On Wednesday night, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz addressed the Democratic National Convention as the vice-presidential candidate. In his speech, he spoke directly to his family. “Gus, Hope and Gwen, you are my entire world and I love you.” His 17-year-old son, Gus, gave his dad a standing ovation and, while crying, said, “That’s my dad!”
The heart-warming moment went viral.
Then the bullying began.
Ann Coulter mocked the teen’s tears by posting a picture of him crying and captioning it “Talk about weird.” Mike Crispi, a Trump supporter and podcaster from New Jersey, mocked Walz’s “stupid crying son” on X and added, “You raised your kid to be a puffy beta male. Congrats.” (Both have since deleted the tweets, after fierce backlash.) There was so much more.
Gus Walz is neurodivergent, and as a teenager, was diagnosed with a non-verbal learning disorder, ADHD and anxiety — all of which Tim and Gwen called his “secret power” in an exclusive August 2024 statement to People magazine.
“We love our Gus,” Tim and Gwen told People. “We are proud of the man he’s growing into, and we are so excited to have him with us on this journey.”
“When our youngest, Gus, was growing up, it became increasingly clear that he was different from his classmates,” the couple told People. “Gus preferred video games and spending more time by himself.” A “non-verbal learning disorder” does not mean that a person cannot talk, but rather that they “have difficulty picking up concepts and patterns,” something that affects kids “visually, socially and academically” according to Child Mind Institute.
Two things: first, I am “neurodivergent,” as a person with ADHD (it’s my superpower too), and I am also the mother of children with a variety of different abilities. Second, crying is not the weakness some might wish to portray it as.
First the mama bear part: Why on earth would anyone be OK with mocking or bullying those with disabilities? It’s enraging. I was outraged when then-candidate Donald Trump mocked a disabled reporter in 2015 and I’m outraged that mocking continues today, this time with a child. Of course, there have been numerous other instances in the last nine years. I don’t understand the cruelty, which too often seems to be the point, or the lack of compassion for those who are different.
As a mama whose children have been bullied for being different, I promise you that I see it when my neighbors, friends and family pile on someone else, like a Gus Walz. My children see it too. I also see the people standing up for Gus, and by extension, my family too. Thank you for that.
Second, tears are good! The idea that crying is somehow a sign of weakness is misguided at best and incredibly damaging at worse. My husband cries more easily and more often than I do, and I am grateful to be married to someone who is not afraid to share emotions. Crying tears of joy is just as masculine as tears of sorrow or even anger.
In March, Men’s Health published an article they titled “Real Men Cry. Just Ask Jason Kelce.” In it, the author wrote that: “In his retirement speech, Jason demonstrated his trademark lack of self-consciousness in a way that all too few famous men do. He wasn’t embarrassed to cry in public because the emotions he was conveying were genuine. Why would he try to pretend not to care? This is the part of those old-fashioned ‘boys don’t cry’ ideas that is so confusing: who, exactly, benefits?” The answer, of course, is no one.
Even if Gus were neurotypical, and even if he were an adult instead of a minor child, mocking him for being jubilantly proud of his dad would still be wrong.
Originally published in the Deseret News
