David Hatch - Artist Web Site

Tim Walz's daughter, Hope Walz:
On getting through Inauguration Day,
building community & going outside.

 

Jan 17, 2025 9:24 AM

When Minnesota Governor Tim Walz became Kamala Harris’s Vice Presidential nominee in the back half of 2024, the campaign’s supporters quickly fell in love with his family.

Walz’s wife, Gwen, became a prominent, empowered maternal figure and teacher to the greater public. Meanwhile, their son Gus’s proud cries of “that’s my dad!” at the Democratic National Convention won hearts; and their daughter, Hope, brought a joyful, relatable presence to the campaign trail.

Following the election in November, Hope found a welcoming audience on TikTok, where she posted pragmatic pep talks and cozy video diaries, sharing behind-the-scenes family anecdotes, “what’s in my Baggu?” insights, and even introducing her boyfriend to the world.

The 24-year-old joined her dad for the duration of the whirlwind campaign but has returned home to Bozeman, Montana, where she works at a homeless shelter and as a ski instructor.

Although the future is uncertain for TikTok, she plans to continue posting content on social media, helping an online community come together in, well, hope, for the big changes ahead.

Hope sat down with Good Good Good to share how she’ll be spending Inauguration Day, ways people can get involved in the causes they care about, and what book she and her dad plan to read next in their father-daughter book club.

Answers have been edited for length and clarity.

A Q&A with Hope Walz

Kamrin Baker, Good Good Good: Tell me how you’re managing this moment in time.

Hope Walz: I mean… obviously it’s been a weird time because there’s this TikTok ban that people are starting to freak out about and then there’s also the upcoming inauguration and the new administration. It honestly kind of feels apocalyptic on at least my side of the internet.

But, I’m really just in the mode of controlling what I can control. I can’t stop the TikTok ban. I can’t stop the inauguration from happening. That stuff is going to happen. So I just have to control what I can control.

I’m just kind of leaning into what I can do, like the work that I have at the shelter. I got booked to ski instruct on Inauguration Day. Thank God I’m working, and I don’t have to see that.

I won’t say it’s business as usual, but I’m just kind of trying to push forward in that way because there is nothing that we can do about it other than lean into our people.

KB: Where are you finding hope and joy as we move closer to this next stage?

HW: I mean, I won’t kid about it. It’s obviously terrifying and it’s very easy to just get paralyzed with that fear. And I don’t think anybody knows what the world’s going to look like come Monday [Inauguration Day], and that’s a very scary thing.

But I am kind of leaning into this idea, you know, I won’t say we’ve been here before, but we have seen a Trump presidency before. We’ve seen apps get banned before. And people always find a way to keep pushing through. I think you do that by working in your communities.

So I’m finding a lot of hope in my co-workers and just my community at large. I’m finding so much joy in skiing, and that’s a very privileged thing to be able to do, but finding the joy of being able to go on a walk and knowing you have a body that allows you to do that, and just those little things that will keep us moving forward.

KB: Tell me a little bit more about the work that you do. I know you work in a warming center, right? And I hear you’re contemplating going to grad school? Tell me about that and what drew you to this work.

HW: Yes, I am. So, my degree was in criminology, which is really like a sociology degree with a focus. I always knew that I wanted to be people-focused. I started out studying political science and I was like “this is way too much theory.” Like, this stuff happens, but what really affects things are people, and behaviors, and how people react to each other. So that’s kind of why I went that route.

Then when I graduated, I decided I wasn’t quite ready to get a nine-to-five, sit-down job or go to grad school yet, but I still wanted to do something in that direction. One of my friends worked at the center and I was like, “I’ll apply.”

So now, I do the overnights at the shelter, and I do a lot of direct services. They say in the field of social services, “it’s a lot of just referring people to other people,” so I get to be like, “You should come in tomorrow at 10:00 and speak to these people and they’ll be able to help you with this,” or “You can go here and they can get you a voucher for this.”

It’s just a lot of human connection. You see people at their most vulnerable and get to be that solid, stable person.

I do think I’m going to either apply to start [grad school] this coming fall, or a year from now — I guess, to get my masters of social work. I don’t know if I necessarily want to go into the field long term, but I think I want to do policy or some sort of political consulting, anything in that realm.

Again, when I was in poly-sci, I was like “this is not real,” so I want to come from having a degree and having experience on the ground, knowing what people actually go through and what actually helps.

So, I think I’ll do that. It may change. We’ll see.

