Several members of Minnesota Governor Tim Walz’s family recently came out and endorsed former President Donald Trump. Despite their relative being Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate in her presidential bid, some members of the Walz’s extended family are siding with the Republican Party in hopes of making America great again.
Charles Herbster, a former Republican gubernatorial candidate from Nebraska, shared a photo of a group of eight individuals, who reportedly descend from Tim Walz’s grandfather’s brother’s side of the family, wearing blue t-shirts that read, “Nebraska Walz’s for Trump,” while posing in front of a Trump flag displayed on the wall behind them. Tim Walz’s family back in Nebraska wants you to know something, Herbster wrote.
“We’ve just become a third-world banana republic,” one member of the Walz family said. Reports indicated that someone encouraged Jeff Walz, 67, the brother of Tim Walz to “have a talk with his brother,” to which he noted that he had not spoken to him “in 8 years.” Jeff said, “Haven’t spoke to him in 8 years,” adding “I’m opposed to all his ideology. My family wasn’t given any notice [that] he was selected and denied security the days after.”
Others have encouraged Jeff to help the Trump-Vance campaign, asking him to “Help MAGA” and to “Get on stage with President Trump and endorse him.” Jeff replied, “I’ve thought hard about doing something like that. I’m torn between that and just keeping my family out of it. The stories I could tell. Not the type of character you want making decisions about your future.”
The American Tribune recently reported on a similar family split between the Kennedy family over Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s decision to drop out of the race and endorse former president Donald Trump in the upcoming election. The move from RFK Jr. was a significant departure from the political history of the Kennedy family, who have been Democratic icons for decades.
Notably, Kennedy’s family members publicly endorsed President Biden earlier this year instead of his campaign as an independent candidate; however, after RFK Jr.’s move to support Trump, a handful of Kennedys released a public letter denouncing accusing him of betraying the family’s values for siding with the former Republican president.
“We want an America filled with hope and bound together by a shared vision of a brighter future, a future defined by individual freedom, economic promise, and national pride. We believe in Harris and Walz. Our brother Bobby’s decision to endorse Trump today is a betrayal of the values that our father and our family hold most dear. It is a sad ending to a sad story,” the letter read, signed by Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, Courtney Kennedy, Kerry Kennedy, Chris Kennedy, and Rory Kennedy,” the letter read.
After the letter, the Kennedy’s who signed the statement against RFK Jr. received substantial backlash. For example, Meghan McCain, daughter of the late John McCain, wrote, “I don’t support Trump and will not be supporting Trump but this family drama playing out so publicly is really quite trashy and beneath all of you for a family who considers itself the premier American political dynasty (despite being almost a century removed from power).”
Watch Kennedy’s recent comments after he dropped out of the race below:
