In his first speech since being named Kamala Harris’s running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz delivered a scathing rebuke of Republican VP nominee JD Vance, mocking him over a bizarre couch-related scandal and attacking him for using his memoir Hillbilly Elegy to denigrate his own community.
Walz hits on the couch scandal at Vance’s expense
At a rally in Philadelphia, Walz addressed a crowd, which erupted into cheers and laughter when he brought up the recent online furor against Vance. The Ohio Senator was ridiculed following a parody post on X (formerly twitter),where it said there was a part in his best-selling Hillbilly Elegy book in which he confessed that he had relations with a couch.
It was further amplified by the since-retracted Associated Press fact-check article, “No, JD Vance did not have sex with a couch,” which did little else but continue to prompt more memes and mockery on social media.
Walz himself could not but jump into the fray, saying to the crowd, “I can’t wait to debate the guy. That’s if he’s willing to get off the couch and show up.” The savage zinger from the Minnesota Governor received thunderous applause from the supporters.
Walz attacks Vance’s Hillbilly Elegy hypocrisy
But Walz didn’t stop there. He eviscerated Vance’s hypocrisy in his memoir Hillbilly Elegy, a book that has been criticized for its generalizations and stereotyping of Appalachian culture.
“Like all regular people I grew up with in the heartland, JD studied at Yale, had his career funded by Silicon Valley billionaires, and then wrote a bestseller trashing that community,” Walz said. “That’s not what Middle America is.”
Walz’s comments highlighted the contrast between Vance’s privileged upbringing and his donning the mantle of working-class Appalachia in his book. It was not the first criticism leveled at Vance for using a memoir as a vehicle to trash the very people he claims to help and advocate for.
Walz continues the attack on social media
Later that night Walz kept the pressure on Vance by posting a clip of his couch zinger to his 450,000 followers on X. A wave of memes and comments followed the tweet, including “Tim Walz is savage.”
Others were fast enough to capture that even Vice President Kamala Harris herself seemed to be stifling laughter in the background while Walz was giving his speech. “Oh she wanted to give the couch joke a FULL cackle,” one viewer wrote, posting a screenshot of Harris’s amused expression.
Walz lands punches on Vance’s privileged background and hypocrisy
In the rousing speech, Tim Walz did two things: he delivered a hilarious, memorable zinger at the bizarre couch scandal of JD Vance, and he also attacked Vance’s privileged background and his hypocrisy in using his memoir Hillbilly Elegy to further criticize the very community he claimed to represent.
Walz’s comments resonated with a disconnection that seemed apparent between Vance’s Yale education, Silicon Valley funding, and then his subsequent bestselling book that trashed the heartland from which he was raised. By mocking Vance’s couch scandal and calling him a hypocrite, Walz showed some hard punches that would no doubt resonate with the voters.
Now, if Vance can recover from this latest PR disaster and get well out in front, which is really going to be the case as the 2024 election cycle heats up, it is going to be a case of watching with bated breath. One thing is for sure: Tim Walz proved himself to be a quick-witted opponent, willing to bring humor and cultural references to land blows against his Republican rival.
