Trump lands a knockout punch on Walz

One thing America has always known about President Donald Trump: If you take a swing at him, he punches back twice as hard.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz took a lot of swings at Trump.

He joined Kamala Harris’ ticket to try to stop a second Trump term from happening. He called Trump and his supporters “weird.” He called Trump a buffoon, a felon, a fascist and the worst business executive he’s ever seen.

“Release the MRI results,” Walz taunted after one of Trump’s lengthy Truth Social posts attacking Minnesota Somalis.

Trump defeated the Harris-Walz ticket and spent his first year back in office throwing every lever of federal power against the governor and the state of Minnesota.

He called Walz a loser, a mess, “a very stupid, low IQ governor.” He called him the r-word. He said Walz let Minneapolis burn to the ground. He said Minnesotans cower behind closed doors in fear of roaming Somali gangs.

He called Walz a murderer, reposting cruel internet lies about the assassination of Melissa and Mark Hortman.

After a YouTuber posted a viral video pointing suspicion at day care centers, Trump threatened to freeze child care funding to the state and thousands of loans to small Minnesota businesses.

On Jan. 5, Trump got his wish and altered the course of the 2026 governor’s race in Minnesota. Walz announced he will not seek a third term.

But sometimes when Trump punches back, it does as much damage to him and to his party as to his target.

U.S. Sen. John McCain stood up to Trump, casting the vote that saved Obamacare. Trump attacked his fellow Republican. He insisted that McCain, who survived years of torture and solitary confinement in a Vietnamese prisoner of war camp, was “no war hero.”

“I like people who weren’t captured,” Trump said.

Trump’s attempts to weigh in on elections in 2025 backfired. Democrats romped to victory in off-year races across the country, and Indiana lawmakers flatly refused to redraw the election maps, even after Trump threatened to cut off federal funding to the deep red state.

Minnesota Republicans were probably hoping to hammer Walz with memes and allegations (“The Fraudfather”) for the rest of the year, eager for the party to win its first statewide election in 20 years. Now they face a potential gubernatorial run by U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar — a Democrat who regularly wins statewide office by double digits.