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Walz in Spain rips ‘feeble-minded’ Trump, Vance over Iran war

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by Sarah Davis - 04/18/26 4:10 PM ET

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by Sarah Davis - 04/18/26 4:10 PM ET

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Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) issued sharp criticism against President Trump over his administration’s military operations against Iran at the inaugural Global Progressive Mobilization conference in Barcelona on Saturday.

“Back in the United States, we’re seeing an alarming consolidation of power,” Walz told the crowd. “A massive paramilitary force terrorizing our communities … a methodical weakening of our free press, of the independent judiciary, of fair elections and all other institutions of accountability.

“We’ve got a feeble-minded, trigger-happy president who plunged us into a war where no threat was present, with no clear objectives and no exit plan,” the governor said, referencing the Iran war. “We need to call that what it is: that’s fascism. Or at least it’s fascist-curious, as they would be.”

The Democratic governor’s comments come amid ongoing negotiations between the U.S. and Iran ahead of the expiration of a temporary ceasefire in the upcoming week.

Walz, who ran for vice president in 2024, also singled out Vice President JD Vance in his criticism on Saturday.

“Unlike our current vice president, I’m not here to arrogantly lecture or scold you,” Walz said. “I’m not here to pick a fight with the pope, and I’m not here to host a rally with some wannabe local dictator.

“Instead, I’m here to say thank you and to share some thoughts on what we can do to be part of a progressive movement that moves all of our countries forward,” he continued. “The way we can rescue ourselves from these wannabe authoritarians, in your country and in mine.”

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) also spoke at the conference, and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) virtually addressed the attendees in pre-recorded videos.

Murphy, who sits on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, called the U.S. “a nation that is in crisis” during his Saturday speech.

“I’m not going to sugarcoat the gravity of what we face right now in the United States,” Murphy said. “This is the most significant threat to American democracy since the Civil War. Donald Trump in our country is trying to end our democracy.

“We are not on the verge of a totalitarian takeover, we are in the middle of it,” the senator continued. “He is trying to seize control of our courts, of our law enforcement, of our media, of our elections. His goal is oligarchic capture.”

The conference hosted a variety of progressive speakers from across the globe on Friday and Saturday with the shared goal to “defend democracy and advance social justice.” Over 40 countries were represented at the inaugural event this year.

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