KB: What’s your advice for people who want to get involved with helping their most vulnerable community members but maybe don’t have that education or don’t have that professional training?

HW: It all starts, I think, with your comfortability level. So, I made a video and I said “go volunteer at your high school ticketing counter at a sports game.” Like, that stuff matters, too. And if you are feeling uncomfortable or quite ready to walk into a shelter or a warming center, start by bringing food to the food bank. Those little things really do add up.

I put out a call to action on a wish list for the shelter and it sold out in three days. And to me, that just showed that people are looking for ways to help; they just need direction.

I urge people to Google-search nonprofits in your area. Organizations — a lot of times on their website — they have volunteer opportunities and at the place I’m at, we have a wonderful group of volunteers. A lot of people are there very consistently.

I will say people come in the first time and they’re like, “I’m a little nervous right now. I don’t know what to expect.” That’s a completely normal thing. But they leave and they’re like, “That was amazing. I’ll be back tomorrow.” If you come in with an open mind, it’s amazing, and it’s so fun, so just dive in with an open mind.

KB: Moving on to the inauguration. You mentioned that you work that day, but walk me through your day, start to finish. How are you getting through it? What are you doing? Maybe you can provide a blueprint for the rest of us.

HW: I think I’m not going to look at social media. I think there’s going to be a lot of news coming out because [Trump] has a billion executive orders coming out. And truthfully, I’m not going to pay attention to it because I know that I will see what I need to see.

We need to know what’s going on, but I think it’s going to be very scary for a lot of people because it’s just going to come fast and be objectively hurtful for a lot of people.

So on the actual day, I’m not going to go on social media. That’s just for my own mental health. And then the day after, I will get back on and kind of regroup and see where I can go.

And for me personally, I think it’ll be a little hard to watch because I could have seen myself there, as well.

But, like I said, I’m working, and I get to ski instruct, so I’m doing something that I love to do.

And then I’m going to make sure to do some extra self-care. I’m not cooking that day. I’m getting something fun for dinner. I’m doing an extra thing like a face mask or something and then just kind of preparing for what’s to come. I think the first day will honestly be the scariest just because there is going to be so much

KB: Something that I think a lot of people resonate with about you and your family is that you guys are kind of just…normal. You just represent a happy, normal family, which feels very rare in politics. How did you maintain that sense of normalcy when you were on the campaign trail last year?

HW: I think it started out with just being grounded just in general. My dad has now been in elected office since 2006. We hadn’t experienced anything to the level in which we did [in 2024], but we did have experience in that. And my parents worked really hard to keep my brother and I’s childhood the way it would have been if he hadn’t been in office. I grew up in the same house and I went to public school and that whole thing. And that I think really just set the groundwork.

Yes, my dad does this. He’s a public official, but I’m normal and I’m like everyone else.

I think when we did get kind of thrust in this, we knew that in order to get through it, and in order to be the people we needed to be for the country, we had to keep our humanity.

I remember, the first week when we were on that joint rally tour with the Vice President, we were sitting in a hotel in Phoenix and there were big windows looking out into the city and the mountains, and I just started laughing.

My dad’s like, “What are you laughing about?” and I’m like, “Can you believe you’re running for Vice President? What do you mean you’re running? And we’re sitting here right now?”

And there’d be moments throughout the campaign that we just start laughing, like “This is the craziest thing we’ve ever experienced.”

I think being able to recognize the just absurdity of what was going on around us allowed us to really kind of stay grounded. I was pretty much full-time traveling with him, and it was just such a fun thing to do together — and to meet all of these amazing people and see the entire country. I’d never been to most of these places before, and I like to say I saw the best of America.

Being able to do that with my dad was just a very humbling experience, and I think we definitely recognized the significance of what we were doing. I think we were portrayed as the way we actually are because we’re authentic in that way. And it was just cool to see people connect to that.

KB: It’s obviously not the same thing as this moment in time, but I imagine your experience going into the campaign was probably similar to this time for many Americans. Like, you’re filled with this uncertainty, maybe a little bit of anxiety, just all this overwhelm. For people who feel like they’re about to embark on a time of uncertainty or abnormality, what is your advice for staying afloat and staying true to your values?

HW: During the vetting process or “Veepstakes,” as they like to call it, I was spiraling. I was in the process of moving to a new spot. I got strep throat. There was a point where I was just doom-scrolling for a week straight. I found myself leaning on my friends a lot to just watch a dumb movie or a reality TV show, or talk about things outside of what was happening in my life.

