It seems clear that at one point, near the end of the process, Kamala Harris had decided to make Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro her vice presidential nominee. This is why she scheduled the rally where she would introduce her Veep candidate for Philadelphia. The Democrats’ largely anti-Semitic progressive wing didn’t like the choice, but initially Harris stood up to them.
But then, at the eleventh hour, it developed that Shapiro, as a college student, had written an article that not only defended Israel, but criticized the Palestinians. That prompted a renewed and furious opposition from the progressives, who flooded Twitter with #GenocideJosh posts. This time, Harris cracked. She ditched Shapiro (that, at least, is my reading of the evidence) and incongruously introduced Tim Walz in Philadelphia.
The Democrats’ anti-Semites must be pleased with the switch. I was on Laura Ingraham’s show tonight, talking about Walz’s relationship with Imam Asad Zaman. Scott wrote about it, with more on Zaman’s past, here. You can read about the facts here, or many other places.
Briefly, Zaman is the Executive Director of the Muslim American Society of Minnesota. Walz has hosted and met with Zaman at least five times. Zaman has spoken before Walz at several events, and delivered the invocation for at least one Walz speech. Walz is on video in 2018 praising Zaman as a “master teacher” and talking about the time he has spent with Zaman. Walz says it has been a privilege and that he has learned lessons from the “master teacher.”
Zaman has a long history of Islamic extremism and anti-Semitism. He supported the October 7 massacres by Hamas, calling them an act of self-defense. He posted a link to a neo-Nazi film that glorifies Adolf Hitler. He has shared Hamas press releases on social media. As these things have come to light, Walz has tried to distance himself from the “master teacher.” A Harris campaign spokesman said that Walz does not have a “personal relationship” with Zaman.
I don’t know, it sounds pretty personal to me. But more importantly, Walz unquestionably has a financial relationship with the Imam. The Walz administration has given well over $100,000 in grants to the Muslim American Society of Minnesota. The most recent is for the 2024-2025 year, which means that Tim Walz is now helping to pay the salary of a public supporter of the October 7 massacres.
Needless to say, progressive Twitter is not awash in #GenocideTim posts. The anti-Semites got their way, and the more they learn about Tim Walz, the happier they are going to be about it.
