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Since Tim Walz was chosen as Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate, his record as Minnesota governor has been the subject of a deluge of public scrutiny — and rightly so. However, no aspect of his tenure as governor is as outrageous as his reckless disregard for the rule of law when Minneapolis burned during the 2020 riots.
Yet, right on cue, countless media “fact checkers” dutifully came forward to try to save Walz from the obviously justified criticism for his disastrous handling of the situation. But they simply cannot hide from the truth.
Tim Walz let Minneapolis burn, and in doing so, he ended up putting police in Minnesota and across the country into a domestic war zone.
Rioters demonstrate outside a burning fast food restaurant on May 29, 2020, in Minneapolis, following the death of George Floyd. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)
Many have pointed to the image of Minneapolis' Third Ward in flames as emblematic of Tim Walz's time as governor. And it fits.
I SAW HOW GOVERNOR TIM WALZ LET MY HOME STATE OF MINNESOTA BURN
Minneapolis police officers tried to defend the Third Precinct for days until they couldn't anymore. They waited for the Minnesota National Guard to show up, but those reinforcements never came.
Some will try to argue that Democratic Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey deserved most of the blame for what happened during those May nights in 2020. What they forget or choose to ignore is that the activation of the National Guard was Walz's responsibility — and his alone — as governor.
According to a 2020 report by the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, not exactly a bastion of pro-police sentiment, Frey called Walz days before the precinct burned down to ask for help — and received none.
'LET MINNEAPOLIS BURN': RETIRED POLICE LIEUTENANT CRITICIZES GOVERNOR WALZ FOR HANDING CITY OVER TO RIOTS
After receiving a call from his police chief early in the evening of May 27, the second night of unrest, Frey said he called Walz and asked for National Guard support. “We expressed to him the gravity of the situation. The urgency was clear,” Frey told the paper. The mayor added that the governor “didn’t say yes” but that he “would consider it.”
The mayor's office sent a written request again the next morning, even noting that first responders had been injured the night before. That night, the Minneapolis Third Precinct police station would go up in flames.
Instead of doing his duty to maintain law and order and protect the law-abiding residents of Minneapolis, instead of supporting law enforcement officers whose lives were in imminent danger, Walz simply let it all burn.
WALZ SUPPORTED THE “ALTERNATIVES TO POLICE ENFORCEMENT” PACKAGE IN THE MAXIMUM MOVEMENT TO DEFUND THE FUNDS
Then the violence spread.
From Seattle to Portland, Atlanta to Washington DC, the example set by Tim Walz’s radical dereliction of duty and disregard for the rule of law became a model for emboldened criminals and weak politicians across the country.
Meanwhile, many of those police departments across the country were trying to protect and serve their neighbors and fellow citizens from this nightly chaos while dealing with budget and staffing constraints placed on them by the so-called “defund the police” movement — something Walz also publicly supported at the time. They were outnumbered and surrounded on all sides.
MINNESOTA MURDER STATS RISE UNDER WALZ'S LEADERSHIP AS HE TRIES TO LINK VIOLENT CRIME TREND TO TRUMP: DATA
Even without nighttime riots, emergency responders have it tough enough. They show up every day knowing they might not make it home that night. They choose to do this job because they know the law won't enforce itself, that there will always be people willing to break it, and that without someone standing in their way, innocent Americans will get hurt as a result.
That's why the Pipe Hitter Foundation exists: We stand up for the men and women who defend America. We support police, other first responders, and military personnel by providing legal assistance, fighting for the public policies they deserve, and keeping the public informed about what they're going through. We stand up for them so they can stand up for us.
The criticism of Walz’s handling of the Minneapolis riots is well-deserved. Walz’s wife even bragged about leaving the windows open so she could savor the smell of burning tires. But while she was enjoying her aromatherapy session, police and other first responders were in a domestic war zone, risking their lives every moment of every night thanks to her husband.
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Failing to enforce the law is an invitation to break it; any law enforcement officer with any experience on the job will tell you that, because it is a fixed and immutable rule of human nature. It always has been. That reality was on full display throughout the summer of 2020, and it all started with the reckless and failed “leadership” of Tim Walz.
The law enforcement community will not forget this, and neither should anyone else.
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