WASHINGTON, DC - NOVEMBER 06: Second gentleman Doug Emhoff (R) reacts with Democratic vice presidential nominee, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as Democratic presidential nominee, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris concedes the election during a speech at Howard University on November 06, 2024 in Washington, DC. After a contentious campaign focused on key battleground states, the Republican presidential nominee, former U.S. President Donald Trump was projected to secure the majority of electoral votes, giving him a second term as U.S. President. Republicans also secured control of the Senate for the first time in four years.
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‘Pure hell’: Trump’s victory is torn into by a beloved Midwest governor

No one likes to lose. That’s a hard truth reality, but imagine what it must be like for a politician. You spend years and millions of dollars and still come up empty handed. Now imagine you’re Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, and you were the Democratic running mate to former Vice President Kamala Harris. Well, there’s no need to imagine, because Walz lived it, and lost the election to current President Donald Trump. How did that feel? Like “pure hell.”

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Walz went on the Rachel Maddow show on MSNBC for his first post-election interview, and he tried to cobble together some inspiration for a Democratic party that’s struggling to reevaluate itself after suffering such a terrible loss. Wearing one heck of a scowl, Walz described what he thinks Democrats need to do to “pushback” against what’s happening politically right now.

He used a well-known idiom about “the frog in the boiling water” to describe how Democrats are feeling right now. “We’ve been in the damn pot way too long.” The best way to pushback, he said, is by “speaking up” and “thinking about your neighbors.”

He said people should write “those” members of congress, and added that there is “no spine among those folks.” He, like the rest of the liberal side of the country, is fatigued and frustrated with the way things are going. “I get it,” he said. He’s also been “soul searching” to try and figure out what could have been done differently.

Walz wants people to stay focused on the issues that are important to them and not “take the bait” on Trump’s distractions, and basically to keep pushing forward. That fatigue is understandable, considering Trump’s flurry of activity to roll back all kinds of federal protections. These include the official recognition of two genders, the pulling back of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives and the attempt to stop transgender people from serving in the military.

Trump also paused disbursement of federal grants and loans, something that was blocked by a judge recently. These things, Walz said, are a “big chunk of what society does.” We have to push back, he said, otherwise we’ll be a society where “the rich and the oligarchs do everything” and are “above the law” while the rest of us are forced to just sit back and watch.

Walz seemed to be a more fiery, more real version of the smiling sidekick we witnessed on the campaign trail, something picked up by X user Lawindsor. They said they couldn’t understand why Walz was leashed after the convention, when he seems to truly understand “what matters” and can connect with people on a real and “visceral” level.

Walz also recently appeared with state leaders in a press conference denouncing Trump’s spending freeze, calling it “illegal.” Walz said Trump was out on the golf course and “threw the country into crisis.” He did not mince words. He said the move was “not leadership” and “stupid, buffoonish, childish.”

Per Walz’s office, the spending freeze affects about $1.8 billion in monthly funding from the government, which will have an effect on about 1,000 state programs and thousands of employees of that state.



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Image of Jon Silman
Jon Silman
Jon is a freelance writer for The Mary Sue. He's been in the journalism industry for over a decade and covers pop culture, video games, politics and whatever other content holes that need to be plugged up. He has a journalism degree from the University of Florida and worked for a number of years as a print newspaper reporter in Florida, where he covered a number of high-profile stories. He now lives in Chicago with his soon-to-be wife Sarah and their purebred Maine Coon cat, Walter.