Gus Walz's tears melted hearts at the DNC. Critics called it unmanly
By: Michael Collins and Sam Woodward (USA TODAY)
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Michael CollinsSam WoodwardUSA TODAY
CHICAGO - A tearful, unscripted moment between Tim Walz and his 17-year-old son, Gus, has unleased a flood of praise and admiration - but also prompted ugly online bullying.
Gus Walz, who has a nonverbal learning disorder as well as anxiety and ADHD, watched excitedly from the front row of Chicago's United Center and sobbed openly Wednesday night as his father, the Democratic nominee for vice president, delivered his acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention.
The Minnesota governor was recounting the difficult fertility treatment he and his wife, Gwen, went through to conceive their daughter, Hope.
Walz followed up by expressing his love for his family from the stage, saying, "Hope, Gus and Gwen, you are my entire world. And I love you."
Gus Walz jumped up from his seat, tears on his face, pointed his index finger and said, "I love you, Dad," followed soon after with, "That's by dad!"
The touching moment between father and son, captured live by television cameras, quickly went viral and has largely been received adoringly on the internet and the airwaves.
Fox News shared a clip of the viral moment on its TikTok page, writing "Gus Walz steals show during dad's acceptance speech." The comments were overwhelmingly positive.
"I hope to inspire my kids so much that when they see me speak of the dreams and passion I have for my country they are moved to tears like Gus Walz was," Chasten Buttigieg, husband of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, wrote on X.
"@Tim_Walz has dedicated his life to service and has clearly exceeded in being an excellent, supportive, and loving father every step of the way," he wrote. "We should all be so lucky to know a love like that."
U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., who spoke before Walz Wednesday night, praised the love between Walz and his children.
"You know you've done well as a parent when your kids are as proud of you as Gus and Hope are of Tim Walz," she wrote on X. "'That's my dad.' No three words better describe our next Vice President."
Actress Mia Farrow added: "Gosh! When young Gus Walz, adorable son of Gwen and Tim Walz, his face streaming tears of pride shouted 'That's my dad' he won my heart."
Trump supporter and podcaster dismisses Gus Walz as 'puffy beta male'
But the show of affection triggered a swath of snark and ugly comments on social media, many from MAGA supporters of former President Donald Trump, who faces Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris and Walz in November.
Conservative columnist and right-wing provocateur Ann Coulter mocked the teenager's tears. "Talk about weird," she wrote on X. The message has since been deleted.
Mike Crispi, a Trump supporter and podcaster from New Jersey, mocked Walz's "stupid crying son" on X and added, "You raised your kid to be a puffy beta male. Congrats."
Alec Lace, a Trump supporter who hosts a podcast about fatherhood, took his own swipe at the teenager: "Get that kid a tampon already," he wrote, an apparent reference to a Minnesota state law that Walz signed as governor in that required schools to provide free menstrual supplies to students.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that Jay Weber, a conservative Milwaukee radio host, made a now-deleted post on X criticizing the Walz family.
"If the Walzs (sic) represent today's American man, this country is screwed: 'Meet my son, Gus. He's a blubbering b---- boy. His mother and I are very proud'."
After removing the post, Weber apologized and claimed he didn't know Gus had a learning disability.
USA TODAY reached out to the Walz campaign which declined to comment.
Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung released a statement to USA TODAY that said the campaign "is focused on holding Walz and Harris accountable for their dangerously liberal policies that are bad for America." It didn't address the bullying posts.
Trump came under fire in 2015 after he appeared to mock a New York Times reporter with a disability. Critics said Trump's taunts could encourage others to engage in similar behavior.
Posts reflect bullying kids face constantly, advocates say
Advocates for children with learning disabilities were outraged by the venom directed at the Walz family.
"What we're seeing with the bullying of Gus Walz online isn't just cruel - it's a painful reminder of what kids with disabilities face every single day," said Katy Neas, chief-executive officer of The Arc of the United States, a Washington-based nonprofit advocacy group for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
Children with disabilities are two to three times more likely to be bullied than their peers, Neas said.
"That means our society is teaching countless kids with disabilities that they are somehow less than because of factors outside of their control, including emotional expression and disability," she said. "What's worse is that bullying can have a direct impact on their academic achievement, which in turn means fewer opportunities as adults. We're failing these kids when we don't understand or value their experiences."
