Tim Walz Hammers ‘Dictator’ Trump Over Kimmel Bombshell on MSNBC
Governor Tim Walz (D-MN) tore into President Donald Trump on MSNBC over his behavior since the murder of activist Charlie Kirk.
The aftermath of the stunning Kirk killing has prompted what observers on all sides see as an assault on free speech. That escalated late this week as late-night host Jimmy Kimmel was suspended under intimidation from Trump and FCC chief Brendan Carr, and Trump threatened to go after any outlet that “does nothing but hit Trump.”
On Thursday night’s edition of MSNBC’s All In with Chris Hayes, host Chris Hayes asked Walz about the situation, and the former VP candidate went right to blasting Trump as doing “what dictators do”:
CHRIS HAYES, MSNBC HOST: Governor, it’s great to see you. How serious do you take these developments of the last 24 hours?
GOV. TIM WALZ (D-MN): Oh, hi, Chris. Good to see you. Well, this is that. If you ever wondered how democracy dies, you’re witnessing it. And I know it’s — people are watching a football game tonight, and we’re kind of sleepwalk through this thing but this is as you said, one of the most outrageous —
HAYES: Don’t remind them. We got — we got them here, Governor.
WALZ: Yes. Well, right. It’s one of the most outrageous affronts on this. This is North Korea-style stuff. And it’s being done because this is a weak, thin-skinned man who’s failing as a president. All of the things he promised are not happening. And this is exactly what dictators do.
It’s a — it’s our most cherished freedom to point out very clearly, this is a terrible president and a terrible human being who is doing nothing to improve the lives of Minnesotans and who continues to have this double standard. Because I just want to be very clear, there is no place for political violence, and we condemn it, but I would like to see the notice of how this is being approached and how my dear friend Melissa Hortman’s murder in a political attack was handled.
And the attacks we see, we see a Fox News host on air talk about killing homeless people. And this week we saw eight homeless people shot in Minneapolis. And so, the consistency around this certainly isn’t there, but none of this surprises me with Donald Trump. But, Chris, I think the thing I am concerned about is this is not overreacting. This is our responsibility now. Getting a democracy back after it’s gone is a lot harder than defending it now. And so, I would just tell people this.
And it’s good to see — good to see some of those conservative voices standing up and saying that because this one is not even close. This is outrageous. And Jimmy Kimmel’s point — and look, we can all speak, you know, inarticulately. We can make mistakes. We can step back. But the idea that they’re going to chill speech just because it’s critical — because, look, this isn’t about any other type of speech other than what Donald Trump’s views as anti-Trump. He said it. This isn’t even about what was spoken about Charlie Kirk’s murder. This is about, he said it, you’re against Trump, you’re against Trump. And that’s what it’s all about.
Watch above via MSNBC’s All In with Chris Hayes.
