Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz on Tuesday laid out a strategy to “push back” against Donald Trump’s administration after a chaotic start to the president’s second term that’s seen a since-rescinded, controversial memo that aimed to freeze all federal grants.
“You know, that overused term ‘the frog in the boiling water.’ We’ve been in the damn pot way too long,” said the former Democratic vice presidential nominee in an interview with MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow.
He later continued: “To the voters, I’m with this, too. Everybody’s fatigued. Trust me, I get it. It was pure hell and the disappointment and the frustration. And I’m, you know, soul-searching: ‘What could we have done to make the case?’ ’Cause we knew this was coming.”
Walz — who called Trump’s federal funding freeze “stupid, buffoonish and childish” before it was temporarily halted by a federal judge on Tuesday — has previously weighed in on Democrats’ election loss, declaring that he was “a little surprised” by Trump and JD Vance’s win over his ticket with Kamala Harris.
On Tuesday, he argued that Republicans have since ended up throwing “so much” at Democrats that they’ve become “fatigued,” pointing to debate around whether Elon Musk’s infamous hand gesture was a Nazi salute.
“But that is a distraction from what, I think, you said. This is ‘game on’ stuff right here,” he said of the funding freeze.
He then turned to federal employees who have been offered buyouts by the Trump administration, arguing that they’ve been put in a “tough spot” including those tackling environmental concerns and criminal justice reform.
“So I would tell people: Stay focused. Don’t take the bait on the distractions. Surround yourself with people who understand this,” he said.
“And recognize the things they went after today are basically a big chunk of what society does and people like to have clean water and hospitals and safety and roads and airports — all the things they’re going after,” he added. “We have to find that voice. We have to push back. We have to be organized.”
He called on Democrats to use the courts before cautioning that Trump won’t care what they say.
“I think it is taking it to the individual people. Show what each of these programs does and what it means for people’s lives,” he said.
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