International
The “trainer Walz”, a candidate for vice president who was untunged
The governor of Minnesota, Tim Walz, has gone through a vortex in these four months: from being an unknown at the national level to becoming a critic of the viral Donald Trump, and shortly after blurring with the passage of the campaign until he was relegated to a stereotypical role, that of the eternal sixty-year-old white who covers American politics.
Walz has been in politics for almost 20 years but until recently he was practically unknown, a simple man who appeared at the campaign events with a flannel shirt and hiking boots and who represents the familiar man of the rural Midwest.
The vice presidential candidate, accused by Trump of being a radical leftist, has been celebrated by US progressivism for approving aid for families with children, promoting affordable housing and guaranteeing the right to abortion, after the Supreme Court eliminated protections against termination of pregnancy at the federal level.
Kamala Harris’ unusual selection placed this governor and former congressman at the center of the campaign, who emphasized his past as a high school soccer teacher and coach, although his profile blurred over the days.
Walz appeared in an interview with Harris on CNN in August gravitating on Kamala Harris’ shoulder without contributing much and in the only debate against his Republican vice-presidential rival, Senator JD Vance, he appeared doubtful, not very assertive and his profile was moving from the center of attention.
The career of ‘Coach Walz’
‘Coach Walz’ or ‘coach Walz’ has become the first name of this governor who combines several qualities difficult to find in a single politician: he is a former soldier, a simple man from the crucial Midwest, a teacher, a father who has gone viral for his father things and a politician favored by the most progressive factions of the Democratic Party.
At 60 years old, Walz lacks one thing: he is the first candidate of a Democratic presidential formula who has not studied Law since 1980 and who, on the contrary, has spent much of his professional life as a simple teacher, teaching geography, history or sport in a way that marked many of the students who went through his classes.
Walz was born in a rural community in Nebraska and enlisted in the National Guard as a plain soldier to be able to pay for his higher education, a path to the educational improvement used by the middle class in the United States.
The governor was a school teacher where he met his wife, Gwen Whipple, with whom he later moved to Minnesota to continue his work in a high school as a geography teacher and American football coach, he managed to get his team to win the 1999 state championship.
During his years as an educator, Walz taught in China and with his wife organized study trips for teenagers to the Asian country, a cultural exchange experience that could serve him if he ends up reaching the White House, despite the fact that this closeness was criticized by the Republicans.
Harris’s campaign and Governor Walz
In 2006, he ran for a seat in Congress and managed to renew the trust of his constituents for 12 years, in which he was a member of the House of Representatives’ Committee on Agriculture and Veterans Affairs.
Walz would seem destined to win and in 2018 he was elected governor of Minnesota, a state that has voted Democratic in the last general elections, but whose rural population is mostly republican and conservative. In 2022, he was re-elected for another four years.
The governor is an unusual politician also because of his presence on social networks, in which, for example, he gives advice on the fuses of his vehicle and then continues: “I give you another pro advice: go out and vote.”
Walz, nicknamed by some as the ‘Father of America’, has been able to promote on his networks his profile as an affable father and joker and to be a member of the “boomer” generation he was able to find without a large communication team an effective message against Donald Trump and could be a key squire for Harris to attract more voters in the blue belt of Wisconsin and Michigan.
Harris chose him because in the selection meetings there was a special “chemistry” between them, according to sources from his team.
Republicans have tried to discredit his profile by claiming that he left his position in the National Guard shortly before his unit was sent to Iraq (something that coincided with the beginning of his first campaign to be a congressman) or by exaggerating that he was in the Tiananmen massacre in 1989.
International
Mexico City Mayor Invites U2 to Perform at Iconic Zócalo Plaza
Irish rock band U2, which spent Tuesday and Wednesday filming a new music video for its song Street of Dreams in the Historic Center of Mexico City, received an invitation to perform at the capital’s iconic Zócalo square from Mayor Clara Brugada.
Brugada shared the invitation through social media posts accompanied by photos and a video showing her meeting with the band members.
“This is an invitation for you to perform in our wonderful public square, the Zócalo. You are welcome here, and we would love to have you,” Brugada said in the video while handing a document to Bono, the band’s lead singer.
Bono responded by saying that the group would like “to begin its new tour in Mexico City.”
Referencing one of the band’s most famous songs, In the Name of Love, Brugada said she was greeting Bono along with The Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr..
“Welcoming U2 to our capital means celebrating music, connection and the emotion that can be felt in every corner of this city,” Brugada wrote in one of her messages. “We are a city open to the world, vibrant and full of stories shared from the stage to the streets.”
She also described the Zócalo as “the country’s most important public square” and a cultural landmark for Latin America.
Over the years, the Zócalo has hosted massive concerts by internationally renowned artists and bands including Roger Waters, Paul McCartney, Manu Chao, Café Tacvba, Los Fabulosos Cadillacs, Los Tigres del Norte, La Maldita Vecindad, Silvio Rodríguez, Joan Manuel Serrat, Rosalía and Shakira, drawing hundreds of thousands of fans.
International
Marco Rubio Urges China to Help Restrain Iran Amid Gulf Tensions
Marco Rubio said Wednesday that Washington hopes to persuade China to take a more active role in stopping Iran from escalating tensions in the Persian Gulf, arguing that the crisis directly threatens Asian commercial interests.
“It is in China’s interest to resolve this situation. We hope to convince them to play a more active role in getting Iran to stop what it is doing now and trying to do in the Persian Gulf,” Rubio said during an interview with journalist Sean Hannity on Fox News while traveling aboard Air Force One.
The top U.S. diplomat said the conflict and concerns over the possible disruption of the Strait of Hormuz have already affected China’s interests.
Rubio noted that “a Chinese cargo ship was struck over the weekend,” referring to the exchange of attacks reported last Friday between Iran and the United States.
The remarks come amid growing international concern over rising tensions in the region and the potential impact on global trade routes and energy supplies.
International
Trump floats Vance-Rubio potential Republican ticket for 2028 election
U.S. President Donald Trump suggested on Monday that Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubiocould potentially form a Republican presidential ticket for the 2028 elections.
Speaking during a dinner with law enforcement officials as part of National Police Week, Trump publicly praised both officials and said they could make “an ideal team” for the next presidential race.
“Who likes JD Vance? Who likes Marco Rubio?” Trump asked attendees before adding that the pair “sound like a good combination.”
The president highlighted his vice president’s performance in office, stating that their current partnership has been highly effective. “JD is perfect, that has been a perfect formula,” Trump told reporters later.
He further suggested that a Vance-Rubio pairing could represent a strong presidential and vice-presidential ticket, although he stopped short of offering any formal endorsement.
“I think it sounds like a presidential candidate and a vice-presidential candidate,” he said, while clarifying that his remarks should not be interpreted as an official backing of any future campaign.
So far, neither Vance nor Rubio has publicly confirmed any intention to run in the 2028 presidential election.
Rubio previously sought the Republican nomination in 2016 but withdrew after losing the primary race to Trump. Later, in a December 2025 interview with Vanity Fair, he said he would be among the first to support Vance if he decided to run for the White House.
Vance, meanwhile, has recently dismissed speculation of any political rivalry with Rubio amid growing discussion about potential future GOP leadership.
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International2 hours agoMexico City Mayor Invites U2 to Perform at Iconic Zócalo Plaza