Research shows that bullying behavior often stems from a combination of factors such as a desire for social dominance, a lack of empathy, or modeling of aggressive behaviors at home, said Kristen Eccleston, a former special education teacher and advocate for children with social-emotional needs.
"Children with learning disabilities are especially vulnerable because bullies may perceive them as 'easy targets' due to their struggles with communication or social skills, said Eccleston, who works for the Weinfeld Education Group, which is based in Bethesda, Maryland, and works with parents to ensure that their children have the supports and services they need.
"As parents, it's heartbreaking to see our children suffer from such cruelty," Eccleston said. "In moments like Gus', where a child is being bullied, it's crucial to surround them with love, validate their emotions, and remind them that the hurtful opinions of others do not determine their worth. Families should use these public experiences to foster open dialogue about emotions, with the goal of helping their child develop strong self-advocacy skills and a healthy sense of self."
Anne Strober, whose son has autism, said the bullying Gus Walz is facing is despicable.
"For me, it just represents how a lot of people have lost their humanity," she said. "You have a lot of people, now with social media, who feel very emboldened because they're behind their keyboards and they can just say what they need to say and with a degree of anonymity. It's still hurtful whether it's face to face or it's online. There's no place for it."
Public schools often aren't able to stop acts of bullying, so parents who fear for their children's safety often pull them out of school or choose to home-school them, said Strober, who lives in North Potomac, Maryland, and works with parents through the Weinfeld Education Group.
"Children should be off limits to bullying, especially by adults, no matter what political party their parents belong to," she said. "Gus isn't going to see all of their hateful comments, but other kids will. And it will absolutely hurt them and their families."
Brianne Pfannenstielof the Des Moines Registercontributed to this reporting.
Featured Weekly Ad
He's a kid for christs sake. Who cares if he was "unmanly" ?
He is a beautiful young man in spirit. And has movie star good-looks too!
Right. Leave the kids out of it.
www.mediamatters.org /donald-trump/trump-meme-team-ally-brenden-dilley-launches-vicious-attack-gus-walz-emotional-cheers
Trump “meme team” ally Brenden Dilley launches vicious attack on Gus Walz for emotional cheers at the DNC
5-6 minutes
Citation From the August 22, 2024, edition of The Dilley Show , streamed on Rumble
BRENDEN DILLEY (HOST): The establishment opened up an opportunity and collaborated and worked with a 22-year old to shoot Donald Trump in the fucking head on CNN. And by the grace of God, only got his ear. So if you're wondering, like, what they're willing to do to stop us from regaining the White House, go back a month, watch the video, watch it again, and then remember, “Oh, shit. Like, this is maybe more serious than hurt words or making fun of Tim Walz's retarded son." Gotta understand what you're dealing with here.
So what's got me all upset? Not the left. The left doing what they do actually doesn't have me upset. It's the right's response to my response to the left. “Gus Walz tearfully cheers on his father, Tim, as he accepts Democratic VP nomination." “That's my dad." Is that right? And there he was, that proud, young retard.
...
Seal clapping for the cameras, Really letting it out with that fucking bowl cut.
“Dilley, don't call him a retard. Dilley, leave the children out of it." Let's unpack it. Let's start first with special needs, Gus. We'll start with special needs. Gus has anxiety. Gus has ADD. Oh, he's high — no shit. What was the giveaway? Gus has a “learning disability," but Gus is not autistic. Gus isn't even a fucking retard. Gus -- Gus has a driver's license. Got it when he turned 16. He didn't get his driver's license at 25 because it took him longer to learn. Gus didn't get some special needs driver's license for a specific kind of fucking clown car. No. He turned 16 and got a driver's license like a normal functioning 16-year old kid. So not autistic.
So all of the special needs moms that were dick-riding me earlier, I love you. God bless you. Gus is not like your child. If you have a autistic child at home suffering and struggling to just function, that's not Gus. So stop virtue signaling, OK? Stop virtue signaling. This fucking retard drives. Got it at 16 like a normal completely functioning 16-year old kid.
