The New York Post reported yesterday: Tim Walz a ‘coward and ‘traitor’ for retiring from the military before Iraq, says Guardsman who replaced VP pick
REPORTER: Last night, the governor suggested that because of your Ivy League education and your Silicon Valley backing of your political career, you are part of the elite. What are your first impressions of them trying to frame you this way to the American public?
SEN. J.D. VANCE: Well, look, I came from a family where nobody had ever gone to law school. I grew up in a poor family. The fact that Tim Walz wants to turn it into a bad thing, that I worked my way through college and law school, and made something of myself, is, to me, the American dream. If Tim Walz wants to insult that, I think that's frankly pretty bizarre.
Now, what really bothers me about Tim Walz isn't even the positions he's taken, though certainly he has been a far-left radical. What really bothers me about Tim Walz, as a Marine who served his country in uniform, is when the United States Marine Corps, when the United States of America asked me to go to Iraq to serve my country, I did it. I did what they asked me to do, and I did it honorably and I'm very proud of that service.
When Tim Walz was asked by his country to go to Iraq, you know what he did? He dropped out of the Army and allowed his unit to go without him—a fact he's been criticized for aggressively by many of the people he served with. I think it's shameful to prepare your unit to go to Iraq, to make a promise that you're going to follow through, and then to drop out right before you actually have to go.
I also think it's dishonest. If you guys ever get an opportunity to ask Tim Walz or Kamala Harris some questions, he made this interesting comment that the Kamala Harris campaign put out there—and I bet they regret putting it out there now—because he said that we, and he was making a point about gun control, "shouldn't allow weapons that I used in war to be on America's streets."
Well, I wonder, Tim Walz, when were you ever in war? What was this weapon you carried into war, given that you abandoned your unit right before they went to Iraq, and you have not spent a day in a combat zone?
What bothers me about Tim Walz is the stolen valor garbage. Do not pretend to be something that you're not. If he wants to criticize me for getting an Ivy League education, I'm proud of the fact that my family supported me, that I was able to make something of myself. I'd be ashamed if I were him and lied about my military service like he did.
Watch Vance's full Wednesday morning press conference in Michigan:
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