For at least a week, conservative outlets have been sounding the alarm on Tim Walz repeatedly stealing valor over the last two decades. The former member of the Minnesota National Guard spent years either directly saying or insinuating that he deployed to a war zone. In one video, he claimed to have carried weapons “in war.” In another instance, he misstated his rank in a campaign release, obscuring the fact that he was demoted upon retirement.
Those are hardly the only examples, though. During a protest against George W. Bush, Walz held up a sign claiming to be a veteran of Operation Enduring Freedom, which took place in Afghanistan. In an article published in The Atlantic, Walz is recounted as telling a then-staffer for the former president that he had just returned from “fighting the global war on terror.”
I could keep going, and that’s to say nothing of the others, including Nancy Pelosi, who claimed Walz served on a “battlefield.” Throughout numerous false mentions, the Minnesota governor never offered any corrections. When a combat veteran confronted Walz’s office about the issue in 2009, nothing came of it.
Never mind that Walz has also repeatedly lied about his retirement rank.