Viral video misleads with truncated clip of Tim Walz “can't afford four more years” remarks

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the Democratic vice presidential nominee, pitched himself and Vice President Kamala Harris to voters Sept. 21 in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

But a viral Instagram video claims Walz did the opposite of praising Harris’ record as part of the current administration.

"Tim Walz: ‘We can’t afford four more years of this,’" text on the Sept. 21 video read. "Kamala is in office right now. She is the ‘this.’"  It included a video clip of Walz saying, "We can’t afford four more years of this."

We saw similar claims about Walz’s remarks on X. "In a stunning move, Tim Walz makes the case for Trump: ‘We can't afford four more years of this,’" the conservative podcaster and commentator Benny Johnson posted on X.

The Instagram video was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook, Threads and Instagram.)

But it is hardly a stunning admission, because the video is misleading. It doesn’t show Walz’s complete remarks, which provide the full context. We reviewed Walz’s full speech and found his "four more years" comment referred to his opponents: Republican presidential nominee and former President Donald Trump and Republican vice presidential nominee, Ohio Sen. JD Vance.

Toward the end of his speech, Walz talked about mass shootings, especially their impact on children; he criticized Republicans for a lack of "action and results." But Walz stopped midspeech to call for help as a rally attendee experienced a medical event. When Walz resumed speaking, he returned to his criticism of Trump’s and Vance’s reactions to school shootings.

"Folks, look, Kamala Harris made it clear these guys want to instill fear," Walz said. "They want to tell you that just ‘get over it’, ‘it is a fact of life,’" he said referring to Trump’s remarks after a January school shooting in Iowa and Vance's remarks in September about a Georgia school shooting. 

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PolitiFact has reported about the full context of Trump's and Vance's remarks.

Walz continued: "(Harris) simply has said it doesn't have to be this way. It doesn't have to be this way. We can't afford four more years of this," and then immediately mentioned Project 2025, the guidebook of presidential policy recommendations written by the conservative Heritage Foundation with conservative groups’ contributions. Amid criticism of Project 2025, Trump has distanced himself from the document, but he has strong ties to the Heritage Foundation and many people who were involved in the document’s creation.

Walz sought to link Project 2025 to Trump and Vance: "I said: ‘As a football coach, when you take the time to draw up a playbook, you are going to use it,’" Walz said. "They drew up the playbook, they know."

We rate the claim that Walz said we can’t afford four more years of Harris False.