To:  America
From:  Mitch Berg, Obstreporous Peasant and American
Re:  Tim “Governor Klink” Walz

America,

Some of you – OK, most of you – may be getting your first introduction to Governor Tim Walz, as the noise machine frantically tries to position him as a viable VP candidate. 

“Small town regular Joe” is one of the costumes he puts on, complete with an ancient International Scout and an NRA cap…

…well, no.  He ditched the NRA cap when he had to power-suckup to the “progressive”/Democrat Socialists of America (DSA) wing of the party to beat back Erin Murphy and Erin Maye Quade in the primary in 2018.  He still puts on the costume on occasion – the DFL sends a social media intern with him for pictures at the lake, or driving the Scout, or having Peggy Flanagan feed him a corn dog. 

Anyway – if the news blitz is your first introduct5ion to Governor Klink, let’s go through some pros and cons of him and his administration.

Cons of Tim Walz

• Led the plundering of an $18B surplus, leaving the state with what will likely be at least a $2B deficit later this year.  Minimum.
• Turned a deaf ear to the most epic wave of corruption in Minnesota history, as DFL stakeholders from the DSA non-profit/industrial complex pillaged a bare minimum of a half billion dollars worth of funds “intended” to “feed hungry children” during the pandemic…
• …after having been equally incurious about at least $250M being piillaged by some of these same stakeholders from Health and Human Services budgets. 
• Like many governors, he assumed emergency powers in March 2020, when nobody knew muich about the pandemic.  He announced that, according to the model he’d gotten from the Minnesota Department of Health, Minnesota faced upward of 70,000 deaths in the next four months – perhaps 20,000 as a best case scenario if the state shut down completely and submitted to draconian control of society.   By May, it was clear that the model was wrong – at which time the administration declared the model double-dog top secret, because in the words of an MDH staffer at one of his press conferences, “people might reach different conclusions”.  Y’know – try to reproduce results.  Like actual scientists, as opposed to propagandists, do. 
• He created castes of “essential workers” – which included grocery store workers (but only at “big box” stores), liquor stores, “the World’s Largest Candy Store” (run by a campaign contributor, as luck would have it),
• In particular, he instituted rules in nursing homes that created absolute carnage among seniors.  Minnesota had among the worst death rates in the nation among people in long term care – up there with New York City.  For this alone, I’ve got beef with the little fella – this happened right as my stepfather died and I needed to move my mom to Minnesota.  There was a six month delay – which caused plenty of other problems. 
• Notwithstanding that the “emergency” was effectively over in three months – six if you want to be cautious to the point of paranoia – he held onto “emergency powers” for well over a year and a half. 
• After the death of George Floyd, he publicly sided with Floyd, long before any facts were known about the incident.  Which contributed to the 2020 Riots. 
• During those 2020 riots, he followed his bureaucratically-defined role to an anal-retentive “T” – even publicly chiding Mayor Frey for not submitting a cover sheet on his TPS form when requesting the National Guard.  But he ceded the “bully pulpit” to the rioters and their symps in state government .  And to his daughter, who served as a source of intel for the rioters regarding police and Guard movements. 
• He also coddled lawlessness within government; when “protesters” tore down a statue of Christopher Columbus on the State Capitol Mall as his Capitol police looked on, he giggled until his belly jiggled like a bowl of jello. 
• He has actively contributed to the tribalizing of Minnesota politics. 
• On his watch, crime in Minnesota in general is up by at least 50% since he assumed office.
• On the other hand, capital is leaving the state.  Movers and shakers, entrepreneurs (other than coffee shops, which along with small political consultancies are the only for-profit businesses DFLers even pretend to understand), retirees – they’re leaving the state and taking their money with them.  Minnesota’s net wealth is down by billions. 
• Young people are also leaving Minnesota, reversing decades of Minnesota as a destination for young people just getting started on careers and life.  I was one of them, once.  If I were me, today, and not seeking a career in government or the non-profit/industrial complex, I wouldn’t do it again. 

Pros of Tim Walz

He spends a lot of money at the State Fair.

That pretty much it.