Source: CHARLY TRIBALLEAU / Getty
Gus Walz is the son of Minnesota Governor and VP candidate Tim Walz. The 17-year-old won the hearts of millions when during the Democratic National Convention he displayed raw emotion, clapping “That’s my dad!” during his father’s speech on Wednesday (August 21) night.
While the goodwill was already flowing, Gus Walz’s legend only grew when many then learned that when he was becoming a teen he was diagnosed with a nonverbal learning disorder and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. As you would guess, the Walz family was nothing but supportive, telling People magazine, “It took time, but what became so immediately clear to us was that Gus’ condition is not a setback — it’s his secret power.”
Nevertheless, people on the conservative right proceeded to show their asses on social media and actually mocked Gus Walz for daring to show emotion during his father’s stirring moment when he accepted the VP nomination. The worst of the bunch was easily Ann Coulter, who wrote “Talk about weird…” as a caption of a picture of Gus in tears. Of course, Coulter eventually deleted her tweet after immense backlash, but nothing is ever wiped away on the Internets.
Coulter was not an anomaly, with many a troglodyte co-signing her foolishness with similar attacks. But despite Elon Musk’s X becoming a cesspool of hate, the overwhelming reactions have been nothing but support and love for Gus Walz and his family. Social media is filled with people smacking down the attacks with accounts about their own lives with neurodivergent children and while disparaging the lack of human decency Coulter and her ilk routinely display.
See some of the more passionate reactions in the gallery.
3. Never forget.
7. Posting for archival purpose because they will deny it.
8. It’s personal.
9. We won’t condone everything written here, but we understand.
