Speaking at a rally in Madison, Wisconsin, Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz took a jab at Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, who is supporting former President Donald Trump.
Walz, the governor of Minnesota, appeared at the Wisconsin rally alongside former President Barack Obama on Tuesday—the state's first day of in-person early voting—and said, "I'm going to talk about [Trump's] running mate, his running mate Elon Musk."
Earlier this month, Musk joined Trump onstage at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, where the billionaire jumped in the air. Walz said of the event, "Look, Elon is on that stage jumping around, skipping like a dips**t on these things."
"That guy is literally the richest man in the world, spending millions of dollars to help Donald Trump buy an election," Walz continued, criticizing the activities of Musk's pro-Trump America PAC. The billionaire has donated $75 million to the political action committee. He has also pledged to pay registered voters in swing states to sign a petition on the PAC's website and is running a daily lottery awarding $1 million to registered voters.
Walz also criticized Trump's plans to give the SpaceX CEO a job should he win the presidency.
"They're saying the quiet parts out loud now because Donald Trump has already promised that he would put Elon in charge of government regulations that oversee the businesses that Elon runs," the governor said.
"In other words, Donald Trump, in front of the eyes of the American public, is promising corruption," he added.
Newsweek has contacted Walz and Musk for comment via email outside normal business hours.
At the rally, Walz didn't mince his words about Trump himself, referencing the former president's weekend visit to a McDonald's, where he dressed up as an employee.
"They found him an apron his size and put it on him. And I was thinking, It is possible he mixed up his weekends and thought that it was Halloween already? He's been forgetting things lately, as you might have noticed," Walz said.
"There's something not just nuts but cruel about a billionaire using people's livelihood as a political prop," he continued, adding that Trump "looks much more like Ronald McDonald than the clown he actually is … and Ronald wears less makeup."
On X, formerly Twitter, social media users commented on Walz's remarks about Musk. One user wrote, "Definitely not Uncle Fluffy," referencing the sometimes ironically used nickname that critics and supporters alike apply to Walz.
Another user added, "Guys you don't understand how low a Minnesotan has to think of you to even think to call you a dips**t on a public podium."
This is not the first time Walz's criticism of the Republican Party has gone viral. His use of the word "weird" to describe both Trump and Ohio Senator JD Vance, the Republican vice presidential nominee, propelled him onto the national stage and has become a defining aspect of his campaigning.
"These are weird people on the other side," Walz said in a TV interview in July. "They want to take books away. They want to be in your exam room."
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