Tim Walz says he doesn’t talk about his faith “a lot.” Based on the reaction to his attempt to quote scripture during Tuesday night’s vice presidential debate with Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, that might be a wise choice.
During the debate, the Minnesota governor referenced a Bible verse in an effort to justify the Democratic Party’s stance on immigration, but it only served to highlight the party’s hypocrisy, sparking backlash on social media.
Walz’s scriptural citation occurred when he was asked about the illegal immigration crisis under the Biden-Harris administration. “I don’t talk about my faith a lot,” Walz began, before quoting Matthew 25:40: “‘To the least amongst us, you do unto me.’ I think that’s true of most Americans. They simply want order to it.”
Walz, who is running on a presidential ticket for a party that staunchly supports abortion, used the Bible to back policies that have allowed for the destruction of U.S. borders, under the guise of a “border security” bill that offers minimal real security. The hollowness of his argument didn’t go unnoticed, with social media users quick to point out the inconsistency.
“He supports killing defenseless children in the womb,” one user noted. “Does that verse apply to them too?”
Pro-life activist Lila Rose added, “How can Walz quote Matthew 24:40 ‘whatever you do the least of these,’ and support killing helpless preborn babies? The cognitive dissonance is incredible.”
One X user called Walz’s comments “pure political gaslighting.”
It’s unlikely Walz will be quoting other Bible passages, such as those from Jeremiah: “Before I formed you in the womb,” or psalms about “you knit me together in my mother’s womb.”
In Walz’s view, “the least among us” seems to include criminals who have entered the country under President Joe Biden’s lax border policies. This includes gang members, drug dealers, and sex traffickers, among others. Yet, this does not seem to apply to the most vulnerable humans of all—unborn babies.
For some, Walz’s use of the Bible might provide a convenient moral shield. But for those with even a basic understanding of scripture, the real takeaway was clear: as Shakespeare once said, “The devil can cite scripture for his purpose.”
And so, it seems, can Democrats.
