The emotional moment between Tim Walz and his 17-year-old son, Gus, has triggered a wave of praise and approval, but it has also provoked nasty incidents of bullying on the internet.
The emotional moment between Tim Walz and his 17-year-old son, Gus, has triggered a wave of praise and approval, but it has also provoked nasty incidents of bullying on the internet.
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The emotional moment between Tim Walz and his teenage son, Gus, has triggered a wave of admiration and approval, but it has at the same time led to ugly incidents of bullying on the internet.
Gus Walz, who suffers from a nonverbal learning disability, along with anxiety and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), watched excitedly from the front row of Chicago’s United Center and cried openly on Wednesday night as his father, the Democratic vice-presidential nominee, delivered his speech of acceptance at the Democratic National Convention.
The Minnesota governor was sharing the challenging fertility journey he and his wife, Gwen, went through to have their daughter, Hope.
Walz continued by declaring his love for his loved ones from the stage, saying, "Hope, Gus, and Gwen, you are my entire world. And I love you."
Gus Walz jumped up from his seat, with teardrops running down his cheeks, pointed his index finger and said, “I love you, Dad.”
The touching exchange between father and son, captured on live TV by TV cameras, quickly spread online and was mostly received positively on the internet and in the media.
Fox News posted a clip of the touching moment on its TikTok account, stating "Gus Walz steals the spotlight during dad's acceptance speech." The comments were mostly positive.
“I hope to inspire my children so much that when they see me give a speech about the dreams and passion I have for my country, they are moved to tears like Gus Walz did,” wrote Chasten Buttigieg, husband of Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, on X.
“@Tim_Walz has devoted his life to service and has clearly excelled 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 spoke before Walz on Wednesday night, praised the bond between Walz and his children.
More: Who is Gus Walz and what does having a non-verbal learning disorder mean?
“You know you’ve succeeded as a parent when your kids are as proud of you as Gus and Hope are of Tim Walz,” she wrote on X. “'That's my dad.' No three words better capture our next Vice President. ”
Actress Mia Farrow added: “Gosh! When sweet Gus Walz, adorable son of Gwen and Tim Walz, his face covered in tears of pride, exclaimed 'That’s my dad!' he won my heart. ”
Critics ridicule Gus Walz as a 'puffy beta male'
But the display of affection triggered a wave of sarcastic and nasty comments from online trolls, many of them supporters of MAGA, of former president Donald Trump, who faces Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris and Walz in November.
Conservative columnist and provocateur Ann Coulter ridiculed the teenager’s tears. “Talk about weird, ” she posted on X. The message has since been deleted.
Mike Crispi, a Trump backer and podcaster from New Jersey, criticized Walz’s “stupid crying son” on X and added, “Congratulations on raising your kid to be a blubbering beta male. Congrats.”
Alec Lace, a Trump supporter who runs a show about fatherhood, took his own swipe at the teenager: “Get that kid a tampon already,” he wrote, in an apparent jab to a Minnesota law that Walz passed as governor requiring schools to offer complimentary menstrual products to students.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that Jay Weber, a conservative Milwaukee radio host, made a post on X criticizing the Walz family, now removed.
"If the Walz(sic) represent today's American man,
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