CNN Anchor Confronts Trump Spox For Calling Tim Walz ‘Moron’ And ‘Effeminate’ — Gets Him To Backtrack On One Of Them

CNN anchor Kasie Hunt challenged Trump campaign senior advisor Jason Miller over names that Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) — Vice President Kamala Harris’s running mate — has been called by Miller and former President Donald Trump — and got him to backtrack on one of them.

With Tuesday night’s CBS News debate between VP candidates Sen. JD Vance (R-OH) and Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) just hours away, both campaigns have been engaging in some expectation setting — with only one of them doing so by calling their opponent “ effeminate ” and “ moron .”

On Tuesday morning’s edition of CNN This Morning , Hunt opened by asking Miller if he agrees with Trump that Walz is a “moron” and whether that conflicts with Miller’s spin that Walz is a skilled debater.

She later doubled back to ask why Miller called Walz an “effeminate caricature” on a press call , at which point Miller abandoned the adjective and instead claimed Walz is not sufficiently “alpha male”:

KASIE HUNT: Trump campaign made clear during a press call yesterday that they are not underestimating Walz’s debate ability.

JASON MILLER: Walz was very good in debates. I want to repeat that Tim Walz is very good in debates. Really good. He’s been a politician for nearly 20 years. He’ll be very well-prepared for tomorrow night. He’s not going to be the wildly gesticulating effeminate caricature we see at rallies pointing to Kamala Harris and dancing about on the stage.

KASIE HUNT: All right. Joining us now is the man that you just heard there, Trump campaign senior adviser Jason Miller. Jason, good morning. Glad to have you on the program.

JASON MILLER: Good morning.

KASIE HUNT: So that was your evaluation of Tim Walz’s skills on the debate stage. It differs remarkably from that of your boss, Donald Trump, who had this to say about Tim Walz. Watch.

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DONALD TRUMP: He’s going up against a moron, a total moron. How she picked him is unbelievable. And I think it’s a big factor. There’s something wrong with that guy. He’s sick. He went into the Michigan game the other day, got booed out. I went into the Alabama game. That 120,000 people went crazy.

KASIE HUNT: So Jason, is Tim Walz a moron?

JASON MILLER: Well, two things can be true at the same time here. Again, the Tim Walz that we see on the campaign trail as he’s bouncing around and dancing and pointing to Kamala Harris and looking kind of goofy is not the Tim Walz that shows up in debates. And Casey, I will tell you, I’ve watched more debate footage of Tim Walz than anyone should ever be forced to do.

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KASIE HUNT: Well, do you think that someone who is a moron can be good on a debate stage? I guess I guess that’s the part I’m tripping on.

JASON MILLER: Well, no, it’s and again, two things can be true here.

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KASIE HUNT: Jason, before I let you go, I do want to follow up on something we heard from you on that that press call where you referred to Tim Walz as a feminist. That stuck out to me. Why Why did you use that term?

JASON MILLER: I mean, you look at the way that Tim Walz dances around on the stage, and that’s just the way that it struck me. And so that was my characterization. And that’s Tim Walz, as I said, is kind of goofy, bounces around. He doesn’t look like —

KASIE HUNT: Goofy and bouncing or not. I mean, the– effeminate is has a lot of specific connotations to it.

JASON MILLER: Well, uh. Goofy and bouncing around. It’s not someone who comes across as this alpha male, someone who’s a killer that’s going to come out there and be sharp on the debate stage. But that’s what we’re going to see tonight with Tim Walz. Again, not to say that JD Vance isn’t going to show up and do very well, but Tim Walz will be an absolute killer.

He’s. Not going to be this goofy caricature of himself as we normally see when he’s on stage and doing the weird pointing thing to Kamala Harris. Tim Walz is good. I would say the advantage definitely goes to him since he’s been doing this for so long.

Watch above via CNN This Morning .