A flotilla of Trump-supporting fishermen swarmed around Minnesota Governor Tim Walz on Sunday, mocking his fishing technique with Trump impersonations as he appeared to struggle to reel in a catch during the 77th Governor’s Fishing Opener.
Wearing a white cap pulled low over his face, the Democratic governor tried to ignore the hecklers drifting just yards away. Using a megaphone, they taunted him with exaggerated Trump impressions and joked that Walz had dumped “minnows out of a bucket” into the lake to fake a successful catch. “The instructions were on the bottom!” The Trump impersonator said while another suggested Walz couldn’t read them “’cause they’re in Chinese.”
“Well he does read Chinese! Maybe he does, I don’t know!” responded the impersonator, alluding to the governor’s love of China and frequent trips made to the communist country before he first ran for public office. “He loves China. China! He loves the way I said China,” laughed the heckler.
Since his defeat alongside former Vice President Kamala Harris in November, Walz has become a focal point in the Democratic Party’s broader reckoning over its messaging to white male voters. Walz, who recently described himself as a “code talker” to that demographic, made overt appeals during the campaign—filming videos of himself fixing his truck and casually discussing his fondness for bland “white guy” tacos.
“I also was on the ticket quite honestly, you know, because I could ‘code talk’ to white guys watching football, fixing their truck, doing that, I could put them at ease,” Walz said while speaking at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government earlier this month. “I was the permission structure to say, ‘look, you can do this and vote for this,’” the governor continued before conceding that he was unsuccessful. “And you look across those swing states, with the exception of Minnesota, we didn’t get enough of those votes.”
The perceived inauthenticity of Walz’s outreach efforts ultimately damaged his standing with voters, who favored Vice President J.D. Vance instead. Despite the stinging defeat, the Minnesota governor has continued touring the country in an effort to rebuild his image and lay the groundwork for a potential 2028 presidential bid.