'Whether he likes it or not': Tim Walz delivers message to Trump about America's women

Andrew Roth, Michigan Advance
02 November 2024
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz at a rally in Flint, Mich., on Nov. 1, 2024. (Photo by Andrew Roth/Michigan Advance)

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said during a rally in Flint that women will send a message to former President Donald Trump in Tuesday’s general election “whether he likes it or not.”

Walz was referencing comments made by Trump at a Wisconsin rally this week, when the Republican nominee for president said that “whether the women like it or not, I’m going to protect them,” adding that his advisors had urged him not to use the line because it would be “very inappropriate for you to say.”

“He told the women here that he would be your protector,” Walz said Friday. “And he added, he said, ‘I’m going to do it, whether women like it or not,’ which is pretty much what he’s done his entire life.”

“It’s pretty simple. [Vice President] Kamala Harris and I trust women, and I have a feeling that women across this country, of every age, of either party, are going to send a loud and clear message to Donald Trump next Tuesday – whether he likes it or not,” Walz said.

Walz’s stop in Flint was one of several he made throughout the state as the campaigns enter the final sprint to Election Day. He also held a roundtable in Detroit, spoke to union members in Taylor and held another rally in Traverse City.

Trump also spent the day in Michigan, visiting a restaurant in Dearborn and holding a rally at Macomb Community College. His running mate, U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), spoke at an event in Portage.


Michigan is one of seven swing states expected to play a key role in determining the next president.

U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-Holly) is running for U.S. Senate against former U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers (R-White Lake). She called Michigan “the center of the political universe.”

“If you haven’t noticed, everyone wants to come and see what real Michiganders in their natural habitat are really thinking and talking about, and that’s because we are the home of the swing voters, the independent voters,” Slotkin said. “We have urban, rural, suburban – we’ve got it all. If you can make it work in Michigan, you can make it work anywhere in the country.”

Academy Award-nominated actor Mark Ruffalo joined Walz for the rally, introducing himself as someone who “moonlights as an actor,” calling activism his day job. He’s also scheduled to campaign for Harris Saturday at the University of Michigan tailgate in Ann Arbor along with U.S. Reps. Debbie Dingell (D-Ann Arbor) and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.).

After Trump’s rally at Madison Square Garden, Ruffalo said that the Republican Party is a “little tent party,” adding that “they’re not even really any kind of party. They’re just a downer event.”

“Donald Trump and his troupe of cronies and goofy billionaire boyfriends” have “nothing but downer news and downer ideas. If they were a boy band, they would be Downer Donald and the Despairs,” Ruffalo said.

While the war in Gaza has been a difficult issue for Democrats to navigate, with campaign events frequently being interrupted by protestors, Ruffalo said that he “wouldn’t be here today if it wasn’t for Kamala Harris and where she stands on Gaza and Israel.”

Mark Ruffalo greets attendees at a rally with Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz in Flint, Mich., on Nov. 1, 2024. (Photo by Andrew Roth/Michigan Advance)

“The images we’re seeing coming out of that part of the world are just so heartbreaking; we shouldn’t be seeing those kind of images, not from one of our allies,” Ruffalo said. “It creates a really troubling and conflicting sense of who we are and what our morals are.”

“It’s my belief that Kamala means it when she says that every Palestinian has the right to self-determination … and that Israel and Palestine have a right to share the same shared security,” Ruffalo said. “We’ve seen it again and again, wars don’t mean shit. They don’t bring us anything.”

Ruffalo took aim at Elon Musk, who has been campaigning with Trump, alleging that “he wants to take your billions of dollars in tax funds to go start his little empire on Mars, and he knows that the Democrats won’t let him do it, and that’s why he jumped into the arms of his new little boyfriend, Donald Trump.”

Walz contrasted Harris’ economic plans with Trump’s, which Walz pointed out Musk recently said would cause “temporary hardship.”

“What in the hell does a billionaire know about hardship? These damn people,” Walz said.

Walz said that he has been asked about how a hypothetical Harris administration would fund her policy proposals.

“Well, for starters, we’ll have Donald pay his damn taxes. Elon can pay his taxes,” Walz said.

Walz, a former high school football coach, used a football analogy to describe the state of the race during the final weekend on the campaign trail.

“Momentum is on our side, but this is the time to take nothing for granted. It’s a pep talk for the folks who are here,” Walz said. “Tied game, two minutes left, we got the damn ball, we got the best quarterback in Kamala Harris, we got the best team that’s doing the work in all of you, we don’t get tired because we sleep when we’re dead in this group.”

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