Democratic vice-presidential candidate Tim Waltz He used his sharpest language on the campaign trail Thursday, going after both former President Donald Trump and the Republican Party.
Speaking at a rally in Erie, USA, Walz quoted the Democratic governor of the state, Josh Shapiro, as saying, “Whenever Donald Trump talks about America, he talks about America.”
Shapiro has repeatedly said Trump “talks s—” about the country, which Walz acknowledged when referring to the Pennsylvania governor.
Walz, who was first elected governor of Minnesota in 2018, later said that Trump “hit his shell fair and square and lost” in the last election and is “trying to violently overthrow our democratic government.”
When reached for comment, Trump campaign spokesman Stephen Cheung Walz said “has burned his state in riots and destroyed its citizens since becoming governor. He and Kamala Harris are weak, failed and dangerously liberal.”
Trump has falsely claimed to have won the 2020 election for years he admitted In a podcast episode aired Tuesday, he lost the race “by a whisker.” He has pleaded not guilty to state and federal charges charges related to efforts to annul the election results and has consistently denied any wrongdoing.
On Thursday, Walz also called the Republican Party a “cult.”
“This country needs at least two functioning political parties,” he said. “We don’t need it, a cult on the other side, we don’t need it.”
The Minnesota governor’s comments came less than a week before the first debate between Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris.
Waltz and Republican vice-presidential candidate Senator JD Vance of Ohio will debate each other on October 1.
Democrats and Republicans are battling it out over Pennsylvania, a state President Joe Biden has turned blue in 2020. thin margin — Trump’s 48.8% with 50% of the vote. Trump in 2016 beat narrowly Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton won 48.6% of the votes, Clinton won 47.9%.
National polls show Harris and Trump in a tight race, much of which will come down to a few battleground states like Pennsylvania.
Catherine Koretsky and Emma Barnett contributed.