Trump tries to use Walz’s family against him, and fails hilariously

Donald Trump and the Republican Party have tried all sorts of things to mar the image of Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz in the eyes of voters.

They’ve tried attacking his military service. They’ve criticized him over his dog and his food preferences. Despite all that, Walz’s favorability numbers still blow JD Vance’s out of the water. So now Republicans are trying to use Walz’s family against him — and that, too, is not going well. 

On social media Wednesday, Trump thanked Jeff Walz, Tim Walz’s brother, for a purported endorsement. “Thank you very much, Jeff,” Trump posted. “It is a Great Honor to have your Endorsement. I look forward to meeting you soon!” The post also featured a photo of people in “Walz’s for Trump” T-shirts.

There were a couple problems, however. First off, the photo Trump posted didn’t even include Jeff Walz. It included descendants of Walz’s grandfather’s brother — so, second cousins, who Walz’s sister told The Associated Post they don’t even know. And as many online were quick to note, the shirts contained a punctuation error: They should say “Walzes for Trump.” (Apostrophe rules strike again!)

And as for that Jeff Walz “endorsement” Trump was touting, it stems from posts that Jeff Walz published on Facebook saying he opposed his brother’s ideology and claimed to have “stories” he could tell that would show brother Tim is “not the type of character you want making decisions about your future.” It certainly sounded salacious, but Jeff Walz — who donated to Trump’s 2016 campaign and said he’s had minimal contact with his brother over the last eight years — told NewsNation that he regrets the post and doesn’t want to be involved in the race. 

And those “stories” about their younger years that he was prepared to tell? “Nobody wanted to sit with him, because he had car sickness and would always throw up on us, that sort of thing,” Jeff Walz told the NewsNation. “There’s really nothing else hidden behind there. People are assuming something else. There’s other stories like that, but I think that probably gives you the gist of it.”

That faint hiss you hear is MAGA world deflating with disappointment.

It’s possible that Trump’s choice to try to weaponize Walz’s family against him may stem from the fact that multiple members of his own family, including his niece Mary Trump and his nephew Fred Trump III, have come forward with damning stories about his history with them. 

But Trump and his movement’s efforts to tar Walz in a similar way seem to have flamed out.