Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said during a Thursday budget meeting that individuals have been driving by his house and calling him retarded after President Donald Trump used the insult against him.
Trump wrote in a Nov. 27 Truth Social post that Walz was “seriously retarded” for not stopping alleged Somali crime in his state after a welfare fraud scandal came to light. Walz expressed concern at the meeting that he had not seen any Republicans criticize Trump for using the derogatory term to describe him.
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“I’d never seen this before. People driving by my house and using the R-word in front of people. This is shameful. And I have yet to see an elected official, a Republican elected official, say, ‘You’re right. That’s shameful. He should not say it.’ So, look, I’m worried,” Walz said. “We know how these things go. They start with taunts, they turn to violence. So, deeply concerned.”
“The good news here in Minnesota is a budget that works. Smart budgeting over the last few years that led us to a solid position,” he added. “We will tackle crime, whether it’s drug crime, whether it’s fraud crime, and we will do it based on the individual who commits it, not a generalization to a group of people.”
The governor deflected blame for more than $1 billion in taxpayer funds stolen through various state programs during a Sunday interview on NBC News’ “Meet the Press.” He also argued during the interview that people should not “demonize” Minnesota’s Somali population, which is disproportionately represented in the federal fraud cases, according to multiple reports.
“I will note, it’s not just Somalis. Minnesota is a generous state. Minnesota is a prosperous state, a well-run state,” Walz said. “We’re AAA-bond rated. But that attracts criminals.”
Some of the stolen money went to Somali terrorist organization Al-Shabaab, City Journal reported on Nov. 20, citing counterterrorism sources. The Islamic group is linked to Al Qaeda, killed several Americans and planned a 9/11-style plane attack on the U.S. that federal authorities prevented, leading to the conviction of an Al-Shabaab operative in November 2024.
A coalition of Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) employees asserted the governor “is 100% responsible for massive fraud” in the state in a Saturday X post, alleging he “systematically retaliated against whistleblowers using monitoring, threats, repression, and did his best to discredit fraud reports.”
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