Tim Walz, a former Vice President candidate, has issued a damning verdict on the ‘boot-kissing’ Republican party after President Donald Trump delivered a rowdy, record-breaking ramble in his first congressional address since returning to office.
The Minnesota governor spoke with MSNBC ahead of the MAGA leader’s 99-minute speech, during which he predicted “bread and circuses” and challenged Democrats to capitalize on the pageantry.
Walz has been embroiled in a public spat with Republican representatives after offering to hold town halls in Red-voting towns after National Republican Congressional Committee Chair Richard Hudson advised House officials to avoid in-person town halls with constituents by phone or livestreaming events.
During his monologue, the 60-year-old politician reiterated his stance, referring to the same Republican representatives as Trump’s “lapdogs”.
“He’s [Trump] going to get cheers from a bunch of lapdogs who will kiss his boots,” Walz told MSNBC on Wednesday. “The same people who refuse to meet with their constituents because they know that firing veterans from the VA is a bad idea.
Tariffs on farmers are not a good idea. Cutting the people who are working to reduce the risk of highly pathogenic avian influenza is not a good idea.”
“We [Democrats] need to be present everywhere. We must carry that message—improving the lives of middle-class people. Donald Trump cannot and will not do that.
The call to avoid face-to-face town halls came after recent GOP events targeted by constituents and activists dissatisfied with the Trump administration’s dramatic moves to reshape the federal government, particularly changes made by the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
Walz stated that the Congress event will be “nonsense.” Tonight, it’s bread and circuses. We need to be out there giving real-world examples of how to improve people’s lives.”
During his lively joint session of Congress, the President declared that “the American Dream is unstoppable,” making it the longest presidential speech to lawmakers on record.
Trump laid out his second-term agenda, which was routinely heckled by Democrats who also raised cards with the messages “Musk Steals” and “False,” to which the 78-year-old admitted there was “absolutely nothing I can say to make them happy”.
