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Last week, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz participated in a “White Dudes for Kamala Harris” event and spoke for four minutes. What he said, and how it will be perceived, will go a long way toward determining whether he will be a boost or a drag on the Democratic ticket.

Republicans would like to narrow his remarks down to one brief soundbite, then take it out of context and distort what the presumptive Democratic vice presidential nominee said.

“One person’s socialism is another person's neighborliness.”

— Tim Walzpic.twitter.com/DHVSo37jsZ

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) August 6, 2024

“Don’t ever shy away from our progressive values,” Walz told the audience. “One person’s socialism is another person’s neighborliness.”

SOCIALISM!!!

It’s one of those words Republicans use for anything they don’t like… in the hopes that their voters don’t understand what socialism/Marxism/communism is… or take a closer look at whatever the maligned idea actually is.

A law that Walz signed to provide family and medical leave in Minnesota? Sounds like socialism.

Free breakfast and lunch for all K-12 students? Probably socialism.

A “red flag” law that seeks to take firearms away from people deemed to be a danger to the public? That’s clearly Marxism.

Background checks for private gun purchases? Definitely also Marxism.

Calling Donald Trump a weirdo? The most communist thing anybody has ever done!

So, what about the remaining 3:50 of his remarks?

Republicans don’t want to talk about those… because what Walz had to say, and how he said it, likely scares them to death.

Let’s take a closer look (this part is a bit heavy on quotes, but most people have never heard Walz speak, so reading his own words in an informal, off-the-cuff setting is important).

He started out by saying that he wants to promote a message of hope, which is his daughter’s name. The reason, he told the audience, is that he and his wife had tried for years to get pregnant and then resorted to fertility treatments.

That’s not something the GOP wants to get into.

Earlier this year, Senate Republicans blocked legislation that would have made access to fertility treatments like in-vitro fertilization (IVF) a national right for women. The GOP instead introduced its own bill that would merely discourage states from banning IVF.

The governor then talked about the devastating impact of the large corporations that are exploiting rural Americans.

“Those are folks that want a fair shot,” he said. “We need to point out the reason rural America hurts is because robber barons like these guys have come in.”

Again, that’s not something a party wants to discuss that is all about giving tax breaks to these corporations and making sure they are subject to as few regulations as possible.

As a former educator, Walz also lamented that Republicans want to “take money out of our public schools for private schools to give vouchers to people already going to private schools.”

What the GOP definitely won’t want to focus on is the governor’s efforts to inspire Democrats.

“This is our moment. This is not just transformational for one election; this is transformational for several generations,” he told supporters of Vice President Kamala Harris, adding, “The rest of the world needs us to be here. These guys throwing our NATO allies under the bus, the idea that they don’t care what happens in the rest of the world, not addressing climate change that’s going to impact communities that are less fortunate than anyone else. Those are the things we have to do.”

That wasn’t all.

Walz also called on Democrats to go all-in over the next three months.

“How often in 100 days do you get to change the trajectory of the world?” he asked. “How often in 100 days do you get to do something that’s going to impact generations to come?”

Of course, he also had some choice words for Trump.

“[How] often in the world do you make that bastard wake up afterward and know that a Black woman kicked his ass and sent him on the road?” he added.

However, his criticism was not reserved solely for the former president and GOP lawmakers.

Instead of maligning Republican voters, he called on Democrats to reach out to them and bridge the partisan divide.

“I got a Florida Man as a brother. We all have him in our families, but these are our neighbors and our relatives, and at heart, they’re good people. They’re not mean-spirited. They’re not small. They’re not petty like they hear on stage,” he said. “They’re angry, they’re confused, they’re frustrated, they feel like they got left behind sometimes. But we can get out there, reach out, make the case.”

By the way, this is the point in his remarks when he said that thing about socialism.

Anybody who has followed along knows that he obviously did not talk about introducing socialism to the US. Instead, he wanted to point out that helping each other is not socialism, which is a universal bogeyman Republicans like to use.

Finally, he had one more message for Democrats.

You can point out what Trump and his MAGA movement want to do, but don’t give them too much power.

“Keep hammering on these guys, this idea of calling them out for who they are. Shrink them. Is he a danger to society? Yes. Is he a danger to women’s health? Yes. Is he a danger to world peace? Yes,” he told his audience. “But don’t give him more credit than he needs. He’s just a strange, weird dude.”

So who will Americans think Tim Walz is?

That really depends on whether they want to define him through tiny little soundbites or actually listen to him and look at his accomplishments.

If they do that and end up not liking Walz and his record, that’s fair.

But as potentially the second most powerful man in the country, he deserves that voters give him a real look.

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