Have you heard about Governor Walz’s folksiness?

Surely you’ve noticed the “folksy demeanor” and “folksy manner” and “folksy appeal” and “folksy mannerisms” of this “folksy former soldier”? If you somehow missed it, the “folksy governor of Minnesota” exudes a “folksy … informal vibe” and “folksy relatability.” Just don’t forget his “folksy rebukes” and “folksy plain-spoken and sharp-tongued approach,” either.

All these quotes are taken from major press outlets. 

Kamala Harris’ vice presidential pick is a dedicated cultural and economic leftist who happens to inhabit the body of an average middle-aged bowling team drinking buddy. And because he doesn’t live at D.C. or New York City, the political press has settled on a nonthreatening description. Who doesn’t like folksy?

Virtually every major press piece on Mr. Walz is identical in its glowing tone and content, stressing his down-home everyman appeal while deemphasizing his insane record. Then again, as Mr. Walz says, “one person’s socialism is another person’s neighborliness.”

When President Trump announced Senator Vance as his veep pick, the stories painted a picture of a dour weirdo who was “radicalized” into an “ideological ally” and “zealous follower of the former president.” Mr. Walz, on the other hand, had merely “evolved” into his “progressive” positions, as one does.

The word “folksy” typically has two definitions. One denotes having the characteristics of “traditional culture and customs, especially in a contrived or artificial way.” The other to act in “informal and unpretentious” manner. It’s certainly fair to say that Mr. Walz is a more relaxed and unpretentious authoritarian than his tautology-spouting running partner.

In this case, though, folksiness has a third euphemistic meaning: “not the Jewish guy.”

Has anyone offered a single convincing reason — other than the obvious — for why Ms. Harris picked Mr. Walz for the national ticket over Josh Shapiro, the popular governor of a must-win state with more working-class voters than Minnesota? It is highly unlikely that anyone wins 2024 without Pennsylvania.

Democrats are gambling that the Jewish vote is secure enough to withstand the rampant antisemitism that’s taken hold on the progressive left. It’s not a terrible bet, sadly. In Mr. Walz, Ms. Harris believes she can placate the activist base and growing pro-Hamas wing of the party while the press covers her running mate as a folksy moderate.

It’s no accident that Squad members like Congresswomen Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar were first out of the gate celebrating the Mr. Walz pick. Senator Sanders loves it. Hamas apologists like the Washington Post’s Karen Attiah were tweeting like giddy teenagers, “TEAM WALZ,” and “ITS OUR TIME”.

What about moderates and independents? It seems counterintuitive for Ms. Harris, who has accumulated a grand total of zero primary votes, to tap one of the most brazenly left-wing governors in the country as she attempts to walk back a raft of unpopular positions that were staked only a few years ago.

Like Ms. Harris, the folksy Minnesota governor has proposed socializing health insurance and eliminating fossil fuels. Like Ms. Harris, Mr. Walz wants to effectively decriminalize illegal immigration by signing laws to pay for the health care and tuition of illegals, and allow them to have driver’s licenses.

Like Ms. Harris, Mr. Walz has taken a maximalist position on abortion, signing a bill codifying the procedure as a “fundamental right” into the ninth month, on demand, with no questions asked. Mr. Walz also signed a bill that lets children with gender dysphoria be mutilated by doctors.

Aside from all of that, Minnesota has seen a string of scandals and fiscal mismanagement under Mr. Walz.

Mr. Walz, who set up a snitch line to report Covid rule violators, watched as minority neighborhoods in Minnesota were being burned during the Black Lives Matter riots. When asked to call in the National Guard, Mr. Walz responded, “I will not patronize you as a white man without living [your] lived experiences.”

He speaks just like the average American.

Perhaps none of that will matter because vice presidents rarely matter. Some writers have speculated that Ms. Harris believed Mr. Shapiro, a more moderate political figure, would outshine her. Mr. Walz, it is true, has never made anyone look bad.

Yet it’s also clear that the left is hoping voters will ignore the real Mr.  Walz and fall for the contrived harmless folksy fella of their imagination.

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