Tim Walz
Appearances
SmartLess
"Governor Tim Walz"
I mean, think of that day. This was a Tuesday morning. We got the call. Within 20 minutes, my life...
SmartLess
"Governor Tim Walz"
changed like you know I said I'm minding my own damn business at home and all of a sudden it blows up it should be noted it should be noted Tim I did turn it down I was the first call and then Tim was the second call I'm just we're being honest but they sweep in you've got all these folks around you they pack your clothes for you and tell you you go in and get on a private plane which is I've never flown on a private plane to do this so they fly you to Philadelphia that's funny because Jason's never not yeah
SmartLess
"Governor Tim Walz"
Well, they take you to Philadelphia, and then I also, and I told them when they were interviewing me, I said, look, I've never given a speech off a teleprompter. I speak, and look, it has its problems, and I told them that. You'll get about 90% good, and then you'll get 10% stuff you'll have to clean up. That's me, because that's how I talk. But they sent me there.
SmartLess
"Governor Tim Walz"
They put me in the back of a college locker room, and they had mocked up the stage I was going to go on in about an hour and put the speech on the teleprompter. And so I practiced it a little bit. And then I'm standing at that door in Philadelphia, like 12, 15,000 people waiting to see the vice president in this announcement.
SmartLess
"Governor Tim Walz"
She and her standing out on the curtain and she's like, you know, well, get this right. So it opened up and that's what it was. But no, it was just, you're right. I think your analysis is right. It was just too big to get nervous about it. I didn't have time to think about it.
SmartLess
"Governor Tim Walz"
Well, it's a different approach. And I always say this, that I never, and honest to God, I never thought about running for office before. I have a whole life before this, teaching National Guard in my community and things like that. But I think my life prepared me well. And so I approach like, look, you have got to be pretty self-aware and pretty humble to teach high school for a lot of years.
SmartLess
"Governor Tim Walz"
But it's also so gratifying. And I think one of the things is that I'm super sensitive to this idea. These are servant leadership positions. This isn't a special thing that you've been granted. Your job is to work for people. And I try and approach it like I was hired to teach kids in school, so I need to do my best job. And I've been hired to be a representative.
SmartLess
"Governor Tim Walz"
And I took great pride that I was very bipartisan. I... You know, this idea that we can't figure things out. My staff, we always had a saying that, you know, if the facts dispute our ideology, we change our ideology. It's that simple. You're not married to it. So a lot of times I don't have an ideological dog in a fight. It's just what the facts show.
SmartLess
"Governor Tim Walz"
And I think trying to approach these things like problem solving, you're working with people, you're trying to do your best. I'll be the first to admit it has been really challenging with Donald Trump. You know, I won a congressional race in 2016. Donald Trump won my district by double digits, nearly 20%. So thousands of people voted for Donald Trump and me on that. That was only a few years ago.
SmartLess
"Governor Tim Walz"
Now, would that be true today? Probably not. They've continued to. But I think trying to focus on what the job is, that it's a humbleness and it's not your whole identity. I watch these folks try and hang on to these jobs and things like that. If the folks don't want me to do it, they won't do it. But I'm telling you, Here's what we can do.
SmartLess
"Governor Tim Walz"
I meet hundreds every day. They won't. They won't, though, because of the money and because of what they're afraid will happen if they get into it.
SmartLess
"Governor Tim Walz"
Yeah, we were speaking of the overwhelming thing on this back... during that debate, you know, they drove me through Times Square to see my picture up on those big screens. And so somebody said, you look nervous. No kidding. I'm sitting there freaking out. But I'm honest to God, before things went live, I'm standing there and I'm like,
SmartLess
"Governor Tim Walz"
there's 345 million people in this country and it's me and this dude. That is just not right. And it's true. I mean, it's kind of overwhelming, but that kind of got rid of my imposter syndrome and said, look, I know that I know what's right. I know who I am. I'm trying to do right. You just go back to your values. Yes. And if you leave from that.
SmartLess
"Governor Tim Walz"
So Will's point is this, that I do hope people do this. I do hope they get out there because we need them. We need good people.
