Trump's Swiftboat Attacks on Tim Walz Are a Sign of Desperation

Trump campaign has launched swiftboat attacks against Gov Tim Walz's military career in an effort reeking of desperation by the same guy who ran this move on John Kerry 20 years ago.

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Chris LaCivita is a senior advisor to Donald Trump's 2024 presidential campaign, which might be obvious to you if you remember the swift boat attacks on Democrat John Kerry 20 years ago. LaCivita launched lies against John Kerry as a media advisor for the Swift Boat Veterans in 2004 and oh boy, were the lies successful.

Kerry was challenging George W. Bush in a post 9/11 world, a time of militant nationalism in which the career of the Dixie Chicks was canceled years before that was a thing. But unlike right-wingers complaining of being canceled when they still have Netflix shows, the Dixie Chicks were really canceled because they criticized then-president Bush over the war in Iraq while in London in 2003. Yes, that’s it. They spoke as musicians. It's hard to imagine, given Republicans routinely go overseas and criticize the Commander-in-Chief when that person is a Democrat, of course. But nonetheless, there it is.

So in that world, the smears against John Kerry’s service resonated, even though they were lies. The media even suggested the lies had played a part in Kerry losing the election.

EARTH TO CHRIS: IT’S A NEW DAY

What kind of political advisor runs a play so well known it’s got its own name and is still discussed with bitterness today, with 88 days left in an election in the digital age?

Someone desperate and someone who is as out of touch with today’s world as Donald Trump and JD Vance themselves.

It’s a New Day, and this isn’t going to stand.

Oh, and Chris, it’s time we take a second look at how Harlan Crow, Clarence Thomas’s secret right-wing benefactor buddy and Nazi memorabilia collector, helped fund the Swiftboat attacks on Kerry.

Yeah, let’s definitely talk about Nazis, neo-Nazis, dark money, secretive campaigns to mislead the American people for tax cuts, and the inverse relationship those things have to a real democracy.

FACTS

Not only has Governor Tim Walz released all of his records, he has huge support from folks with whom he served.

Command Sergeant Major Tim Walz served for 24 years in the Army National Guard, which is more than double the time he needed to serve to make full use of the GI Bill (which is why he signed up in the first place). He retired in 2005. A man who served under Walz confirmed that the Democrat “decided to retire before his unit got deployment orders, not after.”

Chris Hayes did a deep dive, explaining that when a medical board considered discharging him because of his hearing impairment, Tim Walz fought to STAY IN THE SERVICE after being disabled on the job:

HAYES: Among the tiny fraction of Americans who enlist, a much smaller share make a career of it serving 20 years or more with multiple deployments, only a tiny fraction of those fought to stay in the service after being disabled on the job, and one of them is Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, an enlisted soldier of the National Guard for nearly a quarter of a century, a journey that began on a Nebraska farm as soon as he was eligible to join.

Tim Walz B roll: “My father served during the Korean War, and the day after I turned 17, he took me down to an Army National Guard recruiter, and I raised my hand and signed up.”

HAYES: That was in 1981, Ronald Reagan was president. Now, Walz continues to serve for the next 24 years under four commanders-in-chief. He spent most of that time as an artillery soldier, and it took a toll on his hearing.

In fact, in 2002 after he'd already done 20 years, he qualified for retirement, a medical board considered discharging him because of his hearing impairment. Instead, he convinced him to let him complete his final enlistment, which began after 9/11. Walz achieved the highest enlisted rank in the army, Command Sergeant Major. But rather than stay in and complete the schooling for that rank, Walz retired in 2005 at the rank of Master Sergeant.

Walz submitted his retirement request to the Army National Guard months before there was notification of a deployment. In February of 2005, Walz filed his paperwork for his Congressional candidacy.

Walz retired honorably in May of 2005. In July, his unit received alert orders for deployment. In September, his former unit prepared for deployment. In March of 2006, the unit deployed.

Republicans have someone who sent around a letter (this is a lot like the PDF they’re sending around about Harris, which is also a lie) claiming they know the motive for why Walz left the service, but that person is a MAGA partisan who has no knowledge of Walz’s motive, and Walz’s separation papers do not corroborate the unfounded accusation.

Republicans are also falsely claiming that Walz lied about being in combat. (Plenty of media outlets are carrying GOP-lie-stained water and changing their titles after being busted.) But the fact is, Tim Walz never said he was in combat. In 2003, he was posted in Italy providing support for the war in Afghanistan. He trained soldiers in weapons and suffered hearing damage from heavy artillery use. And thus, when he referred to weapons he carried as weapons of war, he meant what he said.

This is a fallacious attack on imaginary motives, which just reveals how desperate it is. He did not retire because he knew he was going to be deployed. This is a man who fought to stay in the National Guard even after he’d been disabled. He served for 24 years.

Vote Vets made a handy chart for anyone confused by the lies: