Walz recalls how son explained Trump’s appeal to young men and how the president creates a sense of belonging

Former vice presidential candidate Gov. Tim Walz shared an anecdote on Friday in which his son, Gus Walz, explained President Donald Trump’s unique appeal with young men.

Since the 2024 election, the Democratic Party has been reckoning with its lack of support from young men. The New York Times recently published a report claiming that Democrats are spending $20 million on a study called, “Speaking with American Men: A Strategic Plan.” The project aims to analyze “the syntax, language and content that gains attention and virality in these spaces” of male voters.

Walz shared some insight from his son, however, that came without such a price tag.

“[Gus] is pretty in tune to this, but what he said was, he said, ‘Dad, a lot of these young guys – they’re not voting on the policy issues,’” Tim Walz said during an interview on the “Grounded” podcast. “And he wasn’t dissing them, he said they may know the policy issues, but most of them don’t. They’re doing it because there’s a sense of excitement, a sense of thrill in this, it’s entertainment or whatever.”

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Walz highlighted how different this approach is from many experienced adults in the political world, noting, “We all dismiss that,” arguing many Trump critics say “‘Donald Trump’s a clown,’ you know, ‘Donald Trump’s rallies are a clown.’”

Nonetheless, Walz argued the core of Trump’s appeal is telling young men, “You’ve got a place to belong.”

“I think — this is me just pontificating for what it’s worth,” he said. “Social media and other things have disconnected people more than they were. We were more connected to my generation. It was easier to be a kid when I was growing up.”

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He then warned that Trump taps into a deep need in American society.

“And I’ve always said this as a teacher: If you don’t give a kid a place to belong, they’ll go find one. So you want them to be involved in sports and music and things in school, because they will go find a group of folks,” he said. 

“And I think Donald Trump understands belonging, understands groups, I mean, look at it. He gives them a uniform, the red hat. He gives them some chants, some talking points, whatever. It’s not all that different than when we build sports teams in high school. ‘You belong, you are part of this,’” Walz added.

“It’s not so much the policies,” he said, echoing his son’s comment. “I think it’s incredibly dangerous, but I don’t think we went out to get them. We didn’t go out to make them feel a part of this.”