Democrats in Washington have seemed almost paralyzed by the onslaught of far-right appointments and draconian executive orders coming from the Trump White House. But some state governors seem more willing to oppose the federal government than congressional Democrats are. In January, Governor Tim Walz, of Minnesota, tweeted, “President Trump just shut off funding for law enforcement, farmers, schools, veterans, and health care. . . . Minnesota needs answers. We’ll see Trump in court.” He’s only one of many Democratic governors challening the federal government. Walz joins David Remnick to offer his analysis of why Democrats lost the 2024 election, why the Party has been losing support from men, and what Democrats need to do now that Donald Trump is back in the White House.
Chapter 1: What challenges are Democrats facing under Trump?
They seem to have more leverage to oppose the federal government. Governor Tim Walz tweeted this in January. President Trump just shut off funding for law enforcement, farmers, schools, veterans, and health care. Minnesota needs answers. We'll see Trump in court. That's one of the many reasons that I wanted to speak with Tim Walz.
That, of course, and the election that brought Donald Trump back to the White House. I hear all the time from non-Trump voters two reactions to what's going on in the last month. One is... I don't want to watch the news. I want to shut it all out. It's too much. And the other thing is, where is the Democratic Party? Let's start with the inclination to shut things out.
You nodded when I said that, and you hear the same thing.
I think it's human nature. Look, I'm with them on that, too. It does feel like, you know, and we know this, you don't cover the planes that land. You know, almost literally, you cover the planes that crash, which we've seen. And so people, I think, have a tendency to want to move on with it. People are just...
trying to take a breath, seeing what the impacts were, but they're out there is what I would say. There hasn't been a disengagement. I'll make the case on this. I use this, David, that President Obama, I talked to him and he said, look, when I came in in 2009, He had a 70% approval rating. We had the House. We had the Senate. There was no charismatic Republican.
It was John Boehner and Mitch McConnell. There wasn't somebody on the scene. But what evolved out of that was the grassroots Tea Party movement. And then the Republican leadership followed in, lifted that up, and started to move forward. So I'm not so certain. And I would—the real resistance here is— the pushback towards these policies that aren't improving people's lives and they're showing up.
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Chapter 2: How do Democratic governors oppose the federal government?
If I were Republicans, I would be really, really worried about these town halls because in my opinion, That was the real start that led into the 2016 election. That Tea Party movement did not lose its – it just morphed into mega in my opinion. And look, it wasn't totally organic. I know that.
But you're suggesting a kind of parallel existence, a parallel opposition, a center-left Tea Party movement in a way.
What I'm saying is, is that I think for whatever reason, we've got to show them that our policies work and I'll take responsibility for the, you know, I needed to do my job and win this election. I knew what was coming if we didn't. And here we are with that being said.
But did you, did you actually know? I mean, is the, the storm of the last four weeks exactly what you and Kamala Harris envisioned? Is there nothing that surprised you?
I thought there would be massive, more of massive immigration raids on inauguration day. Mm-hmm. I thought they'd be in the schools, things like that. So in that regard, my imagination was pretty good about what they could do because I heard it out there. We need to deliver the policies. And look, I'm way more popular than Trump is in Minnesota, not because I'm a popular guy necessarily.
It's because the policies we were able to put in place resonate with people. And I, for whatever reason, we've lost that with people. They voted for billionaires who gutted programs that many of these people who supported him are going to pay a price for. But We can't just write that off to, well, these people just didn't figure it out or whatever.
We didn't give them an alternative that was strong enough for them to come.
But I think there's a lot of people that feel the Democratic leadership in Washington is too hesitant. For example, Hakeem Jeffries, who's the leader of the Democrats in the House. said that, you know, he's like Aaron Judge. Aaron Judge is a great hitter because he doesn't swing at every pitch. And that Hakeem Jeffries says, I'm not going to swing at every pitch.
And there's a lot of things to swing at. And to many people, this seems exceedingly complacent.
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Chapter 3: What are Tim Walz's thoughts on the Democratic Party's current direction?
So, you know, my analysis on this is I think we're too cautious to go into media environments that we haven't been. I think we are less likely, like you go back to your earlier question, we have to flood the zone. I'm a shadow government guy. I think we need a shadow Department of Transportation secretary.
I think if Pete Buttigieg is out there talking about these plane accidents, he should be there every day. He's articulate. He's smart. He knows that he should be. That's true across the spectrum.
Governors are starting to do this. Governor, you mentioned specific services that are not being delivered in your state and elsewhere. Can you boil that down? What are the specific services that have suddenly stalled in Minnesota as a result of what's happening in Washington?