SmartLess
"Governor Tim Walz"
Yeah, and rank-and-file union members, one thing, look, the leadership in unions, that's more political than what I'm doing. They have to cover their butt on their things. And I'm as frustrated as you are on this, Will. But the one thing I do think about, you wonder what happened. The first thing I think of, there's not something wrong with my constituents.
SmartLess
"Governor Tim Walz"
These are good people trying to go to work and do things. And like the New York Times sends somebody out every few weeks to interview a guy at a bar and figure out what happened to rural America. These are my family. I've lived there. I do think one of the things, I always said this as a teacher, if I would give an exam or something,
SmartLess
"Governor Tim Walz"
and a majority of students would not do well, probably had a little something to do with me in there. Was I not getting it across? And so I think some of it is how we've messaged this. I don't think that's the full blame on it. Certainly Donald Trump is a master of manipulation, a master of what new media look like. But I do think there's some ways as what are we not doing?
SmartLess
"Governor Tim Walz"
to appeal to those ranked. Look, I'm a union member. I think, you know, that's what I did. And I get a lot of union support, but I know there's some rank and file members. And so they're not monolithic. It's not their only issue. But I say this, and I'm kind of with you on this, Will.
SmartLess
"Governor Tim Walz"
The rest of it is you don't have to worry about all the rest of that stuff if you're not in a union because you're not going to get paid as well. You're not going to have a pension. You may not have health care. You better focus on the things that matter. Stay in your lane. And so they've done a good job of distracting on things that are the cultural war stuff rather than the bread and butter.
SmartLess
"Governor Tim Walz"
Well, this may be, but this is where I think Vice President Harris is focusing really rightly. This idea of middle class doesn't sound like anything so groundbreaking, but this idea of housing and down payment assistance, this idea of cost down, this idea of child tax credit.
SmartLess
"Governor Tim Walz"
Because the one thing I will say, Jason, on this is that these guys on the other side have created an economy which many of the people you're talking about are busting their ass just to get by. They don't have time to spend a lot on this. They're trying to figure out how to afford childcare. They're trying to figure out how to make things work.
SmartLess
"Governor Tim Walz"
They see inflationary prices go up and we may say, look, inflation is higher everywhere else in the world. They don't care about that because that's impacting with them. They hear a guy like JD Vance say, egg prices went up. Yeah, because of bird flu. They don't care about bird flu. They just know egg prices went up.
SmartLess
"Governor Tim Walz"
So I do think there's a part, certainly discerning on media is something my wife used to teach a course on modern media, language and logic. trying to think through that. But I think part of it is these guys have, as we're saying on this, they've shifted wealth to the point where the wealth gap is staggering. When you see it in a graphic, people can't believe how truly bad it is.
SmartLess
"Governor Tim Walz"
And what's stuck on that is a whole bunch of people trying to get through their lives. And Donald Trump has told them, you know, where to put the blame rather than that.
SmartLess
"Governor Tim Walz"
When you Do that. Minnesota's listed as, you know, the Republicans always say it's a high tax state. We're home to many Fortune 500 companies, high concentration. But we have what's rated as the fairest tax system. It's a progressive tax system. If you don't make as much, you don't pay as much. If you make more, you pay more. Look what ends up happening then.
SmartLess
"Governor Tim Walz"
Top five business state, top three place to raise kids, top place for health care, longest longevity. Look, we're not perfect. And it's cold as hell here in the winter. So there's things that happen.
SmartLess
"Governor Tim Walz"
Yeah, if we did, it would not be 40 below up here. But you're right, this idea of making the case to people that this works. And look, this isn't class, you know, they said, you know, you're engaging in class warfare. They already won the war almost on that, the guys on the other side.
