Right-wing media figures launch flurry of attacks on Tim Walz in race to define VP candidate

By CNN Newsource

Published August 7, 2024 7:12 AM

By Oliver Darcy, CNN

New York (CNN) — The Republican Party’s media allies are yet again struggling to coalesce around a single attack on the Democratic ticket.

In the hours since Kamala Harris tapped Tim Walz as her running mate, top figures in right-wing media have thrown everything but the kitchen sink at the Minnesota governor as they race to define him, seeking to tarnish the Midwesterner’s image with only 90 days to go before Election Day.

On Tuesday, Walz was portrayed in harsh light as a left-wing “radical” who is supposedly out of touch with everyday Americans; he was criticized as a governor who allowed Black Lives Matter protesters to riot, engage in violence, and burn Minnesota’s cities without consequence; and was accused of being “groomed by the Chinese” after he spent his honeymoon in China.

Fox News, naturally, led the charge, with the right-wing network devoting segment after segment to assailing Walz and his character.

Sean Hannity opened his program arguing that Harris’s choice of Walz — who he called the “most far-left governor in the United States” — revealed she was the most extreme Democratic presidential candidate in history. Hannity not only disparaged Walz with a wide range of negative descriptors, but he also criticized his personal demeanor, claiming he is “pretty weird.”

Meanwhile, other MAGA Media figures, without an ounce of self-reflection or evidence, tried to shame the Democratic ticket by claiming that Walz was selected over Josh Shapiro simply because the Pennsylvania governor is Jewish.

“He was denied this because he is a Jew,” Jeanine Pirro declared on Fox, citing his position on the war in Gaza. “And the problem right now is they are pleasing the Hamas end of the Democrat party.”

Never mind that it was Donald Trump who dined at Mar-a-Lago with Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes and the Adolf Hitler-loving rapper Kanye West, among other moments in which he has embraced White nationalism over the years.

The wide array of attacks on Walz highlighted the GOP’s ongoing difficulty in settling on a single, effective line of attack against the Harris campaign. Since she assumed the top spot on the Democratic ticket in July, right-wing media has been noticeably struggling to present a cohesive narrative against her. Instead, they have resorted to a range of disparaging remarks, branding Harris as a “DEI” candidate and mocking her laughter, among other offensive criticisms.

It remains to be seen whether the Trump campaign will eventually establish a clear and consistent strategy for defining Harris and Walz. While Trump previously fixated on President Joe Biden’s age and stamina, he has struggled to craft a compelling narrative against his new Democratic rival.

And if the disjointed coverage from right-wing media on Tuesday indicates anything, it suggests that Trump and his allies are facing a formidable challenge in rallying around a unified strategy as the clock ticks toward Election Day.