Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz was heckled and booed during his speech at the Capitol for Veterans Day on the Hill Wednesday.
“You’re a coward,” some veterans shouted as Gov. Walz began speaking from a podium. “Shut your f—ing mouth.”
🚨 Tim Walz was heckled and booed by military veterans in Minnesota today over his stolen valor. pic.twitter.com/It80ZIeZCC
— Dustin Grage (@GrageDustin) April 10, 2025
Videos show several veterans shouting at Walz and while some of what they said is indiscernible, their anger is clearly communicated.
Joe Steck, an active Air Force and Army National Guard veteran, was there and shared with Alpha News his experience, saying that the shouting was because of Walz’s lies while on the campaign trail.
“This is the first time veterans have had the opportunity to be in front of him after the national media exposed his stolen valor, his lying about his military past, his lying about his being in combat. That’s what this was about, plain and simple,” he told Alpha News.
He said that he, among many other veterans, is frustrated with Walz for mischaracterizing his service to the nation.
“They were pissed off at him for all that stuff. The Minnesota media, and all these intellectually lazy journalists, they never covered it. So they finally had the opportunity to unload on him, so they did,” Steck said.
He explained that he’s not one to get involved in protests, but he does participate in Veterans Day on the Hill because of his own service to our country.
“Veterans Day on the Hill is when Veterans get together and let the representatives know that you made promises to us and we need these things taken care of,” Steck said. “Gov. Walz, I’m not a fan of his politics, but he has been good to the veterans, I will say that. In general, he’s always gotten claps, people maybe didn’t like his politics, but they’ve never been rude to him.”
Steck continued, saying that beyond the heckling, what really was impactful was the veterans’ response to the things Walz said in his speech. “It wasn’t as much the shouting, it was the silence. That is the thing. They sat on their hands, it was silent. He said stuff that should’ve been clapped at and it was not,” he told Alpha News. “Walz did actually say some good things, but they were not going to hear it because they wanted him to know how they felt.”
Alpha News first broke the story on Walz’s military record in 2022, when Tom Behrends, a retired command sergeant major who replaced Walz on a deployment to Iraq, spoke out.
“He has been nothing but a babbling failure during his whole political career,” Behrends recently told Alpha News. “If the truth would have gotten out during his first run for office, his campaign would have fizzled like a wet bottle rocket, but thank God the nation saw through his smoke and mirrors.”
Hayley Feland
Hayley Feland previously worked as a journalist with The Minnesota Sun, The Wisconsin Daily Star, and The College Fix. She is a Minnesota native with a passion for politics and journalism.
