The emotional moment between Tim Walz and his teenage son, Gus, has triggered a wave of admiration and approval, but it has also provoked ugly incidents of bullying on the internet.
The emotional moment between Tim Walz and his teenage son, Gus, has triggered a wave of admiration and approval, but it has also provoked ugly incidents of bullying on the internet.
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The heartfelt moment between Tim Walz and his 17-year-old son, Gus, has triggered a flood of praise and support, but it has also provoked nasty bullying attacks online.
Gus Walz, who has a nonverbal learning disability, along with anxiety and ADHD, watched excitedly from the front row 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 governor of Minnesota, was recounting the difficult fertility treatment he and his wife, Gwen, underwent to conceive their daughter, Hope.
Walz continued by declaring his love for his loved ones 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 tears streaming down his cheeks, pointed his index finger and exclaimed, “I love you, Dad.”
The heartwarming exchange between father and son, captured on live TV by TV cameras, quickly spread online and was mostly received positively on the web and across media outlets.
Fox News posted a video of the touching moment on its TikTok account, stating "Gus Walz steals the spotlight during dad's acceptance speech." The comments were mostly positive.
“I hope to inspire my children so much that when they see me give a speech about the dreams and passion I hold 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 succeeded in being an outstanding, supportive, and loving father every step of the way, ” he wrote. “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, praised the bond 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 posted on X. “'That's my dad.' No three other words better capture our future vice president. ”
Actress Mia Farrow added: “Gosh! When young Gus Walz, cherished son of Gwen and Tim Walz, his face covered in tears of pride, exclaimed 'That’s my dad!' he stole my heart. ”
Critics ridicule Gus Walz as a 'puffy beta male'
But the display of affection provoked a series of snarky and nasty comments from online trolls, primarily supporters of MAGA, of former president Donald Trump, who is running against Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris and Walz in November.
Right-wing columnist and provocateur Ann Coulter mocked the teenager’s tears. “Now that's weird, ” she posted on X. The post has since been deleted.
Mike Crispi, a Trump supporter and podcaster from New Jersey, criticized Walz’s “stupid crying 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 swipe 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 free menstrual products to students.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel mentioned that Jay Weber, a conservative Milwaukee radio host, posted a message on X criticizing the Walz family, now deleted.
"If the Walz(sic) represent today's American man,
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