I can’t remember who said this to me, but a friend once said he tried to live his life in a way that would make Mister Rogers or Steve Rogers (Captain America, if you don’t know) proud of him. I’ve been thinking about that idea a lot lately and in terms of the 2024 election, I think the candidate most likely to live up to that standard is Tim Walz.
He’s a veteran, a former teacher, a congressman and governor. He’s the best example of the phrase “lifelong public servant” I can think of, and it shows in the way that MAGA tries to slander him. I haven’t seen an attack on him actually land and it’s getting so bad, MAGA’s trying to use claims about him the editors of The Onion or The Babylon Bee would look at and say, “yeah… that’s too far out there for us to publish.”
Seriously, watch that YouTube video if you haven’t already. Brian Tyler Cohen, and Tim Miller of the Bulwark break down Trump’s electoral messaging issues. One of the big focuses of the video is Trump’s inability to counter Tim Walz by painting him as something unfavorable, and boy howdy do they have a point.
Walz: The Anti-Trump
Kamala Harris’ best idea of the campaign was choosing Walz as her running mate. (and this coming from someone who was seriously rooting for Josh Shapiro!) learning about the guy and listening to him speak, he doesn’t come off as someone Mr. Rogers (EITHER Mr. Rogers) would be proud of, but as someone they’d likely be close friends with… and that’s extremely difficult for MAGA to run against.
Walz might just be the anti-Trump. His humility, his dedication to service, his smarts and more are a stark contrast to Trump who, at this point seemingly only appeals to his specific base of cultists and self-serving nihilists. The Trump campaign thrives upon n finding and hammering on any perceived weakness in their opponent, but are unprepared for what happens when the weaknesses of their opponent only serve as contrast to their own issues.
How do you run against the political equivalent of Mr. Rogers? MAGA has been desperate to pull Tim Walz off of what they see as his pedestal and thus far have fundamentally failed; not because Walz doesn’t have flaws, but because he owns up to the flaws he has. MAGA candidates hide their perceived flaws because they believe that an opposing candidate will dig them up to use against them.
In the past three weeks, the Harris/Walz campaign feels bulletproof, despite the best efforts of the Trump/Vance campaign, their affiliates and their army of partisans. That’s not to say that there aren’t forces aligned against the campaign, throwing stones, but the campaign has proved mostly immune to their not-so-gentle ministrations.
The perfect example of what’s happened is encapsulated by the reaction of MAGA to Tim Walz calling them “weird”. Think about the imaging: Walz, a thoroughly normal former teacher, army reservist calls the Republican candidates “weird” and Trump and his surrogates immediately overcorrect. The slanderous accusations have been flying fast and furious, mostly transmitted by meme and the Harris/Walz ticket has mostly driven along, completely unperturbed.
Their lack of perturbation has sent MAGA around the bend. What started as trying to generate scandal has taken a strong tinge of absurdity. The slander on Harris/Walz has reached a point that publications like The Onion would be hard-pressed to publish them.
And nothing MAGA has tried has actually landed, which further causes MAGA to overcorrect. It’s hard to say what absurdity will grow out of all this, but one thing’s certain: the Harris/Walz campaign seems committed to chugging blithely along. Their unflappability is possibly an important reason why they’ll win.
Mr Rogers, both Fred and Steve, would approve.