Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz conceded Sunday that history may judge Democrats for failing to acknowledge that former President Joe Biden wasn’t up to the grueling task of running the country for another four years.
Initially, the former Democratic vice presidential nominee tried to evade questions about whether Dems made a mistake by failing to acknowledge Biden wasn’t up to the job, before ultimately admitting that may have been the case.
“He made that decision,” Walz told CNN’s “State of the Union” Sunday when pressed by host Jake Tapper, who has written a book on Biden’s decline.
“Look, history will tell us to go back on that. That very well could be the case, Jake,” Waltz later conceded when pressed again.
Throughout his later years in office, Biden had been dogged by questions about his mental acuity, given his penchant for verbal flubs and perceived aloofness. Nonetheless, he decided to vie for reelection.
Then came his disastrous debate against President Trump last June, which sparked a Democratic mutiny against him after he appeared tired and at times distracted. Walz emerged as a defender of Biden during the initial aftermath.
“Yes, he’s fit for office,” Walz insisted to reporters days after the alarming debt and following a meeting he had with Biden.
“None of us are denying Thursday night was a bad performance,” Walz added at the time. “It was a bad get, if you will on that. But it doesn’t impact what I believe — he’s delivering.”
Biden dropped out of the 2024 race just shy of three weeks later as a growing chorus of Democrats publicly urged him to step aside.
“What I’m concerned about is learning from those lessons. I would hope we would never do it again, make a mistake,” Walz added. “Make sure we go through and get someone. But I don’t know where it helps us going forward.”
Walz, who turned 61 on Sunday, has been attending town halls in Republican strongholds across the country, railing against Trump in sharp contrast to former Vice President Kamala Harris, who has largely avoided the limelight
“I’m certainly thinking about running again in Minnesota, if that’s what they want. I am not thinking about running in 2028,” Waltz said when asked if he is eyeing a presidential run. “In this moment you’re planning for 2028, you’re going to get rolled by the people in the streets.”
The Minnesota gubernatorial election will take place next year.
“When I criticize, I’m criticizing myself. I own this. I’m part of the ticket,” Walz said about criticisms that the Harris-Walz campaign message didn’t resonate with enough people.
“It should have been a slam dunk for us to say, we’re the party that cares about that,” he argued of working class plights. “We’re the party that’s going to protect Social Security and Medicare. We’re the party that thinks the ACA is a good start, but we need to do more on health care. And we didn’t do that.”
During his recent tour of the country, Walz turned heads by defending woke policies as well as diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives.
“I think what we allowed ourselves to do is, we got timid,” Walz explained. “That’s the point that I’m saying is Fox News will [criticize], oh, he’s for DEI — not your definition of DEI.
“My definition is rule of law that’s fair, that everybody gets an opportunity. And that’s the point I think we have to make.”
