Thursday, August 22, 2024

Fact check: Tim Walz targeted by misinformation online
DW

Since his nomination as the Democratic vice-presidential candidate for the 2024 elections, Tim Walz has been the subject of numerous false claims and misinformation.

Since his nomination as Kamala Harris' running mate, Tim Walz' past has come under scrutiny
Image: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images


Tim Walz, a 60-year-old veteran and former geography teacher, has recently gained national prominence after being chosen as the vice-presidential running mate by Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 Democratic presidential campaign. Prior to this, Walz was not widely known outside the state of Minnesota, where he serves as governor.

Walz has been a critic of former President Donald Trump, particularly regarding national security, healthcare and social justice issues. However, his ascent to the national stage has also made him a target of misinformation, much of it perpetuated by Trump and his supporters.

DW has investigated a few of these claims:

This post falsely claims that Tim Walz lied about being deployed to AfghanistanImage: X

Claim: Tim Walz lied about his military service in Afghanistan.

DW fact check: False

A viral post on social media platform X, which has been viewed a million times, accused Walz of lying about his military service in Afghanistan. The post quoted him as saying, "I deployed in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. My battalion provided security in the early stages of the war in Afghanistan."

It then claimed, "Walz in fact didn't serve in Afghanistan."

While it is true that Walz did not serve in Afghanistan, the post misquoted him, removing crucial context from his statement. The video attached to the post shows Walz in an older interview, where he actually said, "My battalion provided base security throughout the European theater from Turkey to England in the early stages of the war in Afghanistan." It seems the statement was deliberately altered to mislead viewers.

This is not the first time a controversy has arisen about Walz's military background.

In a 2018 campaign video, Walz himself claimed to have handled assault weapons "in war." This was false, as Walz did not participate in combat operations. The Harris campaign later accepted the mistake and clarified that Walz had "misspoken" in this video.

During a rally in Montana, Donald Trump claimed Tim Walz ordered schools to provide tampons in boys' bathrooms
Image: Rick Bowmer/AP/picture alliance

Claim: Walz ordered tampons be put in boys' bathrooms in Minnesota schools.

DW fact check: False

This claim was made by former President Donald Trump, who alleged, "He [Walz] ordered tampons to be put into boys' bathrooms. Do we have any children here? Please close your ears. He ordered tampons in boys' bathrooms, OK?"

As governor of Minnesota, Walz did sign a bill last year mandating that schools provide free menstrual products. It requires schools to offer these products to students at no extra charge, stating, "The products must be available to all menstruating students in restrooms regularly used by students in grades 4 to 12 ... ."

However, the bill does not specify that these products should be placed in boys' bathrooms. Media reports in the US have clarified that the bill aims to ensure access to menstrual products for all menstruating students, including transgender boys and nonbinary students who may use boys' restrooms.

Brendan Nyhan, a political scientist and professor of Government at Dartmouth College, notes that while misinformation has always been part of every election, it has become more central since Trump entered national politics.

"You can argue that polarization has increased the incentive to promote misinformation. We can't show that systematically overall, but we certainly can say that the volume of misinformation coming from Trump is unprecedented," Nyhan told DW.

The official account of Donald Trump's campaign claims Tim Walz wants to help migrants to enter the USA irregularlyImage: X/@TrumpWarRoom

Claim: Walz said he would invest in a ladder factory to help migrants cross the border.

DW fact check: Misleading

A 14-second video clip of Walz posted by the official X account of Trump's campaign suggests that Walz advocated for aiding migrants in illegally crossing the US border. In the clip, Walz is heard saying, "If he [Donald Trump] talks about this wall, I always say, let me know how high it is. If it's 25 feet, then I'll invest in the 30-foot ladder factory. That's not how you stop this."

The post by the Trump team, commented, "Tim Walz wants to invest in a 'ladder factory' to help illegals scale the border wall."