SmartLess
"Governor Tim Walz"
Yeah, but this is about sense of fairness and it's it's stunning to me that I thought one of the you know My killer lines in this that would the middle class would say do you think it's fair Donald Trump doesn't pay tax That doesn't seem fair and a lot of people like well, he's successful. He knows how to work the system. That's disappointing to me
SmartLess
"Governor Tim Walz"
Yeah, I think that's right. You know, we have folks. Pete Buttigieg goes on Fox News quite a bit. He's one of our best spokespeople. Yeah, and go on and just talk to folks because I don't think we can assume that all of them are not there. Like the vice president making that case, getting out there
SmartLess
"Governor Tim Walz"
going to place they you know we're going into some of these pretty red areas and I this is another one of the vice president's things that I think when they feel this and people can see it we're getting off a bus tour in rural Pennsylvania and one side of the street has our supporters and The other side of the street's not. I said, they always make it easy for us.
SmartLess
"Governor Tim Walz"
They're all in the same hat so we can see and we know who they were. But she didn't blink and it wasn't performance art. The only people there were her husband and my wife and I. And she said, Tim, don't ever forget, we work just as hard for folks on this side of the street as on the other side of the street. You start to see some of the results of that and we're seeing it in Minnesota.
SmartLess
"Governor Tim Walz"
It's pretty hard. Like the vice president's advocating for this child tax credit. We implement it on the state level, lowers childhood poverty. Some of this stuff starts to make sense and you have to... I'm a school teacher, so I talk Maslow's hierarchy. You can't get to self-actualization about things if people are worried about their safety and their hunger and things like that.
SmartLess
"Governor Tim Walz"
Show people that these policies help make them more money. People are willing to tackle climate change if their lights come on and their bills don't go up. They don't care where the power comes from. In fact, most people would rather see it come from renewables. But I think sometimes we say, well, why can't you see we have to save the planet on this?
SmartLess
"Governor Tim Walz"
How about we just create a whole bunch of new union jobs like they did with this proposal? A whole bunch of opportunities, right? That's so great.
SmartLess
"Governor Tim Walz"
I'll tell you, Jason, I'm a geographer by training. I love maps except one. whoever built the red-blue map did more damage than you would ever imagine. Because you look at that map and you look at South Dakota and say, oh, South Dakota's all red or whatever. That's not true. That is not true. There's a mix. Or even you look at an urban area and say, well, that's blue, everybody in there.
SmartLess
"Governor Tim Walz"
That's not true either. And they created this false mindset for us because it's very visual.
SmartLess
"Governor Tim Walz"
I couldn't agree more. Look, there's... There's household names now of women who should have been able to have their own private health care kept to themselves, who are thrust into the national light because they had to go through horrific situations that should have been as simple as health care being delivered. And look, this is something that's taken a while.
SmartLess
"Governor Tim Walz"
And I think for all of us on here, men need to know how to talk about it. Men need to know how women's bodies work and how doctors understand that. And I think that's something that has changed. I agree with you. I said a while back in the debate, it took a long time for them to get around to two most important issues, the issue of women's bodily autonomy and the democracy.
SmartLess
"Governor Tim Walz"
It seems like those would have been two questions to come out of the chute with.
SmartLess
"Governor Tim Walz"
It's all in that question. It is that simple. And everything stems from that. And these guys are not gonna stop. I talk about it, the whole... you know, they're all over us. I don't want to have to talk with my wife and I infertility issues and trying to use IUI.
SmartLess
"Governor Tim Walz"
I'm with you, Will. Who's a Who's asking for this agenda? Who's asking for tax cuts for billionaires? Who's asking to repress women on this? I said this, dude, you think the guys... Bunch of men. Rich men. Well, you think they're sitting around in the bar in Wisconsin saying, you know what we really need to do?
SmartLess
"Governor Tim Walz"
We need to ban Orwell's books and we need to give billionaires a tax cut and we need to repress women. Let's hope not. Let's hope not. I hope they're talking about we need better jobs. We need to make sure, you know, I can't afford to pay for daycare. Tackle these issues. And I think we as, you know, this is what Kamala's putting out.
SmartLess
"Governor Tim Walz"
let's really tackle the issues and show them that we're going after these things. But you know, when we start to do that, they don't want to talk about it because they got no plan. Listening to them talk about healthcare, listening to Donald Trump ramble about protecting preexisting conditions, it's terrifying to me.
SmartLess
"Governor Tim Walz"
If you want to be president of the United States or vice president, you should at least have a working knowledge how insurance works and how healthcare works. And they don't.
SmartLess
"Governor Tim Walz"
Pump it. It's just crazy. We don't come in and ask them, where's your money for the heat today? We put new windows in the schools. Where's your money, kid? So this idea, and look, it's that simple philosophy of the investing. Every dollar you invest in early childhood, you get 12 back.
SmartLess
"Governor Tim Walz"
Well, I think about it and I, you know, when you're older, it's a lot of things that come in, certainly from parents and small community, but I gotta be honest with you. I grew up Catholic and at that time it was about service and the Catholic nuns, you know, get the little thump in the back of the head thinking you're too big for your own britches. And it really was
SmartLess
"Governor Tim Walz"
New Testament, to the least amongst us type of stuff. I don't talk about, you don't need people to give you a sermon in elected office, but try and live one a little bit, you know, try and do something. And I think it was from that. I feel very blessed by that. And it's, you know, it's different now.
SmartLess
"Governor Tim Walz"
My wife converted me to Lutheranism, which is basically Catholicism with more singing, but that's about the difference. I'm in, I'm in. But it's the same type of principle. So I think that's what it was. And again, we have a saying, we have a great senator who died way too early in Paul Wellstone, who said, we all do better when we all do better.
SmartLess
"Governor Tim Walz"
And it's the sense of servant leadership, the sense of putting back in and you benefit. And we keep talking about this school meals piece of it. you get better achievement, you get better students in school. And so even if you remove the moral aspect of feeding a child, you actually save money. So if you're just heartless and don't want to pay higher taxes, you save, you get $12 return on that.
SmartLess
"Governor Tim Walz"
And so I said, the simplification is you can buy school buses and school meals, or you can buy prison buses and prison meals. You make the decision where you want to fast and it's much better.
SmartLess
"Governor Tim Walz"
That's right. And public schools for all of us are at. And this is in rural areas I keep thinking about, these folks who want to voucherize. So you're going to have your voucher. So here's your voucher. You get a small tax credit or whatever, but your public school closes. Where are you going to send them? Where's that private school when you're out in a town like I was at 400?
SmartLess
"Governor Tim Walz"
The idea that the community invested, and I had wonderful public school teachers who were teaching in a small school with 20 kids in a class, coming every day prepared to do that, what a sense of investment they all made. And I think, you know, from that kind of servant leadership, but watching the people around me, you know, the old Mr. Rogers thing, when you need somebody, find the helper.
SmartLess
"Governor Tim Walz"
The helpers were all over and they were doing this. There's some of that.
SmartLess
"Governor Tim Walz"
you know i was the fun teacher and she's the teacher that kids came back 10 years later and thank say thank you for teaching me english and so mr waltz was a barrel of fun but you know but i learned english do you guys have a similar do you guys have a similar dynamic in parenting are you is she the disciplinarian and you're kind of the fun guy yeah she's amazing uh yeah my if you've seen her and she she can do anything she is just the quintessential lutheran minnesota woman yeah and we're a
SmartLess
"Governor Tim Walz"
Just Tim. Just Tim. God, I love you so much. I will say this, though. We did a trade mission to London, and the hello, governor stuff, I just lived on it for the entire week.
SmartLess
"Governor Tim Walz"
She's great. We're partners in this. I feel blessed that we got together. But just to be clear, She was much more political than me early. She would watch the conventions. I'm like, I'm not watching the conventions. It's summer. I'm going golfing or something. She paid attention. She knew it all. I didn't. She knew who people were. I'm like, I don't know who the senator from North Carolina is.
SmartLess
"Governor Tim Walz"
Look, it's a privilege. I mean, I wish we weren't in this situation. I wish this thing were a blowout. It's not going to be. It's going to come down to the hard work. But the sense of privilege here, this isn't about the next four years. This is about the next 40. And you're hearing from your people you know around the world. The rest of the world's looking for us to do the right thing here.
SmartLess
"Governor Tim Walz"
And I think to be a part of that and everybody to be the little things they can do, whether it's door knocking, whether it's going on and given what little they have, you know, donations that people give, 10 bucks, that's a lot for a lot of people. They do something else and they give the help. I think it's this idea that you can be part of something bigger and that's what people want.
