A video featuring Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz has gone viral, drawing attention to his decades-old false claim that he is a “retired master sergeant.”
Since being named Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate, Waltz’s military record has come under intense media scrutiny. Waltz, who served in the Minnesota National Guard for 24 years, has repeatedly referred to himself as a “retired master sergeant.” However, according to the Minnesota National Guard, although he served as a master sergeant, “he retired with benefits as a sergeant in 2005 for failure to complete additional coursework at the U.S. Army Sergeants Major Academy.”
But that didn’t stop him from calling himself a “retired master sergeant” and allowing others to call him that without correction.
A two-and-a-half-minute montage posted to X by NOVA Campaigns on Tuesday listed a whopping 16 instances of Walz falsifying rankings since 2006, including several instances by the Minnesota governor himself.
The Harris campaign manipulated news headlines and injected pro-Kamala bias into Google ads.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat, caused a stir on Tuesday when he released an edited video showing him mistakenly being identified as a retired military “master sergeant” more than a dozen times throughout his political career. (AP Photo/Abby Parr)
An old Waltz campaign ad tells viewers: “Tim Waltz is a state champion coach, teacher of the year, command sergeant major and just an ordinary guy.”
In another video, Walz boasted that he was “the highest ranking soldier to ever serve in Congress.”
“Oh, good,” the interviewer said during the exchange. “What place did you get?”
“Commander Sergeant,” Waltz answered quickly.
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Minnesota Democratic Gov. Tim Walz’s military record has come under scrutiny since he was announced as Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate. (Glenn Stubb/Star Tribune via Getty Images)
The edited video was quickly shared among Waltz’s critics.
“This is classic ‘stolen honor’ stuff,” Minnesota Republican strategist Dustin Grage responded.
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“If @JDVance committed one terrible case of honor theft, the mainstream media would pick it up,” said Victor Jokes, a columnist for the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “@GovTimWalz has been committing honor theft for nearly 20 years and the media wants to ignore it. No way.”
Vice President Kamala Harris and Democratic vice presidential nominee, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, appear onstage together during a campaign event at Temple University’s Liacoras Center on August 6, 2024 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Andrew Harnick/Getty Images)
Last week, the Harris campaign Changed the wording of Waltz’s biography After the uproar, they wrote on their website: Initially, the biography listed Waltz as a “retired master sergeant,” but it was later updated to say he “served as a master sergeant.”
Walz has also faced heavy criticism over the timing of his retirement, after being accused of dodging deployment to Iraq, failing to correct false claims that he served in Afghanistan and that he once carried a weapon “at war” – claims that Harris’ campaign has called “false.”
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“During his 24 years as Governor, the Governor has carried and fired weapons of war and trained others in their use countless times. Governor Walz will never disparage or undermine Americans’ service to this country. In fact, he thanks Senator Vance for putting his life on the line for our country. That’s the American way,” the Harris campaign said in a statement.
