Opinion | Leave Gus Walz Alone

If you were following the recent Democratic National Convention that took place in Chicago this year, I am sure you are aware of Gus Walz’s heartfelt reaction to his father Tim Walz’s acceptance speech. Gus, his 17-year-old son, was seen standing up, clapping and exclaiming, “That’s my dad!” with tears streaming from his eyes. 

The public’s reaction to that should be warm — it should feel great to see a sweet moment of a son being so incredibly proud of his father and not afraid to show it. Unfortunately, Gus Walz received criticism and crude comments, primarily from the right, judging him and calling him names. 

Walz has been open in sharing that his son is neurodivergent and more specifically has ADHD, an anxiety disorder, and nonverbal learning disorder. Globally, an estimated 15-20% of people exhibit some form of neurodivergence, an umbrella term encompassing the autism spectrum, ADHD, learning disorders and other differences in how people’s brains work. A key to understanding neurodivergence is understanding emotions, which many people forgot to do when it came to Gus Walz. It is common for neurodivergent people like him to experience heightened emotions that are hard to suppress, but in no world does that warrant criticism in the media. 

While I don’t want to give the criticism much attention, I think it’s important to point out the viral post on X, formerly called Twitter, by conservative political commentator Anne Coulter. Coulter posted an article about Gus Walz’s moment at the DNC with the caption “Talk about weird” in an attempt to fire back at the Democrats who have used “weird” to describe opponents Donald Trump and JD Vance. Immediately, Coulter received online backlash calling her cruel for calling a neurodivergent 17-year-old “weird”. 

While the post has been deleted, she could not help but make another snarky comment in the process, asserting, “I took it down as soon as someone told me he’s [autistic], but it’s Democrats who go around calling everyone weird thinking it’s hilariously funny.”

There are a lot of things that anger me about this situation, but what stuck out particularly was that Coulter quoted a tweet stating “I’m guessing she didn’t know he had autism, even though he looks a little special…”

Even if Gus Walz wasn’t neurodivergent or that knowledge wasn’t public, there was no reason to make such a rude comment on a 17-year-old and then take down the post with a final dig. 

This is a clear depiction of the lack of progress we have made in being comfortable with emotion, for men specifically. Time and time again the right has created this image of rigid emotionless men. This has gone so far that Sen. Rick Scott, a Republican from Florida, issued “An 11-point Plan to Rescue America,” fin which point number nine states, “Men are men and women are women.” Sen.Josh Hawley, a Republican from Missouri,  also wrote a book on this ideal titled, “Manhood: The Masculine Virtues America Needs” in which he distinguishes the six roles of a “man” — husband, father, warrior, builder, priest, king. 

This construed image of a man is so intense that if one dares to defy these ideals of masculinity, people immediately feel that manhood is being “attacked.” This idea has gone so far that people can’t even handle a teenager expressing emotion for his dad. 

Living in a society with a large group of people who sometimes experience more emotions than others, we have no choice but to change our attitude and encourage these completely warranted displays of emotion. We must make it to the point where the only reason anyone should point out tears of pride, joy, love, sadness, fear or whatever else it may be is to show appreciation — not judgment. 

When describing Gus Walz, his parents explain his neurodivergence as his “secret power” stating, “[Gus] is brilliant, hyper-aware of details that many of us pass by, and above all else, he’s an excellent son and brother to his sibling.”

I sound like a broken record, but Gus Walz is a son — a son whose father accepted his vice presidential nomination in one of the most important elections in our country. It should not have turned into a right-and-left issue that Coulter made. His reaction is nothing but a true depiction of pride and love. Gus Walz feels these intense emotions more than others. That’s beautiful and honorable, not weird.