President Donald Trump called Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz a "sick puppy" who should not have landed on the Democrats' 2024 presidential ticket.
"He's a sick puppy, that guy, that poor guy. I feel sorry for him," Trump said Thursday from the Oval Office while meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. "But, they made a bad choice with him."
Trump's comments followed a reporter asking Trump about his relationship with Elon Musk after the former Department of Government Efficiency chief repeatedly assailed the "big beautiful bill," the sweeping legislation that will fund the Trump administration's agenda and touted by the president as key legislation that demands GOP unity for passage.
Musk was a key ally of Trump's during the campaign cycle, holding rallies in the top seven battleground states to rally support, including in Pennsylvania.
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Trump remarked that the Democrat Party should have tapped Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro to join former Vice President Kamala Harris as her running mate on the presidential ticket, but instead chose Walz.
"Elon endorsed me very strongly. He actually went up and campaigned for me. I think I would have won. Susie would say I would have won Pennsylvania easily anyway, even if the governor had the real governor, not the governor, for a Minnesota," Trump said before calling Walz a "sick puppy."
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"But if you picked Shapiro or anybody else, I spoke to him recently about his, you know, his house being set on fire, which was terrible. But if they picked him, I would have won Pennsylvania," he added, referring to how Shapiro's home was targeted by arson while his family slept back in April.
Walz joined Harris on the Democrat ticket in August 2024, just days after President Joe Biden dropped out of the race in July 2024 amid mounting concerns over his mental acuity, giving way to Harris at the top of the ticket. The Harris campaign had just more than 100 days between Biden dropping out and rallying support for the Harris-Walz ticket before Election Day on Nov. 5.
After the election, Walz revealed he would run for president in 2028 if the opportunity presented itself.
"Well, I had a friend tell me, 'Never turn down a job you haven't been offered,'" Walz told the New Yorker in March when asked if he would run for president.
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"If I think I could offer something ... I would certainly consider that," he said. "I'm also, though, not arrogant enough to believe there's a lot of people that can do this."
He said that under the correct circumstances and if he had the right "skill set" for the 2028 race, "I'll do it."
"You might do it?" the New Yorker asked.
"I'll do whatever it takes," Walz said. "I certainly wouldn't be arrogant enough to think that it needs to be me."
