Here's How Donald Trump Jr. Ignited Bizarre Rumors About Minnesota Governor Tim Walz
![Here's How Donald Trump Jr. Ignited Bizarre Rumors About Minnesota Governor Tim Walz](https://dab57h0r8ahff.cloudfront.net/709921/uploads/1dffd100-5633-11ef-b86b-133203c7bcc9_1200_630.jpeg)
In a recent attempt to discredit Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, Donald Trump Jr. has ignited outrage and confusion by promoting a bizarre and unfounded rumor. The eldest son of former President Donald Trump took to X (formerly known as Twitter) to share a post that has been widely criticized for its weird and gross nature. The post featured a doctored image of Walz with a mil mustache, followed by a horse in the background, insinuating a disturbing and false claim about the governor. He captioned the post, “Listen, stolen valor is about as bad as it gets. But what is this I’m hearing about a horse?!”
As per HuffPost, the strange post appears to be part of a broader effort by Trump supporters to retaliate against Walz for mocking Republican vice-presidential nominee J.D. Vance. Walz had previously nudged fun at Vance by referencing a satirical internet meme that falsely claimed the author of Hillbilly Elegy had written about an inappropriate relationship with a sofa. In response, Trump allies decided to strike back by concocting equally absurd rumors. One netizen claimed, "Tim Walz committed STOLEN VALOR and left his men to die. He ran away when it was time to be deployed. He lied about being a combat veteran and he lied about his rank. He also impersonated a disability to try to get out of a DUI charge and he drank horse se--n. JD Vance didn’t run away when it was time to be deployed."
Listen, stolen valor is about as bad as it gets
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) August 8, 2024
But what is this I’m hearing about a horse?! pic.twitter.com/9OGHrwGEdG
These baseless claims quickly buzzed among far-right figures, with individuals like Laura Loomer and Joey Mannarino amplifying the false narrative. Despite the outlandish nature of the allegation, Trump Jr. seemed intent on pushing the story. However, the effort to smear Walz has humungously backfired, as netizens have slammed Trump Jr. and his supporters. Redditors pointed out, “Well if that’s your strategy, you can go ahead and make up gross stories about Tim Walz. But I wouldn’t expect it to work out in quite the same way. Everyone seems to hate JD Vance, while everyone seems to really like Tim Walz. Mean-spirited jokes tend to be easier to (aheh) swallow when the butt of those jokes is considered an ‘acceptable target.’”
As per CNN, adding fuel to the fire, former President Donald Trump himself joined in on the attacks during his first news conference since Kamala Harris announced Walz as her running mate for the upcoming election. Trump remarked, “He has positions that it’s not even possible to believe they exist. He’s going for things that nobody’s even heard of. Heavy into the transgender world, heavy into lots of different worlds. I haven’t recalibrated the strategy at all. It’s the same policies: open borders, weak on crime. I think she’s worse than Biden…Because he got forced into the position. She was there long before.”
![Image Source: Getty Images | Photo by Andrew Harnik](http://d6ehjqrqtzoun.cloudfront.net/6fb3417d-23eb-4e3d-af05-ef5a58f4aa49.jpg)
He also bizarrely claimed that his own campaign rallies, including his speech on January 6, 2021, drew larger crowds than Martin Luther King Jr.’s iconic ‘I Have a Dream’ speech. He exclaimed, “If you look at what Martin Luther King, did when he did his speech, it was a great speech. And you look at ours, same real estate, same everything. Same number of people, if not, we had more. And you look at it, and you look at the picture of his crowd and my crowd. We actually had more people. They said I had 25,000, and he had a million people and I’m OK with it because I like Dr. Martin Luther King.”