Minnesota Governor and Democratic Vice Presidential nominee Tim Walz has faced down accusations of “stolen valor” hurled by MAGA operatives — including GOP VP nominee J.D. Vance, a fellow veteran — since becoming Vice President Kamala Harris‘s running mate.
Walz served 24 years with the Army National Guard and earned the rank of command sergeant major before filing his retirement papers in May 2005 — with a plan to run for Congress. Some GOP messengers have accused Walz of timing his retirement from service to avoid deployment in Iraq, though Walz retired before his unit received an alert order and later deployed.
Walz was also criticized by Republicans for phrasing that implied he carried a gun “in war,” saying in a gun control speech: “We can make sure that those weapons of war, that I carried in war, are the only place where those weapons are at.” (NOTE: Walz was served overseas in Italy while the U.S. was at war in Iraq and Afghanistan, but did not see active combat duty.)
Looking to exploit doubts they have created around Walz’s record of service, GOP operatives are now pushing disinformation narratives — stripped of context — on social media seeking to portray Walz as embellishing his military service for political gain.
U.S. Congressman Eric Swalwell (D-CA) took issue with one of these attempts over the weekend, when an X account called Nicholas Kruge posted a video of Walz speaking in which he mentions visiting Afghanistan.
Kruge asserted: “Video surfaced with Tim Walz claiming ‘when I was in Afghanistan’! Tim Walz should resign in disgrace! He was NEVER in Afghanistan!”
Hey Genius, do you think it’s possible he visited Afghanistan as a Member of Congress? https://t.co/L2ZsAEtT6t
— Rep. Eric Swalwell (@RepSwalwell) September 1, 2024
Swalwell responded: “Hey Genius, do you think it’s possible he visited Afghanistan as a Member of Congress?”
X added reader context stating: “This clip without actual context can be misinterpreted as OP stated, yet the reality is that in January 2008, then Congressman Walz was part of a 9 day delegation, traveling to Iraq and Afghanistan. Also, the context of his visit, does correlate with the context of the clip.”
The context cited an article that begins “January 16, 2008 – Congressman Tim Walz returned yesterday from a nine-day Congressional delegation trip to Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Germany during which he investigated the continuum of military health care.”