US election 2024: Donald Trump attacks Tim Walz as ‘very into the transgender’

Donald Trump has attacked Kamala Harris’ running-mate choice as “very into the transgender” and “very insulting to Jewish people”.

The Republican 2024 presidential candidate said he “couldn’t be more thrilled” Harris, 59, had chosen Tim Walz as her vice-presidential candidate.

Walz’s record as the governor of Minnesota has been thrust into the spotlight since the announcement, with Republicans seizing on his record over transgender issues.

The 60-year-old signed a bill into law establishing Minnesota as a “trans refuge”, an executive order last year making the state among the first to protect access to gender-affirming healthcare.

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz speaks during a visit by US President Joe Biden to the Cummins Power Generation facility on April 3, 2023. Photo / Getty Images

Trump, who has called Harris and Walz a “radical Left duo”, said he would be focusing on the Midwestern governor’s support for the trans community on the campaign trail.

“This is a ticket that would want this country to go communist immediately – if not sooner,” Trump told Fox News’ morning show Fox & Friends on Wednesday.

“He’s very heavy into transgender. Anything transgender he thinks is great.”

Trump, 78, added: “He’s not where the country is on anything.”

Trump campaign insiders have suggested they were relieved by Harris’ decision to opt for Walz as her running mate over her other short-listed candidate, the Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro.

Republican strategists believed Shapiro, 51, a rising Democratic talent, could have delivered his home state for his party, which is considered critical to winning November’s election.

Shapiro faced an intensive lobbying campaign from progressives over his staunch support for Israel.

His snub in the selection process has triggered accusations of anti-Semitism from Republicans.

Trump said the snub was “very insulting to Jewish people”, but added he “couldn’t be more thrilled” Harris went with Walz, casting him as an easier opponent to defeat.

The former President also signalled he was prepared to debate with Harris “in the pretty near future”, despite backing out of a scheduled appearance against his Democratic opponent on ABC News on September 10.

Trump suggested an alternative head-to-head with Harris on Fox News on September 4, prompting her campaign team to accuse him of “running scared”.

Speaking to Fox on Wednesday, Trump teased the prospect of an announcement on a new debate “fairly soon”.

He separately suggested Joe Biden could crash the Democratic National Convention later this month to try to “take back the nomination” after it was “stolen” from him by Harris, former President Barack Obama and “others on the Lunatic Left”.

“He feels that he made a historically tragic mistake by handing over the US presidency, a COUP, to the people in the world he most hates, and he wants it back, NOW!!!,” Trump said in a social media post.