On Sunday’s episode of NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Governor Tim Walz of Minnesota — best known nationally as the losing running mate in the Democrats’ 2020 ticket trials — took aim at President Donald Trump in a segment that managed to combine dramatic concern, political deflection, and an attempt to revive a fading line of attack: Trump’s mental fitness.
Host Kristen Welker opened the floor with a pointed reference to Walz’s earlier call for Trump to release the results of an MRI, asking him directly to clarify what he was suggesting. Walz did not hold back.
In his words, while Americans were enjoying a typical Thanksgiving — “we ate, we played Yahtzee, we cheered for football or whatever” — Trump was allegedly “in a room ranting about everything else.” According to Walz, this behavior is not just abnormal; it’s dangerous.
From there, the governor pivoted to familiar ground: a critique of Trump’s refusal to release his tax returns or full medical records — practices that, while customary, have never been legally required of a U.S. president.
But this time, he took it a step further. Walz zeroed in on Trump’s vague references to an MRI, challenging the president’s claim that he didn’t know what the scan was for. “Has anyone in the history of the world ever have an MRI assigned to them and have no idea what it was for?” he asked, framing it as both absurd and suspect.
It wasn’t just the mystery of the MRI that troubled Walz. He pointed to a series of late-night posts made by Trump on Thanksgiving, describing them as unhinged and potentially disqualifying for someone seeking the presidency again. Walz brought up bizarre claims about Venezuelan airspace, musings about nuclear war, and what he characterized as slurs targeting children.
And then came the crescendo: “We have someone at midnight throwing around slurs that demonize our children. At the same time, he’s not solving any of the problems.”
Walz’s comments show the main Democrat strategy: reframe Trump not merely as controversial or extreme, but as mentally and physically unfit for office. This isn’t a new line of attack, but it’s been sharpened.
Rather than engaging Trump on policy, Walz leaned on the growing public anxiety over the age and mental sharpness of America’s top leaders — an anxiety that, ironically, is also being aimed at President Joe Biden