SmartLess
"Governor Tim Walz"
That's the whole thing about teams. Like the kids who enjoyed being on football teams were the most excited. is the kid who got in on kickoffs because you're going to play everybody. He wasn't the best athlete maybe, but that kid was there because he was with his buddies, he was with his team.
SmartLess
"Governor Tim Walz"
And I think for Americans, this idea we can be in this, we don't have to agree, and I'm not naive, this is tough. There's folks that don't agree on anything, but I think the vast majority of people realize it doesn't need to be this way. And I give Kamala Harris full credit. This idea of joy, and I watched the Wall Street Journal poo-poo joy.
SmartLess
"Governor Tim Walz"
I'll take joy over being like crabby and awful and no one wants to be around you. Me too. That's what she's doing and politics can be that way. Look, Donald Trump wants to make it. It would be easier, I guess he's saying, is just elect one person forever and let them make the decisions. This democracy stuff is hard. It's messy.
SmartLess
"Governor Tim Walz"
Hello, governor. Hi, governor. And it wasn't ironic. It was like real. I know.
SmartLess
"Governor Tim Walz"
It's difficult and it's frustrating, but it's the best that's been devised.
SmartLess
"Governor Tim Walz"
You know, have you thought about that? Well, she said it and I agree with her. She needs to appoint a Republican to the cabinet. I do think it matters to a position of authority. And look, there's a lot of them out there. These folks who are coming out and speaking on behalf of these Republicans, I disagree with many of them. Their values are there. I served with these people.
SmartLess
"Governor Tim Walz"
People like Jeff Flake, the senator from Arizona, super conservative, but that man is as honest as anything. I've dealt with him. Jim Langford, who wrote the big piece of the immigration bill, I served with him. That guy is the most conservative person I ever met, but he's also one of the most honorable.
SmartLess
"Governor Tim Walz"
Some of these people need to be put in a position where they truly have the ability to influence things because they are ethical and they care about this country. And I think that's, I think that's something that really sets her apart to make a high profile appointment to the cap. Or two or three. Yes.
SmartLess
"Governor Tim Walz"
Bring them folks who care about the country and let us look, I don't want to be surrounded by people. I, in my organization, my folks know that I'll say something. They say, you know, with all due respect, governor, that is a horrible idea and we should not do it. Yeah. And I'm like, okay, good. Thank you for stopping me from doing that horrible idea. Yeah, yeah.
SmartLess
"Governor Tim Walz"
Yeah, this just irritates, and I don't do it to irritate my pescatarian daughter. Beef jerky is my thing. I'm a homemade beef jerky, and Pete Buttigieg's in-laws made some, and he brought me some. And I like the idea of a friend bringing you homemade beef jerky and know that that pleases you more than anything. So that's my thing.
SmartLess
"Governor Tim Walz"
Yeah, this was a big deal for me, you guys. Thank you for having me on. I'm a big, big, big fan and appreciate all you're doing. Yeah, likewise. We really appreciate it. Thanks, Tim. Thanks, guys. Bye. Have a great day. That was great, thank you. You guys are the best. Hey, I didn't get in on this. I heard you guys often when you're talking, you're talking the golf stuff.
SmartLess
"Governor Tim Walz"
This is a thing, honest to God, I don't know if you know this. So I grew up in that really small town. Yeah. Sand Green Golf. Yes. You know it? I know about it. What is Sand Green Golf? Oh, you gotta hear this.
SmartLess
"Governor Tim Walz"
I did. Small town. And you played golf there? Played golf. And like everybody played golf. Farmers, everybody. And it wasn't country club golf. It was sand green golf. And what it is, the greens are made out of sand and they're oiled with vegetable oil. Well, in the old days, they were oiled with oil, which was not. I think that's what they do in the Middle East. In Australia.
SmartLess
"Governor Tim Walz"
You rake the green with a path, and then you putt, and then you rake it again to put ridges in it. And they're little postage stamp-sized greens, but it's a whole different game. I hear you guys talk a lot about golf. You've got to get on a sand green golf course.