OK, alright, so there's that. So we can now — are we comfortable? Can we rule out that I'm being a big meeny weeny picking on the special needs kid? Because he's not special needs. He's got a closeted homosexual father who more than likely is a fucking pederast and who fucked him up royally, and now he's weird. He's a weird little motherfucker, OK? But he's — he might be fucking retarded, but he's not autistic. He doesn't have down syndromes.
This isn't some shit you need to be like, “This is wrong. This is so wrong, Dilley, for you to be attacking" — shut the fuck up. Got his driver's license at 16. Completely normal, OK? Good.
Now let's deal with the second issue because there's two issues among the cuckservative right. “He's retarded." He's not. And “he's a child." Remember that? I saw you dumb bitches in my fucking replies.
“He's a child. He's a child. He's just a little kid. He's a little baby kid, Dilley." Shut up. Shut the fuck up, women. Get back in the kitchen. No man was fucking pushing me on the kid thing. It's a bunch of screeching fucking harpies who don't know their ass from a hole in the ground.
So here you go, ladies. I'm about to jam this one straight in your asshole. Here you go. Gus Walz's date of birth. Who can fucking tell me how old he's gonna be in five weeks, six weeks? How old? How fucking old is he gonna be? How old is Gus Walz about to be? Oh, he's about to be 18.
And what do you think he's gonna be doing on November 5? On November 5, Gus Walz is gonna go down — same as you — and he's going to cast a ballot for communism, which might be different than you.
See, he's gonna vote. See, this isn't a child. He isn't going to fucking retard camp. This is a soon-to-be man who's going to drive himself down to a voting booth and cast a ballot for a communist administration.
So, again, virtue signaling women, shut the fuck up. You're not built for these times. Go make a pie, OK? I love that you are soft and gentle and wanna defend all the little woodland creatures and all of God's children. I appreciate all that. And I completely — I appreciate it. Go do it in the fucking kitchen because you're not made for this. You couldn't even do the most basic of searches before having a goddamn conniption about the “attack on Gus Walz." Yeah. The soon-to-be 18-year old voting fucking driving man.
What the hell is that?! I am overwhelmed by it; literally can't get through it and process it all.
Trump supporter on social media.
Gus Walz is just perfect. I hate that anybody would say this stuff about him or any other human being. Don't mess with people's family members. Damn it! I have a problem with that: Straight up! He is in the "Center' tonight too!
Human trash
Social Media.
(Or at least most of it)
That is fucked up. It really shows that there is a pathologically significant difference between the left and the right. There are things that normal people watch and can’t help being moved by, and then there are people who are pathologically immovable.
[✘]
I just heard on Alex Wagner I Toniight that Gus Walz is 'neurodiverse' and I had to look it up. In summary it means he is "On the Spectrum"! A phrase that means any type of neuro-case where one is autistic, has a learning disability of some sort, may have unexpected reactions to situations, and/or similarly situated.
The fact that somebody who would write and own those words actually exists and has followers turns my stomach.
Its actually fairly common on many social media sites.
I found it to be kind of like a litmus test. If you weren’t moved you were subhuman[✘]
[✘]
Subhuman, wasn’t that a favorite slaver term?
lol, I have no idea. You must have a deep relationship with the history of racism though - kudos on that.
Like black history majors!!
No shit.
I do know US history to include the view that Africans were subhuman in the eyes of slavers. Where did you pick up the term?
Where did you pick up the term?
Sub (beneath) human is not exactly an uncommon term. As the right incessantly asks, why must you bring race into everything?
Perhaps not in your circles.
I never got into anarcho-punk.
having or showing behaviour or characteristics that are much worse than those expected of ordinary people: Their treatment of prisoners is subhuman.
___________________________________
Yes, history. Slave owners considered slaves subhuman animals, the Nazi's viewed Jews as subhuman. Hutus saw Tutsis as subhuman. It has historically been important to define or describe dehumanization as a prerequisite for cruelty or genocide.
It has historically been important to define or describe dehumanization as a prerequisite for cruelty or genocide.
Don’t be surprised when my sarcasm morphs into reality. J6 could be a trial run for something much worse. How can you trust that it isn’t?
Lets send these assholes into the toxic waste dump of history.
[✘]
[✘]
[✘]
Removed for context - sandy
Good idea.
(But how, exactly, would we do that?
)
Simply scum.
Some opportunities are not too low for exploitation by some people.