Tim Walz Personifies Democrats’ Decline |
Tim Walz is going away, but the Democratic Party’s Tim Walz crisis isn’t.
The Minnesota governor gave up his quest for a third term Monday: Staying out of jail will be challenging enough for him over the next few months, never mind prolonging his stay in office.
Federal prosecutors estimate the Somali daycare scam and other frauds perpetrated under his watch cost taxpayers up to $9 billion.
Money like that goes a long way in politics.
Over the years, Walz and his party have received plenty of campaign cash from the Somali community, a loyal—and influential—bloc in Minnesota Democratic politics.
The fraud was no well-kept secret; an independent journalist, Nick Shirley, easily exposed it.
But whistleblowers who’d tried to raise the alarm earlier were ignored—it wasn’t convenient for Walz and friends to notice what a key constituency was up to.
Just 14 months ago, Walz was Kamala Harris’ running mate; he could have been a heartbeat away from the White House.
He was meant to be the answer to the national Democratic Party’s branding problems—its reputation for cultural weirdness and its difficulty courting white, male and rural voters.
Walz was........