I found leaning on my community was super important.

And then, stepping into that uncertainty, the day before my dad was picked, my parents called me and they’re like, “You should maybe come home. This is actually a possibility.”

So I booked a last-minute flight, and I was feeling super anxious. But when I got home, things were very normal. My mom had some dresses on the bed that I would potentially wear, and they were all ugly and horrible, but we figured it out.

I was just like, “Okay, this is where I’m at right now. Whatever is going on outside of this right now, it matters, but I just have to kind of focus and be in the moment.”

There’s a saying — I don’t know who said it — it’s “be where your feet are.” So there might be all of this doomsday stuff around you, but where your feet are, if you’re doing the good work, you’re leaning on your friends, your family, your community, that’s where you are. That’s where you have to be.

It doesn’t help to just take in all of this really scary stuff. When, hopefully not, but when it inevitably gets bad, then I think it’s just recognizing that we can organize and we can get through it together.

I talk about community a lot. It’s kind of beating an old drum here. But really, if you have your community around you, I really do think we’re going to be okay.

KB: I really feel that too. I’ve seen a lot of people share about how your dad was a representation of a stand-in dad that they wish they had, or a dad that they had before they lost him to some harmful beliefs. It’s so special you continue to share glimpses into your life and your family, but what would you say to those people who feel like they lost the hope that he represents?

HW: I am very strategically putting that [content] out there because I know that there was a sense of community around him in that way. That feeling was a super powerful thing for our entire family and it really put in perspective just how lucky that I am.

So, I have been putting stuff out there, sharing him, because I know it does make a difference for people seeing that. It makes them feel safe and that is super important, and hopefully I can keep doing that on whatever app we’re all on.

I really think when we saw this displayed on a national level in a way that we probably haven’t before, it gave a lot of people hope. But there are Tims all over the place.

It might not be your dad, but they are there. And it might not even be a father figure. It might be a friend, or anyone else. There are people like my dad everywhere, and I think that’s why he resonated.

KB: I love how graciously you share him, too. I want to give you space here to be yourself and be an individual and be your own person, but it also seems like you just genuinely have such a deep love and appreciation for your family, and it doesn’t seem to offend you that this is a central conversation.

HW: No, not at all. On one of my videos, there were a fair amount of comments when I said something like, “when we got into this,” referring to my family stepping into this experience. And people commented and said they really liked how I framed that, and that it’s a very Midwestern thing.

I think I’m so confident in who I am as an individual because when my family did get into this, even in 2006, when my dad first ran, it was a family thing. It’s always been all of us, and that’s just how we do things.

It’s never just him. If it wasn’t for my mom, he wouldn’t be where he is. And if it wasn’t for him, she wouldn’t be where she is. It’s a thing we all do together.

KB: That’s so special. OK, let’s end on some fun lightning round questions. Who was your favorite person you met on the campaign trail?

HW: Maggie Rogers.

KB: What’s your favorite Kamala-inspired TikTok sound?

HW: I mean, anything with the coconuts. That was the beginning of a super fun and hopeful time. I look back on those fondly.

KB: Three things that give you hope.

HW: Okay, let’s see.

Women.

The sun. I’m so grateful to live in a place that is sunny a lot.

Good journalism. There’s not enough of that.

KB: What’s your go-to Midwestern-ism?

HW: I get a lot of comments on the way I pronounce “bag.” But the “yeah, no, yeah,” I say that a lot.

KB: What’s your go-to nonprofit you support?

HW: I work for one, so I’m going to say HRDC here in Bozeman.

But there’s also another one I’ll plug here in Bozeman; Big Sky Youth Empowerment. We take kids who may not have the opportunity to go outside and do outdoor activities, we ski with them at Big Sky, or take them climbing and hiking. I used to mentor for them, so that’s a good one.

And also the Human Rights Campaign.

KB: What’s your skiing hot take?

HW: If you make fun of other skiers, you’re not a real skier. If you’re on skis, you’re a skier.

KB: Favorite vegan or vegetarian dish?

HW: I love a good falafel wrap with pickled onions and hummus.

KB: What’s the best thing you do for your mental health right now?

HW: I have really gotten into skin care, to my bank account’s detriment.

KB: What’s something you’re looking forward to in 2025?

HW: I’m hopefully going to Nepal! My dad and I were supposed to go but then the trip got cancelled because we had to run.

But I also think just seeing communities come together. I think we’re seeing that with the LA wildfires, and that was pretty amazing. It sucks that it’s out of survival and necessity, but I do think that’s going to be a really cool thing we see more of.

