Former owner whose family bar was set on fire in 2020 calls Tim Walz a 'criminal'

After “mostly peaceful protests” razed his business “to the ground,” a former Minneapolis bar owner shared his thoughts on “criminal” Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz joining a presidential ticket

“… total leadership ineptitude…”

Vice President Kamala Harris didn't appear to be the only candidate widely seen as a career flop when her running mate's record was scrutinized. After seeing his bar burned down by arsonists at the start of 2020's “summer of love,” 74-year-old Bill Hupp spoke to the New York Post about Walz's responsibility for delaying the response to the violence sweeping the city.

“It's just a total disregard for the people you're supposed to represent,” the father of six he said the newspaper “I could have called [the guardsmen] in [but] he didn't do it”.

Three days after the death of George Floyd while in police custody, Hupp recalled how, along with his son and some of his son's friends, he had been covering the windows of the Hexagon Bar when about 300 people had surrounded the 92 year old man. establishment before 7 p.m

“We thought they were going to kill us. They practically kidnapped us,” he expressed.

“We didn't know if we were going to get out of there,” Hupp explained as he recalled rioters throwing shoes and frozen water bottles as they were blocked from leaving amid cries of “white privilege.”

Hours later, after he had managed to leave, the owner said he saw footage of the business being torched by an arsonist: “All of a sudden everything went bright white.”

“He completely burned my place exactly to the ground,” he explained of the damage caused by an arsonist as two accomplices with Molotov cocktails.

A Minnesota State Senate report published in October 2020 had detailed that after Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey (D) requested 600 guardsmen, Walz “first mobilized the Minnesota National Guard on the afternoon of Thursday, May 28, 18 hours after Mayor Frey called for help. The Minnesota National Guard was not fully mobilized until four days after the first building burned.”

“They didn't put a single drop of water in my place. Not a drop of water during these three and a half days! crazy it is [a] total loss of leadership, totally,” Hupp told the Post.

As Walz responded to calls for help to restore some semblance of order to the city, the report specified: “Governor Walz finally produced 100 guards for the city of Minneapolis on the afternoon of Thursday, May 28” .

Hupp said, “It's crazy” the vice president's decision to have him as his running mate “absolutely crazy” while calling Walz “a criminal.” Why? Because of [his] total leadership ineptitude…[his] absolute ignorance of people's safety and how to handle it correctly”.

“He should never have been in the position he was in,” he added.

Meanwhile, while the governor stood by as riots erupted across the country causing more than $2 billion in damage, Harris, then a senator from California, was promoting the audience, “enter now the [Minnesota Freedom Fund] to help pay bail for those protesting on the ground in Minnesota.”

As Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton (R) said, “Tim Walz is a perfect choice for Kamala Harris. He let BLM rioters, arsonists and looters run wild in his state and she encouraged donations to the bail fund for the few who were arrested.”

Tim Walz is a perfect choice for Kamala Harris.

She let BLM rioters, arsonists, and looters get away with their status, and she encouraged donations to the bail fund for the few who were arrested. pic.twitter.com/xA9I6i6yfF

— Tom Cotton (@TomCottonAR) August 6, 2024

Staff writer

A native of Brooklyn, NY, Kevin Haggerty is a graduate of Hunter College, where he studied Cultural Anthropology and Geography. An avid reader and seeker of truth, he currently resides in Texas with his wife and dog, and when he's not researching current events and their impacts, you'll find him spending time with friends and family or working on his next novel the

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