Minnesota Journalist Says Tim Walz’s Bizarre Antics on Campaign Trail Are Nothing Like His Old Style
Gov. Tim Walz was hardly a household name before being thrust onto the national political stage when Kamala Harris tapped him to be her running mate earlier this month. In the two weeks since the announcement, Walz has been branded a ‘cool dad’ on social media and praised for his ‘midwestern’ charm.
But is this the Walz that Minnesotans have come to know over his two decades in politics? Not quite, according to a reporter who has covered the congressman-turned governor-turned VP pick for most of his career.
On Wednesday’s show, Megyn was joined by veteran Minnesota journalist Liz Collin to discuss how Walz has become unrecognizable on the campaign trail and the dishonesty of the media.
About Face
If you watch Walz on stage at any of the campaign rallies he and Harris have hosted as they barnstorm key battleground states, he comes across as easily excitable and almost awkwardly enthusiastic. He often rushes the stage while aggressively waving to the crowd and gesticulates wildly during his prepared remarks.
To the average voter, this just seems like the 60 year old’s shtick. But to those who have watched him over the years, the antics come as a shock. “It’s amazing to me to see how he has so drastically changed just in the last couple of weeks,” Collin shared. “At these rallies, he is this animated character. He is all sort of jazzed up. He is coming out and bouncing around. I mean, this is a totally different person than I’ve covered before.”
Collin called the transformation “wild” and said it coincided with the national media starting to “pass him off” as some “regular guy” from the Midwest. “We’ve never seen this guy before and that is sort of the fodder among local reporters,” she added.
Media Matters
As Collin explained, she is a born and raised Minnesotan who has spent her career in local media. While plenty has been made about how the so-called mainstream media lost its objectivity in recent years, she said the same has been true of her experience in the North Star State.
“I was a member of corporate media for nearly 15 years in Minnesota… sort of working my way up the ladder,” she shared. “And I really couldn’t believe how it seemed that the local stations and Minnesota’s largest newspaper [the Star Tribune] would just continue to run cover for the Democrats and especially Gov. Walz.”
That played a role in why she made the switch to independent media with Alpha News. “That’s why I jumped out of corporate media,” she said. “I was just tired of all of these lies, and not holding these people accountable, and not informing the public about what is really going on.”
She said the media in Minnesota is now “rightfully” under fire for not bringing many of the controversies surrounding Walz to the forefront. “I jumped ship over to independent media to talk about the riots, and the [Derek] Chauvin trial, and whatnot, but it’s so many subjects,” she said. “All of these lies are finally catching up to this guy because the press has kept them hidden here locally for so long.”
So while Collin said there are many in the Minnesota media “leading his cheering section” who “could not be more thrilled for him as the selection,” there are many on the other side as well. “[Some] of us actually uncovered a lot of this years ago,” she explained. “We have been saying, ‘Why is he lying about that?’”
It all speaks to the reckoning that is likely coming for Walz. “With this IUI vs. IVF thing, why would you lie about that? The command sergeant major rank, why are you lying about the rank you did not attain in the military? Even this DUI story that we put out there years ago, why was he lying about how he has hearing loss or how fast he was going,” she asked. “Just so many of these lies really make no sense.”
You can check out Megyn’s full interview with Collin by tuning in to episode 866 on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen. And don’t forget that you can catch The Megyn Kelly Show live on SiriusXM’s Triumph (channel 111) weekdays from 12pm to 2pm ET.
