Walz campaign rally remarks misrepresented online

"We can't afford four more years of this," Walz says in the video posted September 21, 2024 on Instagram.

Text above the clip says: "Kamala is in office right now. She's the 'this.'"

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Screenshot of an Instagram post taken September 25, 2024

Similar claims spread elsewhere on Instagram, Threads, TikTok and X, including posts from conservative commentators and the Donald Trump campaign's official account. Fox News also amplified the claim, calling the vice presidential nominee's remarks a "gaffe."

Walz has barnstormed battleground states before his first and only vice presidential debate against Republican nominee J.D. Vance on October 1. Trump and his supporters have for weeks criticized the Minnesota governor, triggering a wave of misinformation.

AFP has debunked several false claims about Walz, including misrepresented statements. The latest narrative is similarly inaccurate.

Walz gave the remarks to a crowd in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania on September 21,  2024. He did utter the quote circulating on social media, but the full-length video makes clear it was not aimed at his running mate (archived here and here).

The clip shared online is taken from a part of the speech where Walz discussed guns and the Second Amendment.

"I struggle with this idea that after one of these mass shootings, Donald Trump said, 'People just need to know how to get over it,' and my opponent said, 'Well it's just a fact of life,'" Walz said, referring to the Republican nominee's remarks following a January school shooting in Iowa and Vance's statements after a deadly incident at a Georgia high school in September.

The Democratic governor was outlining gun safety policies he passed in Minnesota when he paused to ensure staff cared for a member of the audience who needed medical attention.

Afterward, he returned to his criticism of the Republican response to mass shootings:

"Look, Kamala Harris made it clear: These guys want to instill fear. They want to tell you just get over it, it's a fact of life, this is the way it is. She simply has said it doesn't have to be this way. It doesn't have to be this way. We can't afford four more years of this."

Walz continues to criticize Republican policies in the remarks that follow.

More of AFP's reporting on misinformation about the 2024 election is available here.