After George Floyd died in May 2020, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz dilly-dallied for days, resisting pleas for him to call in the National Guard to quell the growing riots as Minneapolis burned. A few months later, local news station KSTP interviewed Tim and Gwen Walz about the state’s COVID response and the Black Lives Matter riots.
Gov. Walz’s wife, Gwen, made a bizarre and disgusting statement about what she did in those first few days.
Here is a bizarre clip from an interview with Gwen Walz stating that she left her windows open during the Minneapolis Riots so she could smell the burning tires.
Her daughter also coordinated with rioters to let them know that the National Guard would not be activated one night. pic.twitter.com/ityW100Z4y
— Dustin Grage (@GrageDustin) August 6, 2024
Here’s what she said in the clip:
“I would say those first days, you know, when there were riots, I could smell the burning tires, and that was — that was a very real thing. And I kept the windows open for as long as I could because I felt like that was such a touchstone of what was happening.”
Who thinks to do that? Did she keep the windows open for as long as she could as a “weird” way to feel solidarity with the rioters? Or was she savoring the smell of burning tires, burning stores, burning police stations, burning dreams? Or both?
In those first days, Walz’s daughter, Hope, made sure rioters knew that the National Guard was not going to be deployed on the night of May 28 so they could continue their rampage.
oh – this same Hope Walz that both she and daddy Tim committed treason by revealing – actually tweeting – hard evidence – what the National Guard’s positions were when he allowed BLM to burn MPL’s in 2020?
Wake up people. pic.twitter.com/ngznxgJzTO— HorseGirl in Pearls (@SwtCharlemaigne) August 6, 2024
She tweeted [spelling and capitalization original]:
“Could someone who actually has followers rely [sic] to the masses that … the [National] guard [sic] WILL NOT be present tonight? there is a lot of misinformation that is further spreading fear and chaos at the scene of the protests.”
And then in another tweet:
the guard cannot be sent in minutes. It takes time for them to deploy because they come from all over the state. to be clear, the national guard will not be present tonight.
And in a third:
just because someone asked for something doesn’t mean it’s happening right away or even happening at all. i don’t know about swat but what i do know is that the guard will not be present arresting people tongiht.
That night a six-story housing project and the Minneapolis Police Department’s Third Precinct burned, and several stores were looted. As reported by American Experiment in an excellent article detailing the timeline of Walz’s failure to respond, it seems that Hope Walz was sharing information she had access to through her father:
Walz activated the National Guard at 2:30 p.m. Thursday May 28. But eight hours later, only 90 National Guard soldiers were on the ground across the Twin Cities. By that time, officers had already evacuated the Third Precinct after it was besieged by protesters.
By their words and actions, it’s clear that the entire Walz family stood in solidarity with the anti-American hooligans who sought to destroy the businesses and homes of the people in Minneapolis who could least afford to have their neighborhoods destroyed, like this woman:
Here is a gut wrenching clip of a disabled Minneapolis woman in tears from the George Floyd Riots that destroyed her neighborhood:
“This is the only place I could go to shop, and now I don’t have anywhere to go.”
This is the legacy of Kamala Harris’s new running mate. pic.twitter.com/15GyegcYur
— Dustin Grage (@GrageDustin) August 6, 2024
I should note that, in an effort to provide context to Walz’s remarks in the video, I looked for a full clip of the interview to see what was said before that, whether Walz was responding to a question or not, but KSTP removed the video from that story and I was not able to find the video on YouTube. KSTP’s story does have Walz’s quote, though, the video clip isn’t a fake. Here’s how KSTP wrote up Walz’s comments:
“With COVID-19, the entire state was watching what Tim did,” said Ms. Walz. “But with Mr. Floyd’s death, it was the entire country and the whole world looking at and watching what we did here in Minnesota in response to that.”
“Again we had more sleepless nights during the riots,” Walz said. “I could smell the burning tires, and that was a very real thing. I kept the windows open as long as I could because I felt like that was such a touchstone of what was happening.”
Through it all, Walz said she and the governor prayed, leaned on family and friends and were lifted up by the generous support of Minnesotans along the way.
“There have been, I think, two different times when we just stopped and shed some tears,” Walz said. “He doesn’t throw himself down on the bed and sob, but there have been tears.”
Yes, the world was watching to see what she and her husband did, and I doubt that Tim Walz shed any tears for the hardworking Minnesotans who were victims of the riots.
