Like many others, I wept watching vice presidential candidate Tim Walz’s son, Gus, express his sheer admiration of his dad during the Democratic National Convention.
Gus had tears in his eyes. As an expression of pure joy, when he pointed his index finger at his dad during his speech, he said, “I love you, dad” and “That’s my dad!”
Much has been made about the fact that Gus has a nonverbal learning disorder as well as anxiety and ADHD. While none of that matters in regard to his elated show of affection for his dad, it did perhaps offer some people the chance to think about those issues and to consider how the Walz family has admirably supported Gus.
What should not have happened is that hateful people took to the Internet to make fun of Gus. But it did. For example, conservative columnist Ann Coulter wrote on the platform X, “Talk about weird.” The comment has since been deleted, but that does not erase the despicable sentiment behind making fun of a teenager who expressed his love for his father.
Trump supporter and podcaster Mike Crispi referred to Gus as Walz’s “stupid crying son” and wrote on X, “You raised your kid to be a puffy beta male. Congrats.” Another Trump supporter, Alec Lace, who actually hosts a podcast about fatherhood, wrote, “Get the kid a tampon already.”
The issue goes beyond people saying disgusting comments about Gus Walz, however. It brings to light the fact that to some in the United States, politician’s kids are fair game. They should never be. Sadly, there is a long history of trolls attacking politician’s kids. Remember all the comments about Chelsea Clinton? How about the grotesque things people said about Sasha and Malia Obama?
It is not just conservatives who play dirty and attack the kids. Like Chelsea, Barron Trump was also ridiculed on Saturday Night Live after his dad took office. Barron faced more mean-spirited attacks when he decided to get involved politically as he was turning 18.
This really is quite simple: Leave the kids alone. They have nothing to do with their parent’s choice to run for office. There are plenty of policy issues that desperately need to be the focus of the upcoming election. Let’s pay attention to those and not to bullying kids. We can do better.
Laura Finley, Ph.D., teaches in the Barry University department of sociology & criminology.
