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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          22 hours ago

          Yeah I don’t want a president like that, and I know that I’m not alone on the left when I say I wouldn’t vote for someone who behaved like that.

          That’s the problem. Voters on one side actually care about things like honesty.

          • brucethemoose@lemmy.world
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            21 hours ago

            On aggregate? Not really. Not if they don’t know about the lies because of their media diet, and the blemishes are paved over.

            Problem is this type of machine takes a long time to build up. Democrats don’t have that kind of influencer network working on autopilot 24/7.

            Still… I wouldn’t be surprised if we see a “liberal Trump” leaning into the really distasteful parts of the party, and they become really successful.

        • ReallyActuallyFrankenstein@lemmynsfw.com
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          23 hours ago

          I think it’s clear that democrats need to hack those engagement systems. I think they can do that without lying or abandoning policy. The means (propaganda and mass communication) may be part of the message, but the message can still be truthful “we want to actually help you and the other guys don’t.”

          My “this is the way” comment above was about setting a narrative and the only way to do that is a direct line of communication with these rural red areas. Because they will never hear anything positive about a left candidate through their Fox News, curated Facebook, and other algorithmic feeds. So it’s actually necessary to break the stranglehold GOP messaging has on these areas.

      • starshipHighwayman69@lemmy.ml
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        18 hours ago

        Remember this in 4 years. Tim walz could save the economy, Legalize slavery, take away woman’s rights to vote, make the nation kneel before white Jesus and he wouldn’t get a single Republican voter to switch sides and vote Democrat or independent. It’s a waste of time, energy and money. The only thing he could do is get that magic ® next to his name on the ballot.