It is not just Republicans who are raising criticisms of the way Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) handled the George Floyd riots in his state.
CNN spoke to a woman who lived in Minneapolis at the time — a Democrat — who described it as “very scary.”
“I do have some serious problems with how our governor dealt with the riots,” she said. The narrating reporter noted, “What leaves her unsettled even now is how her Democratic Gov. Tim Walz responded to the riots years ago.”
The segment said Walz had acknowledged that some of the criticism of his response is valid, but that he felt additional reinforcements could have fanned the flames of unrest even more.
CNN spoke to another Minnesota resident — an independent who leans Republican — who said, “I think that was a failure on his part. I don’t know why he waited. I don’t know why he let the city burn, but I think it’s horrible, and people shouldn’t forget that.”
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Republican National Committee Chair Michael Whatley has expressed the same sentiments, telling Breitbart News Daily this week that it is crucial that voters do not forget that Walz — Vice President Kamala Harris’s running mate — owns the riots in Minneapolis.
“The number one image that I think needs to be burned literally into every American’s mind is Minnesota rioting and Minnesota burning to the ground for four days while he refused to call in the National Guard,” Whatley said of Walz, also calling out Walz’s wife for speaking so highly of smelling the city burning.
“The fact that his wife brags about opening the window so she could enjoy the smell of Minnesota burning and his daughter was out there protesting with them,” he said, referencing the following remark made by Walz’s wife:
“I would say those first days you know, when there were riots, I could smell the burning tires,” she said. “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 — what was happening.”
Walz was focused on “defending the rioters and saying that it was based on a lack of inclusion and equity in Minnesota,” Whatley continued, blasting Walz for letting the city burn.
“The fact that that city burned like it did, that he sat aside and refused to call in the National Guard to quell those riots,” he said, adding greater perspective to Walz’s radical nature, “the fact that he says Minnesota is going to be a sanctuary state, the first one in the country, that he would invest in a ladder company to help people climb over the wall.”
Whatley continued enumerating Walz’s acts as governor: “That he’s giving illegal immigrants health care, free college education, and you know, is doing everything he can to try and bring that border up to Minnesota, places every Minnesotan at risk,” he said, describing the vice presidential hopeful as “truly dangerous.”