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| - During the U.S. presidential campaign in August 2024, social media users claimed Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz — picked by U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris as her vice-presidential running mate — posted on X, "The best part about being the VP candidate for the Dems is that my running mate will never try to have me hung by a crowd of her own supporters."
For example, on Aug. 6, 2024, a Reddit user posted (archived) on the r/WhitePeopleTwitter subreddit a purported screenshot of Walz posting the message, writing, "He came to play."
Other Reddit users shared the image on Aug. 8. On the r/TimPool subreddit, a user posted "Tim Walz Points Out That Kamala Harris Wasn't the One Who Incited an Insurrection." A user on the r/Democrats subreddit also posted, "Holy crap!"
However, this rumor originated on the X parody account named Faith Back Rub (@FaithRubPol) (archived). The account's bio reads, "Opposed Trump since 2015. Aimed this Christian Apologetics page at fascism. Most of the images we share are parodies."
Some Users Shared Altered Versions of the Fake Post
The fake post screenshot shared by users featured a photo of Walz next to his name but also displayed the humorous handle @Tim_Balz, as opposed to one of his genuine accounts on X, @Tim_Walz and @GovTimWalz. Further, the bottom of the screenshot showed the fake date Aug. 60, 2024, with the words "Parody by Rub."
Some users' posts removed some of these parody indicators as a way of making the quote appear more genuine. For example, the Reddit thread on r/WhitePeopleTwitter and another user's post on Threads both displayed an image of the fake post with the bottom line cropped out.
Another user on X posted the screenshot with part of the fake date and "Parody by Rub" both erased.
Other users also reposted the same supposed Walz post screenshot with disclaimers about its parodic nature on the DemocraticUnderground.com forums, the Mastodon social media platform, Reddit, Threads and X.
'Hang Mike Pence'
The subject matter in the fake Walz post referenced former U.S. Vice President Mike Pence and the deadly riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. On that day, then-U.S. President Donald Trump's supporters chanted "hang Mike Pence" while invading the Capitol and assaulting at least 140 law enforcement officers.
The rioters' efforts attempted to stop the process spelled out in the Constitution of counting electoral votes for the 2020 U.S. presidential election. Those Trump supporters based their protest on their belief in false claims of massive voter fraud — untrue claims Trump himself had wrongly repeated long before Election Day. Trump also posted on Twitter during the riot that Pence didn't have the "courage" to incorrectly overturn the results of the election.
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