From ‘be meaner’ to be civil: How Hortman shooting shifted Walz’s political message

Not long before the fatal shooting of a prominent Minnesota legislator left Gov. Tim Walz pleading for a more civil discourse, he was arguing that Democrats need to “be a little meaner” as his party fights for political relevance.

In March, Walz criticized Elon Musk as a “dipshit” and an “unelected South African nepo baby.” At the end of May, he compared Trump’s administration to “wannabe dictators and despots,” saying Democrats need to “beat the hell out of these dictators” in the polls.

Now, following the fatal shooting of Rep. Melissa Hortman, Walz is calling for more civility and sounding reflective about the impact of his sharper rhetoric.

“It’s not about hatred, it’s not about mean tweets, it’s not about demeaning someone,” Walz said Sunday evening, hours after law enforcement apprehended the alleged gunman.

Walz never matched President Donald Trump’s willingness to mock and insult his political adversaries. But he and other Democrats have been trying to learn from the success of Trump’s scorched-earth approach.

Walz’s hard-edged tone came as he’s continued to raise his profile on the national stage. Weeks before the shooting, he spoke at a Democratic Party event in South Carolina, the party’s first presidential primary state in the 2024 cycle.

“Maybe it’s time for us to be a little meaner. Maybe it’s time for us to be a little more fierce, because we have to ferociously push back on this,” Walz told hundreds of party activists. “When it’s a child, you talk to them and you tell them why bullying’s wrong. But when it’s an adult like Donald Trump, you bully the shit out of him back.”

Trump frequently insults people’s intelligence, mocks their appearance and makes up dismissive nicknames for his rivals. He’s called his political opponents “vermin” and “thugs,” and promised “retribution.”

Democrats had long rallied around Michelle Obama’s 2016 invocation to “go high” when Republicans go low. But Walz, the Democrats’ 2024 vice presidential nominee, has said he was responding to a vacuum in his party’s response to Trump’s tactics.

Walz’s more recent call to tone down political rhetoric, however, rings hollow for Republicans who have been following his travels across the country.

“Those are fine words, and I fully support all of that. The question is, will the governor be living that two days from now and or a week from now, and I kind of doubt it,” former Republican U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman said. “He’s traveling across the country fanning the flames, and I suspect that his travels will continue next week.”

“Take a look at all his speeches. He’s part of the problem. He’s not part of the solution,” he added.

In the days since the shooting, Walz has at times sounded contrite about his language. In a statement to the Minnesota Star Tribune, Walz said that “it’s on all of us to be mindful of our language and the way we approach our differences, and I’ll own it when I get carried away myself.”

Walz did not specify that any of his statements went too far.

“I will always stand up to bullies,” he added, “but I also believe it’s the job of elected officials to approach politics with grace, understanding, and an appreciation of one another’s perspectives.”

Richard Carlbom, chair of the Minnesota DFL, said, “it’s incumbent upon all of us to lower the rhetoric at this moment.” But he characterized Walz’s recent more pointed comments as him being candid about the harms he says Trump will do should proposed cuts to Medicaid and food assistance be signed into law.

“I don’t know that he’s raised the temperature,” Carlbom said of Walz. “I think what he’s done is been very direct and honest with the American people about the damage this president’s policies are doing.”

Carlbom also blasted Trump’s own track record of defending and pardoning violent Jan. 6 protesters, calling it “the exact opposite of what a responsible leader should be doing.”

Days before the shooting, Republicans in Congress grilled Walz about comments calling federal immigration agents Trump’s “modern-day Gestapo.” They said his comment put their lives at risk.

Walz stood by his remarks, saying he draws a line at deporting people without due process. “The Constitution is not an inconvenience. It’s not an either-or.”

Trump has been critical of Walz since the shooting, refusing to call him to offer his condolences while insulting the governor as “whacked-out” and “a mess.”

Longtime state Sen. Jim Abeler, R-Anoka, said both Trump and Walz should think about the weight of their words.

“Their words are more powerful than they think,” he said. “Maybe it’s time to have words of healing from everybody.”

Sydney Kashiwagi and Jessie Van Berkel of the Minnesota Star Tribune contributed to this story.