Mary Trump, estranged niece of former President Donald Trump, said her uncle is “terrified” of Vice President Kamala Harris‘ newly selected running mate.
Harris, who on Tuesday became the official Democratic nominee for president, has selected Minnesota Governor Tim Walz to appear next to her name on the ballot in November. The 60-year-old governor in his second term has gained recognition for being a progressive leader who still garners supports from rural and conservative populations.
Walz also recently rose in popularity after becoming the first Democrat to label Trump and his vice presidential candidate, Ohio Senator JD Vance, as being “weird,” a term that Harris’ campaign has since latched onto as its go-to attack against Republicans. According to Mary Trump, who wrote about Walz in her Substack blog on Tuesday, the Minnesota governor also is the opposite of her uncle’s “weirdness.”
“Tim Walz is a normal American who cares about helping other Americans,” Mary Trump wrote, highlighting the bill Walz signed in 2023 to provide free school meals for Minnesota students.
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“You can see why Donald is terrified,” she added. “Because his criteria for a running mate included somebody who would lick his boots, subjugate himself, and exhibit the kind of cruel weirdness that Donald, and the base of the Republican Party, revel in. Vice President Kamala Harris picked someone who has executive [experience] and actually wants to work to make the lives of Americans better.”
Trump’s campaign has attempted to paint Walz as a “liberal extremist” since Harris announced her vice presidential pick. Vance told reporters Tuesday morning that the Democratic pair “make an interesting tag team” and criticized Walz’s handling of the police brutality protests that broke out in Minnesota following the death of George Floyd in 2020. Trump said in a post to Truth Social several hours later that Harris and Walz “is the most Radical Left duo in American history.”
“There has never been anything like it, and there never will be again,” Trump wrote. “Crazy Kamabla is, indeed, CRAZY.”
But Mary Trump, a staunch critic of her uncle, described Walz as “heartfelt and earnest,” pointing to the governor’s history in the Army National Guard and as a high school teacher before entering the political field.
“And that’s the biggest difference—and Donald’s biggest weakness: He suffers by contrast,” she wrote on Substack. “Harris and Walz remind us how much they have to offer the American people, how much we’ve lost because of Donald, and how little he and the Republican Party have to offer.”
“Donald and J.D. see Americans as rungs on a ladder they’re willing to step on to get power and impunity,” Mary Trump concluded. “Tim Walz will hold the ladder steady for as many people who need it to get where they want to go and then, when everybody is safe, he’ll fold it up and then put it back in the garage exactly where it belongs.”
Newsweek reached out to Trump’s campaign via email for comment late Tuesday.
