The emotional exchange between Tim Walz and his teenage son, Gus, has triggered a wave of admiration and support, but it has also provoked ugly bullying attacks on the internet.
The emotional exchange between Tim Walz and his teenage son, Gus, has triggered a wave of admiration and support, but it has also provoked ugly bullying attacks on the internet.
Blog Article
An emotional moment between Tim Walz and his teenage son, Gus, has triggered a flood of admiration and approval, but it has at the same time provoked nasty bullying attacks on the internet.
Gus Walz, who suffers from a nonverbal learning disability, along with anxiety and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), looked on eagerly from the front seat of Chicago’s United Center and cried openly on Wednesday night as his father, the Democratic candidate for vice president, delivered his acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention.
The Minnesota governor was recounting the difficult fertility treatment he and his wife, Gwen, underwent to conceive their daughter, Hope.
Walz continued by expressing his love for his family from the stage, saying, "Hope, Gus, and Gwen, you mean everything to me. And I love you."
Gus Walz jumped up from his seat, with teardrops running down his cheeks, pointed his index finger and exclaimed, “I love you, Dad.”
The heartwarming exchange between father and son, captured on live TV by television cameras, quickly went viral and has largely been received adoringly on the internet and across media outlets.
Fox News shared a clip of the viral moment on its TikTok page, stating "Gus Walz steals the show during dad's acceptance speech." The comments were mostly positive.
“I hope to inspire my kids so much that when they see me give a speech about the dreams and passion I hold for my country, they cry with emotion like Gus Walz did,” posted Chasten Buttigieg, husband of Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, on X.
“@Tim_Walz has dedicated his life to service and has clearly succeeded in being an excellent, supportive, and caring father throughout his life, ” he wrote. “We should all be so lucky to know a love like that.”
U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., who addressed the audience before Walz on Wednesday night, praised the love between Walz and his children.
More: Who is Gus Walz and what is a non-verbal learning disorder?
“You know you’ve done well as a parent when your kids are as proud of you as Gus and Hope are of Tim Walz,” she posted on X. “'That’s my dad.' No three words better capture our future vice president. ”
Actress Mia Farrow also commented: “Gosh! When young Gus Walz, cherished son of Gwen and Tim Walz, his face covered in tears of pride, shouted 'That’s my dad!' he stole my heart. ”
Critics dismiss Gus Walz as a 'puffy beta male'
But the show of affection provoked a wave of sarcastic and cruel comments from internet trolls, primarily MAGA supporters of former President Donald Trump, who is running against Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris and Walz in November.
Conservative columnist and provocative commentator Ann Coulter mocked the teenager’s tears. “Talk about weird, ” she posted on X. The message has since been deleted.
Mike Crispi, a Trump backer and podcaster from New Jersey, mocked Walz’s “stupid crying son” on X and added, “Congratulations on raising your kid to be a puffy beta male. Congrats.”
Alec Lace, a Trump supporter who runs a show about fatherhood, took his own swipe at the teenager: “Give that kid a tampon already,” he said, in an apparent reference to a Minnesota state law that Walz passed as governor requiring educational institutions to provide free menstrual products to students.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that Jay Weber, a conservative Milwaukee radio host, posted a message on X criticizing the Walz family. now deleted.
"If the Walzs represent today's American man,
1 | 1 |
2 | 2 |
3 | 3 |
4 | 4 |
5 | 5 |
6 | 6 |
7 | 7 |
8 | 8 |
9 | 9 |
10 | 10 |
11 | 11 |
12 | 12 |
13 | 13 |
14 | 14 |
15 | 15 |
16 | 16 |
17 | 17 |
18 | 18 |
19 | 19 |
20 | 20 |
21 | 21 |
22 | 22 |
23 | 23 |
24 | 24 |
25 | 25 |
26 | 26 |
27 | 27 |
28 | 28 |
29 | 29 |
30 | 30 |
31 | 31 |
32 | 32 |
33 | 33 |
34 | 34 |
35 | 35 |
36 | 36 |
37 | 37 |
38 | 38 |
39 | 39 |
40 | 40 |
41 | 41 |
42 | 42 |
43 | 43 |
44 | 44 |
45 | 45 |
46 | 46 |
47 | 47 |
48 | 48 |
49 | 49 |
50 | 50 |
51 | 51 |
52 | 52 |
53 | 53 |
54 | 54 |
55 | 55 |
56 | 56 |
57 | 57 |
58 | 58 |
59 | 59 |
60 | 60 |
61 | 61 |
62 | 62 |
63 | 63 |
64 | 64 |
65 | 65 |
66 | 66 |
67 | 67 |
68 | 68 |
69 | 69 |
70 | 70 |
71 | 71 |
72 | 72 |
73 | 73 |
74 | 74 |
75 | 75 |
76 | 76 |
77 | 77 |
78 | 78 |
79 | 79 |
80 | 80 |
81 | 81 |
82 | 82 |
83 | 83 |
84 | 84 |
85 | 85 |
86 | 86 |
87 | 87 |
88 | 88 |
89 | 89 |
90 | 90 |
91 | 91 |
92 | 92 |
93 | 93 |
94 | 94 |
95 | 95 |
96 | 96 |
97 | 97 |
98 | 98 |
99 | 99 |
100 | 100 |
101 | 101 |
102 | 102 |
103 | 103 |
104 | 104 |
105 | 105 |
106 | 106 |
107 | 107 |
108 | 108 |
109 | 109 |
110 | 110 |
111 | 111 |
112 | 112 |
113 | 113 |
114 | 114 |
115 | 115 |
116 | 116 |
117 | 117 |
118 | 118 |
119 | 119 |
120 | 120 |
121 | 121 |
122 | 122 |
123 | 123 |
124 | 124 |
125 | 125 |
126 | 126 |
127 | 127 |
128 | 128 |
129 | 129 |
130 | 130 |
131 | 131 |
132 | 132 |
133 | 133 |
134 | 134 |
135 | 135 |
136 | 136 |
137 | 137 |
138 | 138 |
139 | 139 |
140 | 140 |
141 | 141 |
142 | 142 |
143 | 143 |
144 | 144 |
145 | 145 |
146 | 146 |
147 | 147 |
148 | 148 |
149 | 149 |
150 | 150 |
151 | 151 |
152 | 152 |
153 | 153 |
154 | 154 |
155 | 155 |
156 | 156 |
157 | 157 |
158 | 158 |
159 | 159 |
160 | 160 |
161 | 161 |
162 | 162 |
163 | 163 |
164 | 164 |
165 | 165 |
166 | 166 |
167 | 167 |
168 | 168 |
169 | 169 |
170 | 170 |
171 | 171 |
172 | 172 |
173 | 173 |
174 | 174 |
175 | 175 |
176 | 176 |
177 | 177 |
178 | 178 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
11 |
12 |
13 |
14 |
15 |
16 |
17 |
18 |
19 |
20 |
21 |
22 |
23 |
24 |
25 |
26 |
27 |
28 |
29 |
30 |
31 |