An emotional exchange between Tim Walz and his teenage son, Gus, has sparked a wave of admiration and support, but it has also provoked ugly bullying attacks on the internet.
An emotional exchange between Tim Walz and his teenage son, Gus, has sparked a wave of admiration and support, but it has also provoked ugly bullying attacks on the internet.
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The emotional moment between Tim Walz and his teenage son, Gus, has triggered a flood of admiration and support, but it has also 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), looked on eagerly from the front seat of Chicago’s United Center and sobbed openly on Wednesday night as his father, the Democratic vice-presidential nominee, delivered his acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention.
The Minnesota governor was sharing the challenging fertility journey he and his wife, Gwen, went through to conceive their daughter, Hope.
Walz followed up by expressing his love for his loved ones from the stage, stating, "Hope, Gus, and Gwen, you mean everything to me. And I love you."
Gus Walz jumped up from his seat, with tears running down his cheeks, pointed his index finger and exclaimed, “I love you, Dad.”
The touching moment between father and son, captured on live TV by TV cameras, quickly went viral and has largely been received positively on the internet and in the media.
Fox News posted a video of the viral moment on its TikTok account, stating "Gus Walz steals the show 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 hold for my country, they cry with emotion 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 outstanding, supportive, and caring 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, commended the love between Walz and his children.
More: Who is Gus Walz and what is a non-verbal learning disorder?
“You know you’ve done well 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 also commented: “Gosh! When young Gus Walz, cherished son of Gwen and Tim Walz, his face covered in tears of pride, shouted 'That’s my dad!' he won my heart. ”
Critics ridicule Gus Walz as a 'puffy beta male'
But the show of affection provoked 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 provocative commentator Ann Coulter mocked the teenager’s tears. “Now that's weird, ” she posted on X. The message has since been deleted.
Mike Crispi, a Trump backer and content creator from New Jersey, mocked Walz’s “crybaby son” on X and added, “Congratulations on raising your son to be a puffy beta male. Congrats.”
Alec Lace, a Trump supporter who runs a podcast about fatherhood, took his own shot at the teenager: “Get that kid a tampon already,” he said, in an apparent jab to a Minnesota state law that Walz passed as governor requiring educational institutions to provide free menstrual products to students.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel mentioned that Jay Weber, a conservative Milwaukee radio host, made a post on X criticizing the Walz family, now deleted.
"If the Walzs represent today's American man,
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