It's up to Democrat vice presidential nominee Tim Walz to defend himself and his military service record, Rick Gates, a former campaign strategist for Republican nominee Donald Trump, told Newsmax on Sunday.
However, Gates told Newsmax's "Sunday Report" that the controversy may not harm Democrat nominee Kamala Harris' campaign much, since voters on Election Day cast ballots for presidential candidates, not their running mates.
"I think it might hurt maybe with some military voters," Gates said. "Rarely will we see statistics or polls move dramatically over this, so honestly, it's probably not a bad time for this to happen to Tim Walz to try to clean it up."
The Minnesota governor has other issues with his record, including having it on his resume that he was a retired command sergeant major when his retirement benefits are based on a master sergeant's rate, but the "campaign is in the process of cleaning that up," said Gates.
"But in each of these instances, the problem is that it's the campaign coming out and defending him but it's not Tim Walz defending his record," said Gates. "We've got the issue of deployment as well, which I think we need to see."
The facts must come out, he added, so every American can see them "before the rhetoric gets too spun out of control."
"At the end of the day, Tim Walz has a lot of explaining to do, and he hasn't done it yet," said Gates.
Meanwhile, former President Donald Trump's campaign must continue to attack Harris' record on all fronts, not just as vice president, but as the former attorney general of California and as a senator.
"Most people in America believe this is an extension of [former President Barack] Obama and [President Joe] Biden in terms of Harris serving, so attack her on those policies because they're going to be the same flawed policies," Gates said. "If they keep attacking her on character Walz's record, it's not going to be enough, I think, to convince the American people that the Trump campaign has a better vision than the Harris campaign for the future."
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Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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