Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz told MSNBC’s Jen Psaki on Tuesday night that he was not surprised President Donald Trump did not know the name of Melissa Hortman, the Minnesota Democrat who was assassinated in her home alongside her husband in June.
“It’s been pretty traumatic in Minnesota, and I think Minnesotans, certainly every Minnesotan, knows Melissa Hortman’s name and most decent people do,” Walz said when asked about her murder and the Republican Party’s noteworthy silence about it over the summer. “What goes through my mind is, ‘Nothing surprises me.’ There’s no compassion. There’s no empathy in this man, and there’s no sense of governing for the whole country.”
When asked why he did not order the White House’s flags to be lowered to half staff in memory of Hortman the same way he did for murdered conservative activist Charlie Kirk, Trump first asked for clarification on who Hortman was. He then said he would have lowered the White House’s flags if Walz, who ran against Trump and Vice President JD Vance last year as Kamala Harris’ chosen VP candidate, had asked him to do so.
“You just see the disrespect and how easy that rolled off his tongue, yet we’re supposed to believe that they’re definitely concerned about political violence?” Walz remarked in response. “They’re not interested in solving this. We in Minnesota are.”
“All across this country you’ve got people pushing back,” he added, referencing the protests and pushback Trump and his administration have received throughout the year. “You’ve got a president that sees the presidency as his personal kingdom and revenge tour. He’s doing nothing to improve people’s lives. Insurance costs are at a 15-year high. We see electricity costs going up. He’s not fixing anything for anyone, and it’s all smoke and mirrors.”
In addition to Hortman’s murder in June, Minnesota was also the site of a church shooting in late August, which killed two children and injured 21 others. “Two weekends in a row, we’ve gone to memorial services for an 8 and 10-year-old to hear about these beautiful lives,” Walz somberly recalled. “I guarantee you Donald Trump doesn’t know their names. He doesn’t care.”
While he does not expect any meaningful aid from the Trump administration, Walz said he plans on fixing America’s public and political violence problems in his state.
“We’re going to continue to try and improve lives, and I don’t expect any help,” he said. “I just expect the president to continue to interfere because this isn’t about improving lives. This isn’t about uniting the country. This is about his warped view of where things are at, and I can tell you, it’s not the majority opinion.”
