Springfield conspiracy aims to divert attention from Trump’s policies, Walz tells NC rally
Which presidential ticket’s policies fit in the American mainstream?
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz during a Tuesday rally in Asheville used gun rights and tax cuts as examples of how he and Vice President Kamala Harris are Democrats willing to compromise. Their Republican opponents promoted a conspiracy about immigrants eating pets to draw attention away from their policies, Walz told a capacity crowd at Asheville’s Salvage Station.
Walz took jabs at Trump and his running mate J.D. Vance, all while emphasizing his ticket’s policy decisions and beliefs he said fall more in line with Americans’ views.
“You know her story,” Walz said of Harris. “Took on the predators, took on the fraudsters, took on the transnational gangs, took on the big corporate interests, and never hesitated to work with anybody on either side of the aisle to do right for the American people.”
Considered a swing state, Democrats say flipping North Carolina this year could play a key role in swaying the election and are hoping to replicate former President Barack Obama’s win in 2008.The RealClearPolitics average of polls currently gives Trump a lead of just 0.4% in North Carolina.
On stage, Walz called out Vance for his “vicious, hurtful lies” about Hatian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio. Vance, a Republican senator from Ohio, posted on X that immigrants in the city are abducting and eating people’s pets — claims Trump echoed during a presidential debate earlier this month. The claims have been debunked, and Ohio police said there have been no credible reports of such events. Vance told a CNN reporter that he is comfortable making up stories, like the one that claimed immigrants are killing and eating pets, in order to get the media’s attention.
“You gotta ask, what other things are they making up stories about?” Walz said. “The reason you do that is because if you told what you really stood for no one would vote for you.”
Walz said he’s committed to fighting for the common good, pointing to his bipartisan work in congress focused on Veteran’s Affairs, transportation, agriculture and rural economic development.
“It’s about taking care of your neighbors. It’s about looking out for somebody next to you. It’s about understanding the common good,” he said. “I learned something really important, that you can compromise without compromising your values.”
Walz told the crowd he and Harris both own guns, repeating what Harris said during the debate. He said he supports the second amendment while wanting gun laws that prevent tragedies like school shootings. Walz also said he supports expanding abortion rights, noting that reproductive freedom also involves procedures like in vitro fertilization.
“You really want to have a federal agency run by Donald Trump and J.D. Vance giving Mark Robinson the authority to monitor your pregnancy? That stuff is so dystopian that Orwell wouldn’t even write it,” Walz said. “But here’s the thing, people live their lives differently and we respect that.”
Walz appeared to reference, as he has previously, Project 2025, a political initiative created by a conservative think tank. The proposal does not call for a new federal agency designed to monitor pregnancies, but asks states to submit abortion statistics to the federal government, according to Politifact. Trump has distanced himself from Project 2025 and claimed he’s not affiliated with the plan created with the help of some of his former advisers.
The Republican counterpoint to Walz: it’s the Democrats whose opinions are radical.
“His values are those of the radical far left and out of step with North Carolina and the American people,” NC Republican Party Communications Director Matt Mercer said in a news release before the Walz visit.
Former North Carolina Supreme Court Justice Bob Orr, State Rep. Lindsey Prather, Asheville Mayor Esther Manheimer, Asheville Vice Mayor Sandra Kilgore and local organizer Meredith Anderson spoke before Walz, each highlighting issues important to them —from public education to abortion. Orr, a former Republican of nearly 50 years, said the GOP no longer cares about protecting freedom or democracy.
“No longer the party of those who care about protecting our freedoms, or about lowering costs, or working for middle class North Carolinians or about fighting for our democracy,” he said. “It Is the party of Donald Trump, J.D. Vance and Mark Robinson, the extreme Project 2025 agenda designed to rip away our fundamental freedoms, strangle our economy and undermine the very foundation of our democracy.”
Lee Stockdale, a 71-year-old Asheville resident said Tuesday’s political rally was the first he has attended. The most important factor at hand this November is a reverence for democracy and morality, he said.
“It’s the factor of morality. Morality and ethics in government, truth and honesty,” Stockdale said. “It’s not a policy, it’s an attitude toward the truth and what facts are.”
This story was originally published September 18, 2024 at 7:30 AM with the headline "Springfield conspiracy aims to divert attention from Trump’s policies, Walz tells NC rally."
