- Feb 5, 2002
- 171,565
- 59,456
- Country
- United States
- Faith
- Catholic
- Marital Status
- Married
- Politics
- US-Others
Democrat VP candidate accused of misrepresenting military rank and combat experience—and not for the first time.
The U.S. Democratic Party had barely announced the name of Kamala Harris’ running mate when serious questions about his credentials surfaced. Tim Walz, presented on the campaign website as “the son of an Army veteran and a retired Command Sergeant Major in the Army National Guard himself,” came under fire when it came to light that he did not, in reality, ever hold that rank. The campaign has since rephrased that section of the VP candidate’s bio on its website, saying he “served at the command sergeant major rank.”
In interviews, Walz has described himself as a “retired sergeant major.”
What’s in a title? Well, quite a bit.
Misrepresenting military credentials is—in addition to potentially violating federal law—one of the most politically damaging things a candidate for office can do in the United States. For a candidate touted as representing lower and middle class ‘flyover country’—the demographic traditionally providing most of the servicemen for the armed forces—doubly so. And it’s not the first time Walz has been challenged on this point. Already in 2009, when Walz was a U.S. congressman, a vet confronted his staff with the accusation of “stolen valor.”
When Walz ran for Minnesota governor in 2018, two retired guardsmen wrote in a letter published in the West Central Tribune:
Continued below.
europeanconservative.com
The U.S. Democratic Party had barely announced the name of Kamala Harris’ running mate when serious questions about his credentials surfaced. Tim Walz, presented on the campaign website as “the son of an Army veteran and a retired Command Sergeant Major in the Army National Guard himself,” came under fire when it came to light that he did not, in reality, ever hold that rank. The campaign has since rephrased that section of the VP candidate’s bio on its website, saying he “served at the command sergeant major rank.”
In interviews, Walz has described himself as a “retired sergeant major.”
What’s in a title? Well, quite a bit.
Misrepresenting military credentials is—in addition to potentially violating federal law—one of the most politically damaging things a candidate for office can do in the United States. For a candidate touted as representing lower and middle class ‘flyover country’—the demographic traditionally providing most of the servicemen for the armed forces—doubly so. And it’s not the first time Walz has been challenged on this point. Already in 2009, when Walz was a U.S. congressman, a vet confronted his staff with the accusation of “stolen valor.”
When Walz ran for Minnesota governor in 2018, two retired guardsmen wrote in a letter published in the West Central Tribune:
Continued below.
Stolen Valor? Harris Campaign Scrubs Walz Bio
Democrat VP candidate accused of misrepresenting military rank and combat experience—and not for the first time.
europeanconservative.com
