Unhinged conservatives are now accusing Tim Walz of being an abusive father

After receiving stiff backlash for mocking Tim Walz’s son for supporting his father, unhinged conservatives desperate to attack the Walz family have switched courses and begun spreading lies that Walz is an abusive father.

During the Democratic National Convention, Walz officially accepted the Democratic Party’s nomination for vice president. While he gave a powerful speech, his family ultimately stole the show. Walz shares two children, Hope and Gus, with his wife of 30 years, Gwen Walz. Following his speech, Walz received a standing ovation, which moved his wife and children to tears. Gus captured America’s heart when he was seen crying as he proudly shouted, “That’s my dad!” Of course, conservatives have been disgruntled at Walz’s wholesome career and family life, so they responded to the heartwarming moment by attacking Gus and claiming his love for his father was “weird.”

Fortunately, conservatives like Ann Coulter were criticized into at least deleting their posts mocking Gus. However, none were apologetic, given that they immediately searched for a new angle to attack the family.

Conservatives spread lies about Tim Walz

Conservatives have launched one of their most disgusting attacks on Walz yet by circulating dozens of posts and comments claiming he abuses his neurodivergent son. They dug through footage of the DNC until they found one moment they could share without context to attack Walz. The video sees the Walz family heading to the center of the stage to give a bow. Walz holds his son’s hand to help guide him where they need to go. On the way there, he abruptly jerks his son towards him. Upon watching the video closely, one will see that Gus was about to walk into the teleprompter glass, causing his father to instinctively pull him out of the way to keep him from hitting his head.

It was one of those “super parent” moments where a parent’s reflexes seem to kick in automatically to keep their child from danger. However, conservatives have twisted this small moment beyond recognition, claiming that it’s proof that Walz abuses his son. They also conveniently cut the footage to exclude the part where Walz lovingly embraces his son just seconds after pulling him away from the teleprompter.

Numerous posts are circulating calling Walz “evil,” accusing him of abusing a neurodivergent child, questioning what goes on behind closed doors, and claiming that he’s misleading the nation with his “good father” act. They blew the moment out of proportion, saying that Walz angrily and “aggressively” hurt his son on stage. Numerous self-righteous posts came through from conservatives claiming they would never treat a child like that as if they all forgot they were publicly mocking Gus moments ago. Posts calling Walz a “bully” are filled with dozens of comments calling Gus a “poor child” and claiming Walz’s look of “rage” scares them.

Walz has fought tirelessly to raise awareness for disabilities and for acceptance of his son. No one could watch the DNC and genuinely think that the Walz family’s love for each other was a hoax. Many parents can only dream of having their child look at them with such love and adoration. Meanwhile, the ease with which the family expressed love and affection for each other is an example every American should take to heart.

The worst part of the conservatives’ hateful lies about Walz is the fact that they are suddenly pretending to care about abuse and neurodivergent people. As mentioned above, the conservatives spreading these lies are the same conservatives who mocked Gus and brushed off Donald Trump’s statement that his disabled nephew “should just die.” They are the same ones who launch smear campaigns against abuse victims and who won’t breathe a word about the rampant child abuse in religious, conservative homeschooling families, such as the Turpin, Duggar, and Franke family cases. Yet, when they saw an opportunity to attack Walz, they suddenly magically became the biggest advocates.

As an abuse survivor, there’s nothing I find more offensive than people, whether it’s MAGA extremists or unhinged Johnny Depp fans, who have never cared about abuse victims in their life, suddenly claiming to be advocates when it fits their agenda. Then, once they exhaust the topic for their personal benefit, they’ll never mention abuse or support an actual victim ever again. These people know nothing about the difficulty and bravery it takes to speak out about abuse and need to stop exploiting the topic when they don’t genuinely care about it and will never be actual advocates. 

I can also say, as an abuse survivor, that seeing the Walz family at the DNC filled me with hope. I thought about how much better so many children’s lives would be if their parents were inspired to follow Walz’s example and strive to be a person their child could actually be proud of. Conservatives are desperately trying to destroy the significance of the Walz family, but their reaction only reiterates why America needs a long-term, national example of a loving, affectionate family.