SmartLess
"Governor Tim Walz"
We got to win. We're going to find you. All right. Thanks, fellas. Awesome.
SmartLess
"Governor Tim Walz"
Well, you know, the good thing is, is, you know, old men need less sleep or whatever, I guess. Look, I don't, I do not sleep that much. It's, I've been using this saying, you know, it's kind of my catch thing. I said, you know, we'll sleep when we're dead. And I had a woman come up to me and goes, you're taking this too literally. You look like hell, man. Right.
SmartLess
"Governor Tim Walz"
It's amazing. Yeah, no, well, it's a privilege to do it, but you're right. My daughter keeps me on this. She got one of these rings, you know, monitor your sleep, whatever. She thinks I need one of those, but I think that will just tell me what I already know. I'm not getting any sleep. That's all it'll say.
SmartLess
"Governor Tim Walz"
It is just the thing. I think seeing – the one thing about this is there is an end state, if you will, on November 5th. So you just kind of put your mind into it and say, look, there will be a time when this ends. Oh, really? That's probably not true. You think things get calm after the 5th? I don't, but it's the trick I play myself. Team is good.
SmartLess
"Governor Tim Walz"
I'm surprisingly, and you wouldn't know it by looking at me, I'm a pretty dedicated runner. I run about five times a week. Oh, that's great. How far do you go? I go a 5K usually between three and five miles.
SmartLess
"Governor Tim Walz"
I'm like, for an old guy, I'm kind of freakishly fast, you know, nine minute miles, little less or whatever, which is, and you know, people are like, oh my God, that's a world record for a man your age.
SmartLess
"Governor Tim Walz"
I do a treadmill quite a bit of the time, but you have to get outside and my team knows like wherever we're anywhere. And actually, uh, You know, here a while back after we finished that debate, the next morning I got to run in Central Park. Oh, nice. We ran that reservoir route. Of course, it's just stunning. And I'm still truly, you know, the small-town guy.
SmartLess
"Governor Tim Walz"
I have not spent much time in New York. It just blows me away when I'm there. And that morning, you know, so many great people, you know, kind of good for the psyche. Oh, good job, Governor. And I'm like, oh, thank goodness. And they're, of course, super surprised I'm running too, so it was like a double positive.
SmartLess
"Governor Tim Walz"
Are you listening to... Rarely, sometimes. I'm kind of zen on that. I got into it, you know, and then I got into the Garmin watch and then I got in on the timing and, you know, how fast my miles were.
SmartLess
"Governor Tim Walz"
Yeah. I kind of let that go and I kind of, you know, run by feel trying to get into it. And I do think there's something and especially like when I'm in Minneapolis, you know, I got a state trooper, but just get pretty calm. They're running behind or whatever. Folks who run, leave their, I'm convinced of this, dog folks and runners, they leave politics out of it because they know it's your time.
SmartLess
"Governor Tim Walz"
So it's really refreshing that people talk to you like a runner, not like you're the governor or something. So like, you know, looking good or whatever.
SmartLess
"Governor Tim Walz"
the vikings or the corn huskers or whatever it is or or or or reality television or what what what do you like to talk about that's kind of nice and silly yeah i i think cars i grew up at a time you guys a little younger than me this whole cars thing i think we were much more into it you know the pixar movie i remember i apologize for him so but i just think like classic cars i've never really owned that many but you know the cars you have i watched the cars i used to own you know i i
SmartLess
"Governor Tim Walz"
grew up in high school and had a beautiful Camaro, you know, at the time. And then I traded it for a Honda Civic. And now you watch these auction shows and I'm like, damn it, that car's worth $80,000 now. And I traded it for a Honda Civic worth two grand. Exactly.
SmartLess
"Governor Tim Walz"
The clean power of electric. Look, whole spectrum, the whole spectrum of this. I was in Phoenix for, it was a governor's event or whatever, and there's folks there displaying their wares and the lucid folks were there with their... Fastest production car ever. You put any Lamborghini out there, this thing, and it was like inside a spaceship. Oh, this thing's like 1.8 seconds in the quarter.
