Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz appeared to misspeak at a rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday, prompting conservative social media commentators to pounce on the apparent gaffe.
During his speech in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, on Saturday afternoon, Walz was discussing gun violence when he became distracted by an audience member who appeared to need water. Walz, the running mate of Vice President Kamala Harris, strayed from his speech to call attention to the rallygoer.
“Things like we did in Minnesota, to have enhanced background checks and red flag laws, to get guns out of there, to make a difference,” Walz described.
“And I still got my guns to go shoot pheasants in a couple weeks….We need some water, can we get [a] check on him?” the candidate added, while pointing at the attendee.
Around two minutes later, the Democrat brought attention back to the race and began criticizing former President Trump and his running mate JD Vance.
“I’ll bring her home here quick, folks: Look, Kamala Harris made it clear these guys want to instill fear,” Walz began. “They want to tell you that [you should] just get over it, it’s a fact of life. This is the way it is.”
“[Harris] simply has said it doesn’t have to be this way,” he added. “It doesn’t have to be this way. We can’t afford four more years of this.”
Walz then segued into discussing Project 2025, which the Trump campaign has repeatedly disavowed.
Although Walz may have been referring to gun violence or Trump’s rhetoric when he cited “four more years” of an issue, the ambiguity of his statement led conservative commentators to roast the Minnesota governor on social media for what appeared to be a criticism of the Biden administration.
“Dude is campaigning for Trump now?” commentator Rita Panahi wrote on X.
“I’m with Him/Tim,” Donald Trump Jr. jokingly replied.
Trump War Room, an X account run by Trump’s presidential campaign, wrote, “WALZ FINALLY TELLS THE TRUTH: ‘We can’t afford four more years’ of Kamala Harris.”
🚨 WALZ FINALLY TELLS THE TRUTH: “We can’t afford four more years” of Kamala Harris pic.twitter.com/EwhBbY0O4p
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) September 21, 2024
Well, he got something right. No, we can not afford 4 more years of this! This is all on them. As for Project 2025, Trump had nothing to do with that.