This is yet another instance of a statement being taken out of context. Key portions of Walz's comments were omitted, leading to a distorted interpretation. In his full interview with CNN, Walz argued that building a wall is an ineffective solution to controlling irregular migration.

Walz continued to say, "You stop this using electronics. You stop it using more border control agents. And you stop it by having a legal system that allows for that tradition of allowing folks to come here, just like my relatives did, to come here, be able to work and establish the American dream."
It is true that Tim Walz was arrested for driving drunk in 1995Image: X

Claim: Walz was arrested in 1995 for drunk driving.

DW fact check: True

A series of social media posts claim that Walz was arrested for drunk and reckless driving on a Saturday night in 1995. He was reportedly driving nearly 100 miles per hour (roughly 160 kilometers per hour) in a 55 mph (roughly 90 km/h) zone. It is true, and according to police and court records, Walz admitted to the offense. He was fined $200 (nowadays approximately €180) plus had to pay the court fees. His driver's license was suspended for 90 days. At the time, Walz was working as a teacher.

However, when Walz first ran for Congress in 2006, his campaign provided misleading information about the incident. A CNN investigation revealed that his campaign denied Walz was drunk that night and claimed he was never arrested. His press team consistently insisted that the driving under the influence of alcohol charge had been dropped because it was unfounded.

Walz later acknowledged the facts of the case in 2018, recognizing it as a life-changing event that prompted him to quit drinking.

Walz's rapid rise to the national stage caught many by surprise, leading to heightened scrutiny of his past. Experts suggest that this attention has fueled public curiosity about his background.

"He has been the subject of more attention than a lot of vice-presidential picks, and that may have increased interest among both the media and the public in learning more about his background," said political scientist Nyhan.

Edited by: Uta Steinwehr




Tim Walz 'dancing cowboy' clip is manipulated

Published on August 22, 2024 at 14:15
3 min read
By Rob LEVERAFP USA


Copyright © AFP 2017-2024. Any commercial use of this content requires a subscription. Click here to find out more.
As Tim Walz rises to national prominence as the Democratic nominee for US vice president, online posts claim a video shows him dancing in a cowboy hat with his midriff exposed and dollar bills in his waistband. But the clip has been altered; the original shows a different person without glasses who has shared other clips of his particular dance style.


"Is that Tampon Tim? If so, all of the sudden things make A LOT more sense!" says an August 18, 2024 X post sharing the video.

The post, which accumulated thousands of interactions, references a meme criticizing the Minnesota governor for signing a law providing free menstrual products to school students.

"This newly discovered video is from a few years ago, and it confirms what I already suspected," says a Facebook post with the same footage of a man shaking his hips and blowing kisses.

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Screenshot from an X post taken August 22, 2024

Walz has been the target of much disinformation since Vice President Kamala Harris selected him as her running mate to challenge Republicans Donald Trump and J.D. Vance in the November presidential election. He officially accepted the Democratic nomination in a speech on the third night of the party's convention in Chicago, during which he told the story of his middle-class upbringing in Nebraska, where he worked on the family farm.

But the video circulating online does not show Walz.

Using a keyword search, AFP found the unedited video was posted on TikTok in February 2024 (archived here). The clip, credited to the account @thrivingoutcast, shows a person with a different face who is not wearing glasses.

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Screenshot from TikTok, with elements highlighted by AFP
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Screenshot of a Facebook post, with elements highlighted by AFP
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Screenshot from TikTok, with elements highlighted by AFP
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Screenshot from Facebook, with elements highlighted by AFP

AFP found other examples of the same man -- whom Reuters identified as Alejandro Casas -- dancing at a flea market in Alamo, Texas. Casas, who goes by El Divo 956, has shared similar videos on Facebook.

Another keyword search surfaced a blog post indicating Casas was banned from the Alamo venue for allowing people to place dollars in his waistband (archived here).

AFP has previously fact-checked other false claims about the 2024 US presidential election.

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