The heartfelt moment between Tim Walz and his 17-year-old son, Gus, has triggered a flood of praise and approval, but it has at the same time led to nasty bullying attacks online.
The heartfelt moment between Tim Walz and his 17-year-old son, Gus, has triggered a flood of praise and approval, but it has at the same time led to nasty bullying attacks online.
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The heartfelt moment between Tim Walz and his teenage son, Gus, has triggered a wave of praise and support, 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 ADHD, looked on eagerly from the front seat of Chicago’s United Center and cried openly on Wednesday night as his father, the Democratic candidate for vice president, gave his acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention.
The Minnesota governor was recounting the challenging fertility journey he and his wife, Gwen, underwent to conceive their daughter, Hope.
Walz followed up by declaring his love for his family 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 streaming down his cheeks, pointed his finger and said, “I love you, Dad.”
The heartwarming exchange between father and son, captured on live TV by television cameras, quickly spread online and has largely been received positively on the web and across media outlets.
Fox News posted a video of the viral moment on its TikTok account, stating "Gus Walz steals the spotlight during dad's acceptance speech." The comments were overwhelmingly positive.
“I hope to inspire my children so much that when they see me speak about the dreams and passion I have 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 excelled in being an excellent, supportive, and loving father throughout his life, ” he stated. “We should all be so lucky to know a love like that.”
U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., who spoke before Walz on Wednesday night, commended 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 posted on X. “'That’s my dad.' No three words better capture our future vice president. ”
Actress Mia Farrow added: “Gosh! When sweet Gus Walz, cherished 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 series 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 mocked the teenager’s tears. “Now that's weird, ” she wrote on X. The post has since been deleted.
Mike Crispi, a Trump supporter and content creator from New Jersey, mocked Walz’s “crybaby son” on X and wrote, “Congratulations on raising your kid to be a blubbering beta male. Congrats.”
Alec Lace, a Trump follower who hosts a show about fatherhood, took his own shot at the teenager: “Give that kid a tampon already,” he wrote, in an apparent jab to a Minnesota state law that Walz passed 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, posted a message on X criticizing the Walz family, now deleted.
"If the Walz(sic) represent today's American man,
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