Gov. Tim Walz fears that one of President Donald Trump’s next moves will be to deter opposition by arresting a political opponent.
“It’s going to get very dark,” the former Democratic Party vice-presidential nominee told CNN.
Walz also speculates that the president could adopt another move from the authoritarian playbook and try to anoint one of his three sons as his White House successor.
Although the Minnesota governor doesn’t name a son, Donald Trump Jr., 47, would be the most likely candidate as Barron Trump, still just 19, would be too young, and Eric Trump, 41, is much less vocal than his older brother.
“I’m a pretty low-key, middle-of-the-road guy on this stuff. And I’m telling you, this is real. My one skill set is to see over the horizon a little bit of what’s coming, and this is what’s coming,” Walz added.
“I don’t think there’s any limit to where he goes,” Walz said of Trump. “The limit will be what the American public will put up with and when they push back. This has happened everywhere when these authoritarians have come in. One day, it looks like they’re absolutely infallible and in total power, and the next day, they and their entire families are gone.”
He claimed the administration’s defiance of a judge’s order over the weekend banning the deportation of Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador was evidence that Trump planned to ignore the courts and start impeaching judges. On Tuesday, Trump called for D.C. District Court Judge James Boasberg to be impeached.
A rebuke by Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts—who issued a statement on Tuesday criticizing calls to remove judges over rulings the administration opposes—showed that he, too, was “scared of where things are going,” Walz said.
The governor reportedly fears that too many Democratic Party leaders haven’t faced up to the consequences of Trump’s authoritarian regime. He also said there isn’t enough realization about how angry the public has become at both Republicans and Democrats.
“Our leadership’s not going to be the charismatic D.C. leader or whatever. It’s going to be the person who’s reading the room the best of where these people are at,” he said in the CNN interview before a public appearance in Eau Claire, Wisc., on Tuesday.
Although he says his beleaguered party’s next president should be young enough to have hair, “Coach” Walz hasn’t ruled out the possibility of a run topping the ticket, insiders claimed.
In an interview with Semafor’s David Weigel, Walz said Trump might be doing Democrats “a favor” by gutting entire federal departments.
“How much can Democrats can rebuild of what Trump is un-building right now? We’ve seen cases where employees are laid off, a court orders them back, but they’re still laid off. Do Democrats run in 2028 on re-establishing it?” He asked.
Walz said he was unhappy with the way Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer conceded the fight over the GOP spending bill last week, allowing it to pass.
He angered MAGA supporters by saying he had added the Tesla app to his phone so he could watch the shares drop and get “a little boost” and has branded Elon Musk a “dips--t” at town hall meetings around the country.
He says thinking that he and former Vice President Kamala Harris would win on November 5, 2024, “feels like an unforgivable sin.”
Now he is back on the road and claims he feels encouraged “because I’ve seen the energy still out there.”
