Trump criticizes Fox News over Dem governor’s appearance: ‘They make me fight battles’

Donald Trump slammed Fox News on Tuesday for inviting Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz onto their program, where he said the Republican Party was “stuck with Donald Trump.”

“Why did Fox News put up Tim Walz, Governor of Minnesota, where I am leading? They make me fight battles that I shouldn’t have to fight!” the former president wrote in a post on Truth Social.

Walz hit back on X that Trump “knows nothing about rural America” and will lose “Minnesota. And Wisconsin. And Michigan. And Pennsylvania.”

A Fox News spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment from POLITICO.

Minnesota has not gone for a Republican for president since Richard Nixon in 1972, but Trump has become fixated on the idea that he can flip the state to expand his map. He lost Minnesota to Hillary Clinton in 2016 with a close 2-point margin — one that President Joe Biden only widened in 2020.

Senior Trump advisers have argued to donors that Minnesota is in play for the former president in November, POLITICO reported, although polling has previously shown Biden, on average, leading Trump in Minnesota. This weekend, Trump’s vice presidential pick Sen. JD Vance of Ohio is set to travel to Minneapolis for a campaign fundraiser.

On Fox News, Walz defended the process Democrats will follow for selecting a new nominee at the Democratic National Convention next month as Vice President Kamala Harris seeks the nomination following Biden’s exit from the race. Unlike the Democratic Party, which Walz described as “ready to move when the situation warrants it,” the governor said Republicans have had to stand by Trump despite his criminal convictions and “failed policies.”

“He’s yours, you’ve got him, welcome to it,” Walz told Fox’s Bill Hemmer and Dana Perino. Referring to Vance’s criticisms of Democrats’ sudden presidential candidate switch-up, he added, “JD Vance, mind your own business, is what I would tell them. We’ll manage it.”

Walz, who served as a surrogate for the Biden campaign, did not confirm whether he was being vetted as a vice presidential pick for Harris but said the two have spoken and “have the same values.”