KB: Wait, can I just say I love you being like “yeah, something came up so we couldn’t go on our trip anymore.”

HW: Something came up!

KB: Lastly, what is the next book on your book club list with your dad?

HW: Oh gosh. I really kind of want to get him to read “A Court of Thorns and Roses” by Sarah J. Maas. I just started it, but I don’t know if that would go well.

KB: Oh my gosh. Can you imagine everyone joining in with him and reading it at the same time?

HW: I know. That would be hilarious. We’ll see. He does take my book recommendations sometimes, so we’ll see.

 

 

Maga Granny


A former Capitol rioter who publicly turned on President-elect Donald Trump after serving 60 days in federal prison has said she would "refuse" a pardon from the MAGA cult leader, who has previously promised to free nonviolent offenders who participated in the Jan. 6 insurrection. Pamela Hemphill, a grandmother in her 70s who pleaded guilty to charges related to the riot, sounded off on social media about her thoughts on her prospective pardon. "I’m not going to be bullied by MAGA anymore, as those who went as far as calling my Probation Officer trying to get me in trouble backfired on them, thinking I would stop speaking out, just give me more confidence to continue!" Hemphill wrote in a post on Twitter. "I will refuse a pardon from felon Trump!" Trump previously highlighted Hemphill’s case in a very brief post on his Truth Social app in 2023 — but by that time Hemphill had already distanced herself from the MAGA movement. "I pleaded guilty because I was guilty, period," Hemphill told the Daily Beast at the time. "I mean, I was trespassing. I had a choice — I could have left."

 

Newly-pardoned Jan 6 rioter rearrested
on child solicitation charges

 

A freshly pardoned January 6 rioter who was granted freedom days into President Donald Trump’s second term has been rearrested for outstanding child sex crimes.

Andrew Taake, 36, was taken into custody on Thursday morning for a 2016 charge of online solicitation of a minor following an ongoing surveillance operation led by Harris County authorities, which confirmed he had been living in Leon County in Texas, around two hours north of Houston.

The alleged incident occurred in 2016 and involved Taake sending sexually explicit messages to an undercover law enforcement agent posing as a 15-year-old girl, reports The Texas Tribune.

At the time of the Capitol riot, Taake was out on a $20,000 bail in relation to the arrest.

Since taking office, Donald Trump initiated the mass pardon of 1,500 January 6 rioters, including the leaders of the Oath Keepers and the Proud Boys — a move that has reinvigorated some of the president’s more adamant supporters.

Taake, assaulted officers on that deadly day in Capitol Hill, using bear spray and a metal whip — behavior he was caught bragging to another woman about on a dating app, court records seen by The Texas Tribune showed.

The January 6 riots left more than 100 police officers injured as an angry mob of Trump supporters stormed Capitol Hill armed with poles, bats and bear spray
open image in gallery
The January 6 riots left more than 100 police officers injured as an angry mob of Trump supporters stormed Capitol Hill armed with poles, bats and bear spray (Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)
Infamously, Taake was arrested when dating app messages between him another woman in which he bragged about his role in the riot were revealed.

Days later, he was turned in to law enforcement. Taake received a six-year sentence in June 2024 after pleading guilty to assaulting police officers at the Capitol in 2021.

However, when Trump issued the sweep pardon, he was released from federal custody in Florence, Colorado, despite an insistence from authorities to hold him because of the pending warrant associated with the minor, said the Harris County District Attorney.

The Bureau of Prisons informed the Harris County D.A. that they needed “a certified warrant to prevent Taake’s release” and a copy of that warrant was faxed on January 15 this year, but Taake was released five days later, as per Trump’s request.

“Re-arresting individuals, like Taake, who were released with pending State warrants, will require significant resources. Know that we are already in the process of tracking Taake down, as he must answer for a 2016 charge of soliciting a minor online”, the district attorney previously stated on January 27.

His bond in Harris County was revoked and law enforcement is reported to be working closely with Leon County authorities to ensure he is transferred to the Harris County Jail.

The Independent contacted the Harris County District Attorney’s Office for information.

 

Conservative writer who accused drag queens
of “grooming” kids arrested for child molestation

 

Aaron Craig Gleason, an anti-LGBTQ+ writer who has accused queer people of “grooming” children for sexual abuse, has been arrested and charged for molesting a child under the age of 12.

