‘Punch the bully': Pro-Trump rep tells Biden and Harris to escalate — with foreign foes

CHICAGO — A Florida congressman came to Chicago on Wednesday amid the Democratic National Convention to call out President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris for their unwillingness to "punch the bully."

But Rep. Mike Waltz (R-FL) did not mean Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, who Democrats relentlessly accuse of bullying.

Instead, Waltz and Brian Hughes, senior communication adviser to the Trump campaign, criticized Biden, along with Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, for failing to confront foreign enemies.

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They slammed the Democratic leaders for their perceived “weakness and failure” in terms of the country’s military presence in Ukraine, the Middle East and Afghanistan, doing so at a press conference inside a most Trump-y venue: the 98-story Trump International Hotel and Tower in Chicago.

“Biden and Harris are like the kids we all saw in the schoolyard dealing with the bully that said, ‘can I just give you a little more lunch money, and you'll leave me alone?’” Waltz said. “Sometimes you have to escalate to de-escalate. Sometimes you have to punch the bully in the nose to restore peace.”

Waltz said “that's what President Trump did” with his 2020 airstrike that killed Iranian Gen. Qasem Soleimani, who Trump called the “number-one terrorist anywhere in the world." (A United National expert called the attack “unlawful.”)

Another example is the killing of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi under Trump’s leadership, Waltz said.

Waltz further criticized the December 2022 prisoner swap of Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout for American women’s professional basketball player Brittney Griner — whose name Waltz struggled to remember, asking for help from the audience.

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“They just are literally running out of concessions to make, and the world and the country is far more dangerous for it,” Waltz said. “What do we have to deal with that?”

Waltz, who serves on the House Armed Services Committee and its subcommittees on readiness; intelligence and special operations; and strategic forces, said the military is facing a “recruiting crisis,” the worst since the Vietnam War, and “abysmal” readiness for its weapons.

Only 29 percent of F-35 Joint Strike Fighters, the “most advanced and expensive weapons system in the history of the world,” are fully mission capable, and 40 percent of submarines, the “last major strategic advantage of any Navy in the world,” can’t leave the yards, Waltz said.

The Republican communications director with the Housed Armed Services Committee did not immediately respond to Raw Story's questions.

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The Harris campaign and White House also did not immediately respond to Raw Story’s request for comment.

In April, Waltz spoke at a hearing on budgetary requests for military readiness citing “barracks in disrepair and ships that can't leave the docks.”

“We have an administration here that is more worried about base renaming, pronouns, Chinese-made solar panels on the Pentagon, of all places,” Waltz said.

Waltz predicted more conflict under a potential Harris-Walz administration — "I can't even say it out loud," he said.

“You're going to see an escalation from our adversaries because they're going to continue to see an appeasement-first approach, a concessions-first approach, underinvestment in our military, a lack of accountability for things that have gone wrong in the Pentagon,” Waltz said.

Waltz joined 50 members of Congress who served in the military in writing a letter to Walz condemning “egregious misrepresentations” about his military service, Politico reported. Printed versions of the letter were handed out at the press conference.

After pushback two weeks ago, the Harris campaign changed a reference to Walz on its website. The website had referred to Walz as a "retired command sergeant major,” then switched it to say he served a a "master sergeant" at the time of his retirement from the Army National Guard, as Walz had not completed required coursework for the higher rank, Politico reported.

Walz is scheduled to deliver the final speech of the night tonight at the Democratic National Convention, which is in its third of four days.