Gov. Tim Walz was a curious pick for Kamala Harris' running mate. They don't seem to have vetted him very well, as claims of stolen valor dog him everywhere he goes. Accused of falsifying his rank, bailing on his Army National Guard Unit, and claiming to have been in Iraq and/or Afghanistan (it was actually Italy), Walz finally addressed the elephant in the room, saying he's "damn proud" of his service to this country.
Then there's Walz's curious China connection. As Semafor reported, Walz became a "sensation" on Chinese social media after he was announced as the VP pick. Walz had traveled to China to teach English in 1989, the same year as the Tiananmen Square massacre. He spent his honeymoon there and has visited around 30 times
Remember when Walz said that socialism was just "neighborliness"? According to an old article dug up by the Washington Free Beacon, Walz thought that communism was pretty cool too. Alana Goodman reports:
As a high school teacher in the 1990s, Democratic vice presidential candidate and Minnesota governor Tim Walz appeared to extol life under Chinese communism, telling his students that it is a system in which "everyone shares" and gets free food and housing.
"It means that everyone is the same and everyone shares," Walz said during a lesson on China's communist system in November 1991. "The doctor and the construction worker make the same. The Chinese government and the place they work for provide housing and 14 kg or about 30 pounds of rice per month. They get food and housing."
If everyone "is the same" under Chinese communism, it doesn't sound like it from Walz's description, in which is says he was treated like a king:
In China, Walz said he received a salary that was double the pay of Chinese teachers, was given a decorated apartment with a color TV, and had the only air-conditioned residence on campus. He said he was also thrown parties on his birthday and Christmas.
"No matter how long I live, I'll never be treated that well again," he told the Times-Herald after arriving home. "They gave me more gifts than I could bring home. It was an excellent experience."
Walz and his wife Gwen held their wedding on the fifth anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre—with Gwen Walz saying her husband "wanted to have a date he'll always remember."
Uh …
So socialism is neighborliness, and communism is when everyone shares. Wow, the managed to find a running mate further to the left than Harris.
This seems relevant after Harris called for Soviet-style price controls and promised to give the FTC and state attorneys general more power to crack down on corporations price gouging for a quick buck.