This week, current Vice President and 2024 presential candidate Kamala Harris announced the pick for her own vice president: Minnesota Governor Tim Walz.
In the wake of this announcement, Republicans came out to hammer criticism onto Walz, including Texas Governor Greg Abbott, who framed him as a dangerous threat to the American people.
Radical Choice
Governor Abbott on social media slammed Harris for choosing Walz, who he deemed as “radical” and “dangerous.”
“A Harris Walz ticket would be the most radical and dangerous administration in modern history,” Abbott said.
Rubber Stamp
Abbott asserted that Walz would be a failure at the border and allow the consequences of Harris’ border policies to run rampant in the country.
“Tim Walz will be a rubberstamp for Kamala Harris’ deadly open border policies, refusing to admit there is a border crisis, opposing border wall funding, and supporting sanctuary cities,” said Abbott.
Walz on the Border
Earlier this year, Walz was asked if the current influx of migrants crossing into the US from the southern border constituted a crisis, and appeared to give a fence-sitting response.
“I think it could be fixed. I think crisis is, you know, we certainly have these, I don’t want people living outside Minnesota right now. I think there’s the humanity piece of this and then there’s the right that every sovereign nation has a right to control its borders as we should,” Walz said.
Endangering Lives
The Republican Texas Governor pushed his criticism of Walz further, asserting that he has already endangered the lives of his constituents by endorsing left-wing policies like defunding the police.
“Walz’s policies endangered the lives of those he was elected to protect — and we can only expect more of the same as Vice President,” Abbott wrote. “Like Harris, Walz endorsed Defunding the police, and under his watch, vehicle theft, aggravated assault, and even murder rates have gone up in Minnesota.”
Soft on Riots
Abbott also accused Walz of being responsible for the chaos that occurred in Minneapolis during 2020, as violent riots caused damage to the city.
“And while Minneapolis was burning as riots overtook the city in 2020, Walz refused to call in the National Guard for three days,” Abbott wrote.
Burning Cities Down
Abbott’s criticism of Walz spanned multiple posts, one with him replying to a meme that got over 1 million views on X.
“I’ll let you burn down the city. I’ll raise the funds to bail you out,” said the viral X post while showing pictures of Walz and Harris.
Abbott’s Comment
In response to the viral post, Abbott gave his own take on the negatives of a Harris/Walz ticket.
“He let cities in his state burn down. She helped bail out the arsonists. She supports free health care to illegal immigrants. He signed laws giving state services to them. Both provide magnets for more illegal immigration,” Abbott wrote on X.
Responding to Abbott
Pro-Kamala supporters descended on Abbott’s online posts, pushing back against his critique of the Democrat ticket as radical.
“If the choice is between ”radical left” & “fascist right,” I’ll vote “radical left” every time,” said an X user.
Jesus Was a Radical
One commenter pointed out that in the Christian tradition, the figure of Jesus was seen as a radical during his time.
“They called Jesus a radical when he fed the poor, healed the sick and said we should love our neighbors. So I guess this tracks,” wrote an X user.
Criticizing Abbott on the Border
Others hit back at Abbott’s border critique of Walz and Harris, accusing the Texas governor of using political stunts to make the border problem worse.
“More dangerous than kidnapping migrants and bussing them to other states?” said X user Jason Nancarrow in response to calling the Harris/Walz ticket dangerous.
Agreeing With Abbott
While many commenters pushed back on the governor’s statements, there were some who agreed with Abbott’s points.
“Outstanding statement, Governor. A Harris-Walz ticket is a ticket straight to [the inferno], an X user said. “Aka Extreme Anti-American ticket,” said user Mary Frost.
