'These Petty Small Men Will Disappear Into The Dustbin Of History'_ Tim Walz Tears Into Trump Admin

During his 2025 State of the State address on Wednesday, Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) hammered President Trump's leadership, tariff impositions,

Transcript

00:00And on an hour-by-hour, day-by-day basis, the President of the United States has chosen,

00:17chosen to throw our economy into turmoil. Global markets are teetering on the brink of collapse.

00:24Businesses across this country and here in Minnesota are already laying off employees

00:28by the thousands. Working people are paying more for basic goods, and if you haven't checked your

00:34401k lately, don't do it. So let's be very clear. None of this had to happen. When the President took

00:44office three months ago, there was no reason to throw a wrench in the works and destroy decades

00:50of work. But if you listen to anything that comes out of his mouth, one thing has become clear.

00:55He's just plain confused about how the world really works for working people.

01:00We're talking about a guy that slapped a 10% tariff on an island populated only by penguins.

01:07It'd be funny as hell if it wasn't true and stupid. It makes no sense to anyone.

01:13That isn't servant leadership. It's not any kind of leadership. It's small, it's weak,

01:19and it's petty. It takes the awesome power of the federal government and turns it into a crude weapon.

01:25Wielded by a man who wants to be king. As governor, I will continue to do everything

01:31in my power to protect Minnesotans from getting hurt and continue to pride shelter from the storm

01:37for Minnesotans.

01:38But I want to be clear. I want to be clear. It is not enough to complain about the damage

01:59of the administration is causing. It's not even enough to try and clean up as much of this mess

02:04as we can. We need to prove to the people of Minnesota and to the American people there is a

02:10better way to govern. Because the truth is, this current administration in Washington,

02:15they're not forever. These small, petty men will disappear into the dustbin of history,

02:19and when they do, there will be an opportunity and an obligation to actually rebuild government

02:25so that it works for working people.

02:27If we're all going to seize the opportunity, we have to be ready to show that we can be trusted

02:38with that obligation. If we want to earn back the trust of the American people in government,

02:43we have to be honest about the fact government hasn't always deserved that trust in the first

02:48place. And if we want the chance to govern righteously, if we want the chance to govern

02:53ambitiously, then we have to do a better job of proving that we can govern responsibly.

02:59Which brings me to this year's budget. Two years ago, we made historic investments in our people

03:16and in our future. And I want to be very clear, we are not walking away from the commitments we've

03:22made to our schools, to our health care, to green energy, to public safety, to feeding our kids,

03:28and to taking care of seniors. We keep that promise.