Labor Day in Duluth was supposed to be about unions, family, and local pride. Instead, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz handed his critics a soundbite so reckless that it ignited a firestorm far beyond the picnic grounds.
“Look I get it, you get up in the morning and you doom scroll through things, although I will say this, the last few days you woke up thinking there might be news,” Walz said to chuckles from the crowd, alluding to online conspiracy theories swirling around Donald Trump’s health. Then, with a knowing grin, he added: “Just saying, just saying, there will be news sometime.”
The implication wasn’t subtle. To conservatives, it sounded like Walz was wishing death upon the president—a man who has already survived two assassination attempts.
The blowback was swift.
GOP House Majority Whip Tom Emmer blasted Walz on X: “Mocking President Trump’s health is a new low, even for you. Wishing ill on others doesn’t make you a leader—it makes you small.” Rep. Pete Stauber added his own jab: “Tim Walz ‘toning the rhetoric down,’ huh? Is there more fraud in Tim’s words or his state government?”
Journalist Salena Zito was blunt: Walz’s quip wasn’t just tasteless, it was proof Democrats have “learned little since Butler”—a reference to the July 2024 rally where Trump was nearly assassinated. Influencers like Benny Johnson and Johnny MAGA went further, accusing Walz of “pining” for Trump’s death while his own state reels from violence, including a tragic church shooting just last week.
For Walz, this isn’t an isolated slip. He’s built a reputation as one of Trump’s loudest antagonists, urging Democrats to “bully the s*** out of Trump” and to “be a little meaner.” But what might once have played as tough talk now lands differently in the shadow of assassination attempts and rampant political violence.
Trump, for his part, brushed off the rumors fueling Walz’s comments. Speaking from the Oval Office Tuesday, he dismissed the chatter about his health as “fake news” spun from an empty schedule and a bruise on his hand. “I was very active over the weekend,” he said, contrasting himself with Joe Biden, whose absences were never treated with the same suspicion.
