An heartfelt exchange between Tim Walz and his teenage son, Gus, has sparked a flood of admiration and support, but it has at the same time provoked ugly bullying attacks on the internet.
An heartfelt exchange between Tim Walz and his teenage son, Gus, has sparked a flood of admiration and support, but it has at the same time provoked ugly bullying attacks on the internet.
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An heartfelt moment between Tim Walz and his teenage son, Gus, has triggered a wave of praise and approval, but it has at the same time provoked ugly incidents of bullying on the internet.
Gus Walz, who suffers from a nonverbal learning disorder, as well as anxiety and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), looked on eagerly from the front row of Chicago’s United Center and sobbed openly on Wednesday night as his father, the Democratic vice-presidential nominee, delivered his speech of acceptance at the Democratic National Convention.
The governor of Minnesota, was sharing the challenging fertility journey he and his wife, Gwen, underwent to conceive their daughter, Hope.
Walz followed up by expressing his love for his family from the stage, saying, "Hope, Gus, and Gwen, you mean everything to me. And I love you."
Gus Walz rose from his seat, with teardrops running down his cheeks, pointed his index finger and exclaimed, “I love you, Dad.”
The heartwarming exchange between father and son, captured on live TV by TV cameras, quickly spread online and was mostly received positively on the web and across media outlets.
Fox News posted a video of the touching moment on its TikTok page, writing "Gus Walz steals the show during dad's acceptance speech." The comments were overwhelmingly positive.
“I hope to inspire my kids so much that when they see me speak about the dreams and passion I hold for my country, they cry with emotion like Gus Walz did,” posted Chasten Buttigieg, husband of Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, on X.
“@Tim_Walz has devoted his life to service and has clearly succeeded in being an excellent, supportive, and loving father every step of the way, ” he stated. “We should all be so fortunate to know a love like that.”
U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., who addressed the audience before Walz on Wednesday night, praised the love between Walz and his children.
More: Who is Gus Walz and what is a non-verbal learning disorder?
“You know you’ve done well as a parent when your kids are as proud of you as Gus and Hope are of Tim Walz,” she posted on X. “'That's my dad.' No three words better describe our future vice president. ”
Actress Mia Farrow also commented: “Gosh! When young Gus Walz, adorable son of Gwen and Tim Walz, his face streaming with tears of pride, exclaimed 'That’s my dad!' he stole my heart. ”
Critics dismiss Gus Walz as a 'puffy beta male'
But the display of affection provoked a wave of snarky and cruel comments from online trolls, many of them supporters of MAGA, of former president Donald Trump, who faces Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris and Walz in November.
Right-wing columnist and provocateur Ann Coulter mocked the teenager’s tears. “Now that's weird, ” she wrote on X. The message has since been deleted.
Mike Crispi, a Trump backer and podcaster from New Jersey, criticized Walz’s “crybaby son” on X and wrote, “You raised your kid to be a blubbering beta male. Congrats.”
Alec Lace, a Trump supporter who runs a podcast about fatherhood, took his own shot at the teenager: “Get that kid a tampon already,” he wrote, in an apparent jab to a Minnesota law that Walz signed as governor requiring educational institutions to provide complimentary menstrual products to students.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that Jay Weber, a conservative radio host in Milwaukee, made a post on X criticizing the Walz family. now removed.
"If the Walzs represent today's American man,
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