This writer is going to take a victory lap. Back in August, she said Tim Walz was a terrible pick for VP. He was weighed down by his record on crime, COVID, his views on socialism, and is very in-your-face weirdness.
And now the media are catching up to where she was almost four months ago:
🧵
— Chris Cillizza (@ChrisCillizza) November 27, 2024
1/ The election ended 3 weeks ago. Enough time has passed.
We -- or I -- can now safely pronounce that the Tim Walz VP pick was a dud.
Let me explain: pic.twitter.com/w2BOkokFAN
Hahahahahahahahaha.
These are the people who think they're our moral and intellectual superiors.
Forgive us for laughing.
2/ Before I get into it, let me say two things.
— Chris Cillizza (@ChrisCillizza) November 27, 2024
One: Tim Walz did not lose Harris the race (or even close to it)
Two: Josh Shapiro would not have made Harris win -- or even win Pennsylvania.
Mark your calendars, because this writer is going to say Chris is right here.
3/ That said, I just don't think the Walz pick made a ton of sense for Harris.
— Chris Cillizza (@ChrisCillizza) November 27, 2024
I genuinely think Walz was the pick because he called Trump/Vance "weird" on MSNBC in late July and instantly went viral.
Yeah, that turned out to be the pot calling the kettle black, didn't it?
The more voters got to know J.D. Vance, the more they realized he's not only normal, but likable. He was the only candidate to end the campaign with net positive favorability.
4/ Remember that Harris had an incredibly compressed timeline to choose a VP. From the day Joe Biden dropped out to the day Harris picked Walz was 16(!) days.
— Chris Cillizza (@ChrisCillizza) November 27, 2024
That's it.
This is not an excuse. As POTUS, Kamala would've been expected to make very big decisions within very limited timeframes.
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It was a test of her leadership and policy-making skills. And she failed it.
5/ And Walz peaked at the exact right time. Just as Harris was looking around for a VP, Walz was the hottest thing in politics.
— Chris Cillizza (@ChrisCillizza) November 27, 2024
He had cracked the code on how to attack Trump! He was plain spoken! He was a football coach!
The theory that she picked Walz because he was going viral is an interesting one. This writer won't lie about that, and it fits with a campaign that ran on vibes and relying on social media to drag them across the finish line.
6/ To be clear: I think Harris genuinely liked Walz and felt a rapport with him.
— Chris Cillizza (@ChrisCillizza) November 27, 2024
And that she and her strategists convinced themselves that Walz’s “big dad energy” might help her appeal to critical voters in the upper Midwest.
Harris was clearly fed up with Walz in the waning days of the campaign.
And the whole 'big dad energy' thing was a lie.
7/ But, without “weird,” Walz is never on her radar. Period.
— Chris Cillizza (@ChrisCillizza) November 27, 2024
And, he never really found a 2nd act after "weird."
Because Walz is weird.
Seriously. There's something deeply, fundamentally off about that man.
8/ Yes, there was excitement about the ticket after the pick.
— Chris Cillizza (@ChrisCillizza) November 27, 2024
But in retrospect that looks to me a LOT like excitement that Biden wasn't the nominee anymore.
Like, if Harris had picked Shapiro or Gretchen Whitmer would the energy have been less?
I don't think so.
And a lot of it was the media trying to gin up fake momentum and enthusiasm.
9/ Walz was mediocre (at best) in the VP debate.
— Chris Cillizza (@ChrisCillizza) November 27, 2024
His tendency to exaggerate/misremember details about his past turned into a national story.
And toward the end of the campaign, he was just a nonentity.
He was a liar, Chris.
You don't have to spin it as 'exaggerating' or 'misremembering' -- the dude straight up lied about his military record and a slew of other things.
Why couldn’t you say it until now? It’s because you picked a side, isn’t it?
— Fuzzy Chimp 🇺🇸🍌 (@fuzzychimpcom) November 27, 2024
He sure did pick a side.
Why was it unsafe before now for you, Christopher?
— Hooch (@CompanyHooch) November 27, 2024
Please, tell us, Chris.
Very enlightening thread about something everyone knew a month ago. https://t.co/Vcf1hRiz7x
— John Ekdahl (@JohnEkdahl) November 27, 2024
Or four months ago.
Maybe if the media said this during the campaign it wouldn’t look like f**king liars and sycophants right now.
— Ashe Short (@AsheSchow) November 27, 2024
WE pointed out he was a terrible choice, and the media tried to say we were wrong about his service lies. We were right. The media lied. Again, https://t.co/CEpJB3oxqG
All the media do is lie.
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