Gleason, a 39-year-old middle school teacher and soccer coach who has written for the anti-LGBTQ+ media outlets The Daily Wire, The Federalist, and The Imaginative Conservative, was arrested on January 28 by police officers in Okaloosa, Florida. He has been charged with the “lewd and lascivious molestation of a child under the age of 12 by a person over the age of 18” and was held in jail on a $75,000 bond.

Related:

Parent fighting to ban LGBTQ books from schools just got arrested for child molestation
Ryan Utterback protested a lesbian book that he claimed was “sexual content.” He is now facing multiple charges related to alleged child molestation.

The Daily Wire has already removed Gleason’s author page from its website, but the Internet Archive has preserved the page. It reveals that he wrote two articles around 2022 about current Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. The Daily Wire and its numerous contributors have long claimed that LGBTQ+ people and their allies are “indoctrinating” and “sexualizing” children through public school education and media.

 

Bolsonaro Charged

 

Brazilian authorities charged former President Jair Bolsonaro and 33 others yesterday with orchestrating a coup after the 2022 presidential election, among other crimes. The country’s Supreme Court will now decide whether to accept the charges in the coming weeks. The indictments mark the first time in the nation’s history that military leaders have been charged with coup-related crimes (listen to history).

After ruling from 2019 to 2023, Bolsonaro lost reelection to current President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. The indictment charges the former army captain with overseeing a plan to poison the president-elect, his vice president, and Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes. Four major generals and dozens of aides are accused of planning to assume power amid the storming of government buildings by Bolsonaro supporters Jan. 8, 2023, days into the new administration’s term (how it happened).

The 69-year-old and his codefendants face decades in prison if found guilty. In 2023, the Supreme Court banned Bolsonaro from public office until 2030 for casting doubt on the country's electronic voting system ahead of the election.

 

Human rights activist kidnapped by Trump’s goons!
ICE Arrests Palestinian Activist Who Helped Lead Columbia's Anti-War Protests

if you needed any more evidence that fascism is here to stay in Trump's America, look no further than the shocking arrest and disappearance of former Columbia graduate student Mahmoud Khalil, who was taken away by ICE agents in New York City over the weekend for his activism on orders from Secretary of State Marco Rubio that his student visa was revoked. When the agents were told that he was, in fact, a permanent resident with a green card, they simply replied that his green card had also been revoked. To add insult to injury, the jack-booted thugs then threatened to arrest his wife, who is eight months pregnant and an American citizen. Khalil vanished on Saturday; when his wife went to visit him at the facility he had been ostensibly taken to in New Jersey, she was told he wasn't there. His official location has not been released, though ICE trackers have reason to believe he maybe in Louisiana. Folks, let's be 100% clear here: if they can disappear legal residents, they can and will disappear US citizens. Nobody is safe if you can be arrested for protesting, deprived of your rights, and then thrown into the labyrinth of the US immigration gulag. If this sounds like something out of a right-wing Latin American dictatorship, you'd be correct; the imperial boomerang is hitting home. 3/10/25

 

 

 

Links:

 

BBC

 

1440 (News curated by humans)

 

 

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Current Painting:

Painting for family and friends (willing to pay for shipping)
Completed #1 2022 (Grace's Tiger)
Completed #2 2023 (Fox & Hound)
Completed, Shipped #3 2023 (Nicolette & Evelyn)
Completed, Shipped #4 2023 (Payton - San Diego)
Completed #5 2023(Compilation Christine/Sherril/Blair/David)
Completed, Shipped #6 2024(Morgan - Colorado)
Completed, Shipped #7 2024 (Alan - San Francisco)
Completed Orphan Series #1 2024
Completed Orphan Series #2 2024
Completed Orphan Series #3 2025
Completed Orphan Series #4 2025
Completed Orphan Series #5 2025
Start #6 4/1/25 April fools

 

Current Music:

Playing at Liberty Cafe in Renton WA Last Friday of the month noon to 2
a great little coffee shop that always has local artist displayed.
Playing only originals, no covers, no cover charge, less than 3600 square feet
Less than 4 speakers, Not licensed with any PRO's

 

 

 

The Poem of the Day

Jabberwocky

BY LEWIS CARROLL


’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

“Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!”

He took his vorpal sword in hand;
Long time the manxome foe he sought—
So rested he by the Tumtum tree
And stood awhile in thought.

And, as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!

One, two! One, two! And through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.

“And hast thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!”
He chortled in his joy.

’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

 


Source: The Random House Book of Poetry for Children (1983)

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