Republicans are denouncing every little detail about Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz – starting with his furry friend Scout.
On Monday morning, Minnesota Republican strategist Dustin Grage attempted to expose Walz by showing two different photos of the Minnesota governor side by side, both of which appeared to have been previously posted on social media.
The photo on the left was posted in June 2022 and shows Walz with Scout, a Labrador Retriever mix he got in 2018. The caption read, “Sending a special birthday greeting to our favorite pup, Scout.”
The photo on the right was taken in October of that year and shows Walz with another dog. The caption read, “I couldn’t think of a better way to spend a beautiful fall day than at the dog park. I know Scout enjoyed it.”
Grage apparently sensed a scandal and posted the two photos on X, formerly Twitter, with the caption: “Yes, this is Tim Walz tweeting about his dog Scout. The only problem is that they are two completely different dogs.”
Grage’s post was amplified by conservative activist Charlie Kirk (who later deleted it), as well as NCAA award-winning swimmer Riley Gaines and Minnesota State Representative Mary Franson.
However, a community note on Grage’s tweet said: “The photo on the right is from a dog park where Tim Walz was with Scout and many other dogs.” Scout can be seen playing with these dogs, the note said.
The person who made the note also included the video in their own post and wrote:
“It took me exactly 45 seconds to go to @Tim_Walz’s Instagram page and see that this is a video of his dog Scout playing with another dog at the dog park.”
Others also complained about Grage’s ability to “think critically.”
One person then asked Grage why it was “okay to make up this shit” and why he had “no problem blatantly lying to score cheap political points.”
Grage replied: “The left can’t make memes.”
Walz has since deleted the photo of the dog, which is not Scout, from his X account. HuffPost reached out to his campaign team for comment, but no one immediately responded.
Another example of Walz being scrutinized by the Republican Party is his 2006 campaign page, when he was running for Congress. His campaign page stated that he had been named an “Outstanding Young Nebraskan” by the Nebraska Chamber of Commerce in the 1990s.
It turned out that the award actually came from Nebraska Junior Chamber of Commerce, another organization.
Many people felt that the confusion was somewhat exaggerated by critics.
