Conservative podcaster Ben Shapiro tried really, really hard to insult Tim Walz on Wednesday, but the attack failed to land, in part because it only made the Minnesota governor seem more appealing.
Shapiro took to X, formerly Twitter to note, “Weird move for Kamala to select Marxist Don Rickles, but here we are.”
Shapiro’s post came hours after a rally in Philadelphia with Vice President Kamala Harris where Walz brought down the house by joking that he “can’t wait to debate” Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance “if he’s willing to get off the couch and show up.”
The mention of the couch was a reference to a debunked internet joke that Vance supposedly had sex with a couch in college and wrote about it in his book, “Hillbilly Elegy.”
Walz is also credited with coming up with the “Republicans are weird” talking point that has so far been effective with the Democratic base.
Shapiro obviously hoped to convince social media that Walz is a Communist version of the legendary insult comic, but the attempted hit didn’t really land, based on the responses to the post.
“Hey, you know that American comic that has been beloved by the public for like a century? Yeah, apparently Kamala picked him for VP. What a blunder!” one person noted.
Many people noted that Shapiro seemed to be grasping at straws, much like Fox News’ Kayleigh McEnany, who made a supercut on Tuesday that was meant to make to Walz sound bad — but actually made him look pretty good.
Some people thought that the reference to Rickles, who died in 2017 at the age of 90, was just a tad dated.
Shapiro’s insult is similar to one tried by George H. W. Bush during the 1992 election when he referred to Bill Clinton and Al Gore as “bozos,” which inspired Clinton to respond, “All I can say is Bozo makes people laugh and Bush makes people cry.”