SmartLess
"Governor Tim Walz"
I mean, it's zero to 60. It's unbelievable. And it's like a whole new world. And I have never yet owned a fully electric, but they are fascinating. Yeah, they're the best.
SmartLess
"Governor Tim Walz"
This is for me. And I said, my thing, my prize possession is that I've had it for a long time. I got a 79 International Harvester. You know, they used to give these things away. A Scout is like a Scouter. Scout, Scout 2. Do you guys hear that? He's on this thing. But yeah, these things are, you used to get it if you bought a tractor. They threw in the Scout for you. It was the original SUV.
SmartLess
"Governor Tim Walz"
Yeah, there was a, you know, back in the late 70s. So mine was right before they went out of business. It was 1979.
SmartLess
"Governor Tim Walz"
They were the precursors of SUVs. But here's the deal. 40 years ago at the end of October is when they closed. They were made in Fort Wayne, Indiana. So on that date this year, they're announcing the new Scout, bringing it back fully electric. Come on. No kidding. So an International Harvester Scout, that famous name, name tape is back. Volkswagen bought it. And so they're launching that thing.
SmartLess
"Governor Tim Walz"
Wow. That's the stuff I talk about. And, yeah, it's the car stuff because it's such – You've got to go do Dax Shepard's podcast because he'll talk to you for three days about cars. I love these guys. And the guys who are so smart tell me how to do it. Look, I'm Tinker on the edges. These are guys that can, you know, replace a transmission. I love that.
SmartLess
"Governor Tim Walz"
I said when I get done with this, I'm going to go back to like community college and learn like body work. You know, just a sense of accomplishment that you can fix your own vehicle. You can put on a new quarter panel. You can paint it.
SmartLess
"Governor Tim Walz"
Yeah, some of it. Some of it I can. But look, on these new ones, I don't even know how to open the hood. I will say that. I sound like I'm the old guy. These newfangled... But the cars that you used to be able to do, my kids, it would blow their mind, like, some of the stuff we could fix. Like, my vehicle's overheating. I said, oh, it's the thermostat.
SmartLess
"Governor Tim Walz"
And you'd show them how to take it out, put it in boiling water, pop the thermostat.
SmartLess
"Governor Tim Walz"
It makes you feel powerless. I said, I think showing my kids some of these things that you can try and repair, I like doing it. Now, look, we all know that's also very, very dangerous because I don't know sometimes and I start taking stuff apart and then you're like, well, here's six extra screws and there's no idea where they're going. There's a bit of that with me.
SmartLess
"Governor Tim Walz"
Yeah, there's no T. Yeah, there's no T. It seems pretty easy. But, you know, in all fairness, probably when we immigrated from Germany, they probably dropped the T. Well, this is the last wave of it.
SmartLess
"Governor Tim Walz"
Well, you know the story. In typical me fashion, I missed the first one. Sure. I thought it was like, you know, a car warranty call coming in, so I didn't take it. And truly, no one knew. Like, this was her decision. And that Tuesday morning, no one knew. And then I got another call and said, pick up your damn phone. And then called back.
SmartLess
"Governor Tim Walz"
It was overwhelming. It was an incredible privilege. But I heard you guys talking and I listened to the Ted Danson, Woody Harrelson piece about imposter syndrome. Just trust me, when the Vice President of the United States calls you and said, you're on the ticket with me, it sinks in. Pretty cool, yeah. Fast.
SmartLess
"Governor Tim Walz"
Well, this is one, and I think it's just your mental health of compartmentalizing things. Still focused on, you know, this final stretch that's ahead of us. Still thinking about that. I trust the vice president will make her decision on that. You know, I said... I wasn't interviewing for a job when I talked to her. I said, use my skill sets.
SmartLess
"Governor Tim Walz"
If you need to plunk me in Omaha to win one vote, send me there. Just what I would help. And I think she, and it feels really right to me. She talks about, you know, a kid from Oakland, a kid from Nebraska, middle-class kids, kind of complimentary things. We've lived different lives, but we have the same values.
SmartLess
"Governor Tim Walz"
So I would assume she would know, you know, my passion is kids and teaching and education. And that's it.