We saw in our federal workers, we have, you know, not a lot. We're a giver state, not a taker state. But we've got, you know, thousands of federal workers. And then today, I've got the analysis of what the Medicaid reductions would look like.
And I think you need to tell them.
What do they look like? Well, I'll just take an example. He's a leader, Tom Emmer, you know, number three over there in the house or number two wherever he's at. He's got 124,000 Medicaid recipients. 21,000 of them will be cut off. Those are things that are real to people. So I think getting these numbers, articulating where it's at, and then saying what we would do differently.
I think that's been the gap in this, to be honest with you, David. I don't think we have done a good enough job. We tried it on the trail, but I, you know, opportunity economy, that doesn't really fall where you at. You've got to be specific with people. Having Medicare pay for in-home health care for our seniors. I got it right now. I got a mother-in-law just had a surgery for a brain tumor.
She's going to need to go into rehab or whatever. The ability for Medicare to be able to pay for that rehab in her home, rather than that would not only save us money, it would improve quality of life and make a difference. And that was a proposal the vice president put out.
It didn't get anywhere. Governor, last week, I had the opportunity to speak with Senator John Fetterman, who said the following. I think that the Democratic Party made it increasingly difficult for men, specifically white men, to make that choice, meaning the choice for the Democrats. I think it's incredibly difficult sometimes.
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Chapter 4: What regrets does Tim Walz have about the recent election?
Yeah, I think so. They, you know, my team took everything in and it's, this is on me. It's a hundred percent on me. It's, you know, people who say, yo, you were overprepped and you did all this. No, I'm the guy standing there and this is a hundred percent on me. I will argue that I would argue like golf. I am not a scratch golfer. I'm a 90 golfer.
I think my team got, I think my team got me to low eighties just by the work they did, but that's about the best you're going to get. But what struck me about it was- Oh, I think so. Well, yes, I know I could have been. It's my inclination. Like, I think that, you know, and it's retrospect on this.
They maybe should have let me be when I have had really good debates, which I do have those once in a while, where I'm just speaking the truth straight to it. But the thing that struck me was the ease that he would say things that somebody that smart knows wasn't true. and the ability to say it was really disarming to me, because I'm horrible at it. When I get it wrong, people can see it.
For example, what did he say that was markedly untrue? Talking about immigrants and housing was one that was really it.
25 million illegal aliens competing with Americans for scarce homes is one of the most significant drivers of home prices in the country. It's why we have massive increases in home prices that have happened right alongside massive increases in illegal alien...
We know that's not true. That's not why housing is more difficult to find. It's not anything like that. And then he morphed that into the use of federal lands, that the federal lands are too protected. And it was a really, you know, under, inside the bubble thing that he was talking about is that we need the federal government out of this. We can demonize immigrants at the same time.
And I'm like, I'm sitting there thinking to myself, we've got a housing shortage in Minneapolis, not as bad as other cities, but we have it. There's no federal lands here, and there's no immigrant can afford a house in Minneapolis.
And you're making this case, and I'm talking about it's people like you, J.D., the venture capitalists who came in and preyed on these areas, bought up all the houses, jacked them up, gentrified the area, and made it difficult for it to be there. And then you blame the very people who you kicked out. And that part of it of standing side by side, I watched – He was good at it.
And how are you going to find common ground with someone who is so diametrically opposed to where things are at?
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Chapter 5: How did Tim Walz perceive his debate performance against J.D. Vance?
Yep, it does. And that's one I'll take with me to the grave, that I knew what my job was. It wasn't to become vice president. It was to protect the most vulnerable. It was to make sure that we balance the budget, to make sure that we keep peace in the world, make sure we tackle climate change. make sure that women make their own reproductive rights. All of those things are at stress right now.
So I think for me is to do the best I can to push back against that, to do the right thing. Look, if there's a place to find common ground with Donald Trump, I would find it. But I think we're being very naive here. He's not interested in finding common ground with us. He is not interested in that. He sees us as an impediment and an obstacle.
And I think he'll continue to move to remove those obstacles the best he can.
Who do you see in the Democratic Party as a possibility for 28? Because as we know, these dates come at us faster than we sometimes anticipate.
It's deep. And look, I'm going to say it. I'm biased towards the governors. And there's a bunch of them out there doing the work. But look, there's people that I unabashed. I'm a big fan of Pete Buttigieg. I think he talks about it. I don't know what Vice President Harris is going to do, but I think she's got a lot to offer folks. And I wish we would have got to see more of that.
But I think the bench is deep.
Have you talked to her much since the election?
A couple times.
Just a couple of times?
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