In a political era overly fond of costumes—where image outweighs substance and a well-placed buzzword counts more than personal character—there’s something especially galling about a man trying to pose as a soldier he never truly was. Walz, the former Minnesota governor and Kamala Harris’s running mate during their short-lived 2024 campaign, made an entire career out of looking like the patriotic everyman.
A guy from the Midwest. A “man of service.” Reliable. Trustworthy. But the closer Americans looked, the weirder—and more dishonest—the guy got.
First came the convenient “misspeaks” during the presidential campaign: Walz was supposedly teaching in Hong Kong during the Tiananmen Square protests—wait, no, turns out he wasn’t. He shared a dramatic story about his family and in vitro fertilization—also false. But he always had a reason. “I’m just a knucklehead,” Walz would say, flashing that grin like he’d just tripped on a shoelace instead of spinning narratives to pad his résumé.
Then there was the military record. Walz leaned hard into his service with the National Guard, claiming at times to be a retired command sergeant major and a veteran who “served in war,” allegedly carrying weapons in combat zones. That’s the image he carried beside Harris across America. One problem: none of it was true.
Can you believe this guy was almost 2nd in line for the presidency?
According to official records, Walz retired as a master sergeant—not a command sergeant major—and he did so months before his unit deployed to Iraq. As for the war zone stories? Fabricated. He never deployed to active combat during his time in uniform. So that image he sold—tough, seasoned, duty-first Tim? Entirely made for TV.
But this week, the curtain finally dropped—in public, and unmistakably.
During a Veterans Day rally at the Minnesota State Capitol, Walz was met not with applause, but with open hostility from the very people he claims to represent. The Commanders’ Task Force and other veteran organizations had organized the event to streamline dialogue between the state and those who served… and those veterans showed up in force—with memories, receipts, and raised voices.
From ‘Fox News’:
“Coward! You sympathize with the Chinese!” some veterans holding American flags and “take action” signs shouted at the Democratic governor as he welcomed them to the Capitol.
One shouted, “Shut your f—ing mouth!” Another called him a liar. Walz tried to quiet the room, muttering something about “passion,” but the moment was already viral—and revealing. This wasn’t online outrage. This was old-school accountability, served live in the Capitol rotunda.
You can’t make this stuff up—but Walz certainly tried.
And unfortunately for all of us, the lies didn’t stop with his military record. Walz also crafted an almost romantic relationship with the Chinese Communist Party over the years. Starting with a teaching trip to Guangdong in 1989, he made more than 15 visits to China. As governor, he proudly talked about hosting “numerous senior Chinese leaders” in Minnesota. Senior Chinese leaders? In a Midwestern state? It’d be funny if it weren’t so unsettling.
During the 2024 campaign, all of this came to light. Fox News and Breitbart both unearthed past letters, campaign walk-backs, and deeply cozy China ties. A Breitbart investigation even cited his years of engagement with groups linked to the Chinese United Front. That’s not cultural exchange—that’s compromise.
And yet, instead of answering serious questions, Walz doubled down on his go-to: self-deprecation and spin. “Knucklehead,” again. Or grammar was to blame. Or it was just too much “passion.” You’d think a man who spent a lifetime chasing a military persona would at least own up to the discipline that image suggests.
But he doesn’t. He walks away. He shrugs. He grins.
To call this stolen valor is almost too kind. What Walz did—and continues to do—is leverage the real sacrifices of brave Americans to polish his own political image. And for what? A failed vice-presidential bid and a few photo ops?
What makes it worse is that there are tens of thousands of men and women across this country who served without fanfare. Some came home quietly. Others never did. Many live today with the scars—physical and spiritual—of having answered when America called. And this guy waltzes into rallies, acting like he’s Battlefield Bill when he never even packed for combat.
No amount of “aw shucks” humility makes that okay.
You know what real masculinity looks like? It’s not found in press conferences or padded résumés. It looks like honor. Restraint. Truth. Not someone manufacturing toughness while networking with communists on the side. It’s the guy who doesn’t talk about carrying a weapon—because the man he stood next to in Fallujah didn’t make it out alive.
We live in an era of cardboard cutouts—where suits pretend to care about American dignity while quietly folding it to foreign interests. Tim Walz isn’t just a symptom of that trend. He is its mascot.
Thankfully, the veterans in St. Paul weren’t having it. They didn’t rise to boo because of politics—they rose because of principle. They looked at a man trying to wrap himself in their uniform and said, “Enough.”
And in that moment, somewhere in America, real service got its voice back.
