In his latest attempt to raise his national profile, Gov. Tim Walz took shots at Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis Wednesday, saying the Republican’s state is “where freedom goes to die.”
The remarks were made during an event to promote reading month, where Walz unveiled a Little Free Library outside of his office.
“Let’s be very clear,” Walz said, according to The Star Tribune. “These books are banned in the state of Florida. That’s where freedom goes to die.”
According to a Reuters factcheck, many of the classics in Walz’s display, such as “1984,” “Of Mice and Men,” “To Kill a Mockingbird,” and “Lord of the Flies,” are included in Florida’s Benchmarks for Excellent Student Thinking.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said recent legislation in his state is simply designed to prohibit “pornography and sexual material in the classroom.”
This may include books such as Toni Morrison’s “The Bluest Eye,” which contains graphic sexual content, including depictions of sexual assault and molestation, according to the nonpartisan BookLooks.org. The book is available in Walz’s library.
According to BookLooks, some excerpts from the book include:
“The confused mixture of his memories of Pauline and the doing of a wild and forbidden thing excited him, and a bolt of desire ran down his genitals, giving it length, and softening the lips of his anus. Surrounding all of this lust was a border of politeness. He wanted to fuck her tenderly. But the tenderness would not hold. The tightness of her vagina was more than he could bear.”
“The little girls are the only things I’ll miss. Do you know that when I touched their sturdy little tits and bit them — just a little — I felt I was being friendly? I didn’t want to kiss their mouths or sleep in the bed with them or take a child bride for my own.”
“If I don’t move, he’ll move his hand over to pull and knead my stomach. Soft and slow-like. I still don’t move, because I don’t want him to stop. I want to pretend sleep and have him keep on rubbing my stomach. Then he will lean his head down and bite my tit. Then I don’t want him to rub my stomach anymore. I want him to put his hand between my legs.”
“When she senses some spasm about to grip him, she will make rapid movements with her hips, press her fingernails into his back, suck in her breath, and pretend she is having an orgasm. She might wonder again, for the six hundredth time, what it would be like to have that feeling while her husband’s penis is inside her.”
In a statement, Walz said Minnesota is “not in the business of taking books away from kids and schools.”
“This Little Free Library is one way we’re doing our part to ensure books remain accessible to teach, tell our story, and inspire the next generation of readers in Minnesota,” he added.
Another book available in the governor’s library, “Melissa” by Alex Gino, tells the story of a fourth-grade boy who transitions to being a girl.
Left-wing media recently praised Walz as the “anti-DeSantis” amid a flurry of national media coverage of the governor’s progressive agenda, prompting speculation about a presidential bid.
Walz’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
“In Florida, pornographic and inappropriate materials that have been snuck into our classrooms and libraries to sexualize our students violate our state education standards,” DeSantis said. “Florida is the education state and that means providing students with a quality education free from sexualization and harmful materials that are not age appropriate.”
Anthony Gockowski
Anthony Gockowski is Editor-in-Chief of Alpha News. He previously worked as an editor for The Minnesota Sun and Campus Reform, and wrote for the Daily Caller.
