BOMBSHELL.

Defying all conventional wisdom, Harris selects -- not the popular governor of this election's most crucial swing state (Pennsylvania) but rather -- Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, of draconian Covid lockdown and George Floyd riot fame.

The off-the-wall selection came as a shock to many as the obvious electoral choice was Shapiro, a Left-winger masquerading as a moderate, albeit one who is a buttoned-up, religiously Jewish man. Shapiro was popularly elected in 2022 by nearly 15% for a first term as governor after having previously served as the state's attorney general.

But what seemed like insurmountable odds in favor of Shapiro, quickly unraveled over the weekend following a leaked video announcement from the mayor of Philadelphia, seemingly acknowledging out in the open what many had assumed in private: that Harris had selected Shapiro as her VP. The debacle led to a heightened spotlight on the selection, and Democratic infighting ensued. Party factions clashed all throughout the weekend online (and presumably behind closed doors). The other viable candidates were once again given a once-over as the party split over whether it was okay with selecting an openly Jewish man who gave moderate support to Israel following last October's horrific massacre.

Then the situation eroded further for Shapiro. It was discovered that he had also volunteered with the IDF before college, a claim he tried to tamp down by describing the service as 'volunteering at the base, not necessarily with the military.' I'm sure the anti-Semites and Hamas-sympathizers appreciated the nuance. After disavowing that claim and then disavowing his support for Israel, Shapiro had made it clear he was willing to say anything to appease his opponents if it meant he was selected for the VP nomination.

It wasn't enough. Instead, the far left got its way, and the Harris camp doubled down on its progressiveness by selecting Tim Walz. So, let's do a play-by-play of all things Walz and why this selection is such a bafflingly bad blunder by the hopeful Biden successor.

1: An appeal to the Left, not to Moderates.

"One man's socialism is another man's neighborliness." A recent quote from the governor that surely had the staff at the RNC salivating. You think this quote won't be run in ads from now until election day? Don't kid yourself. Any hopes Democrats had of stymying the bleed among south Florida Hispanics has been put to rest. Walz openly speaks of his "progressive values" in TV interviews; the optics of which don't play well with a campaign that already has concerns over shoring up moderates. While not as universally known to the general public as one might think, Harris earned herself a reputation among the political engaged as being a "progressive," a term her opponents will seek to define her as and one that her campaign will look to avoid. With Walz now on the ticket, the Harris campaign may run into that stumbling block even more often.

Walz served as Minnesota governor during one of its most dire hours: the 2020 BLM riots, of which Minnesota was the epicenter. As Minneapolis burned, Tim Walz and his Democratic cohort stood by and let it happen. City blocks erased. Businesses and homes destroyed. Smoke plumed into the sky, for all the eyes in the metro to see. Walz had multiple opportunities to bring in the national guard to quell the riots and restore orderly protests but refused, unnecessarily delaying the response. Instead, his intentions to not do so were mysteriously leaked to the public, and chaos ensued.

Happening concurrently was the Covid-19 pandemic. At the same time that Minnesotans were permitted to riot in the streets, the governor also instituted draconian pandemic policies that prevented healthy children from returning to school, shutting down public life (churches, outdoor sports, bars, etc.), and pitting neighbor against neighbor. Take this measure put in place by his Department of Health: A reporting hotline that calls on citizens to report their neighbors for any violations of the stay-at-home orders that Minnesota had instituted. This tactic is taken right out of a Soviet playbook, enforcing the state's will by placing its own citizens at odds with each other -- fomenting fear and distrust. Perhaps worst of all, Walz' administration instituted a policy that rationed out lifesaving medication based on the racial status of its citizens. That's rich coming from a man whose party harps about "systemic racism."

2: Just plain weird.

"Weird." Perhaps this was just an online phenomenon, but over the past two weeks the "weird" talking point emerged from the Left and took over political discourse. The Left tried smearing JD Vance and the Right more broadly as "just plain weird" for supporting the policy positions they support. The man supposedly leading the charge was none other than Tim Walz. Well, let's talk about weird, Tim.

Weird is passing a law that allows minors to undergo sex change surgery at any age. Weird is making Minnesota a "trans sanctuary state" for minors across the country to run to that state to get a sex change surgery. Weird is signing a bill that requires tampons to be stocked in all boys' bathrooms -- all the way down to the elementary level. All of this while allowing Minnesota public schools to fall to their lowest performance in 30 years.

Weird, also, is remaking the state of Minnesota flag to have an uncanny resemblance to the Somalian flag. Somalians, a people now with a sizable population in the Twin Cities Metro, now also wield potent power in the state's political core. And it is the anti-Semites found in that community, and in the ones in Michigan, that have taken a stranglehold of the Democratic Party alongside the Far Left. The infamous Red-Green alliance. The very reason Josh Shapiro was not the selection.

3: Dangerous for America.

You might not remember it, because the media largely declined to cover it, but cities like Minneapolis burned in 2020.

Minneapolis became ground zero for the "Defund the Police" movement and has borne the logical consequences. While crime has gone down across the country since its height in 2020¹, crime in Minnesota has gone up relative to the rest of the country. Uncoicidentally, the force is depleted compared to its pre-2020 numbers. Police morale has gone down, and thus, policemen have been retiring in droves. All the while, people have been fleeing the state. Minnesota was on the chopping block to lose an electoral vote from the 2020 census but just narrowly won out over New York. Now, it is poised to come up short in 2030.

But Tim Walz is not just against supporting the police, he is against supporting a safe border. He quipped on CNN that he often jokes that if Trump could tell him how high the wall was going to be, he'd know how high to make the ladders for his farcical ladder factory. The man holds untenable positions on arguably the nation's most important issue. Walz supports sanctuary cities for illegal immigrants, free college for illegal immigrants, and free healthcare for illegal immigrants. Walz also signed into law a bill that allows illegal immigrants to receive a state of Minnesota driver's license.

Frankly, there's a million things to attack Tim Walz on. And this is just day one. Who knows what else could come out. The footnotes also include a radical nine-month abortion policy that resulted in the murder of born-alive children, a DUI he tried to escape by telling police he was deaf, dodging deployment with the national guard, ramming through legislation that violated the state's constitution, and a budget scandal that cost state taxpayer's a quarter billion dollars.

Doubtless, this improves the Trump's camp of a victory, but the stakes of losing just became that much more dire should they fumble this election away.