President Donald Trump attacked Minnesota Governor Tim Walz at a televised cabinet meeting on December 2, 2025. But in the process, he appeared to take an unexpected swipe at Vice President JD Vance.
At the cabinet meeting, Trump responded to a question about the administration’s escalating conflict with Minnesota over a recent fraud scandal involving members of the Somali-American community. With Vance seated at the table, Trump criticized Walz, but quickly veered into an awkward comparison involving the 2024 vice-presidential debate.
Here’s where things get cringe
When asked if Walz should resign, Trump responded, “Look, I think the man’s a grossly incompetent man. I thought that from the day I watched JD destroy him in the debate. I was saying, who was more incompetent? That man or my man? I had a man, and he had a man. They were both incompetent.”
After Trump’s comment, Vance reportedly looked unhappy when it was his turn to speak, amplifying concerns about cohesion within the administration, as well as uncertainty about Trump’s judgment, and whether Vance remains firmly in his corner, according to The New Republic.
Photos from the gathering show Trump, 79, seated in the Cabinet Room with his eyes closed at times, as aides spoke. This comes amid concerns over Trump’s overall health and state of mind.
The Trump-Walz beef
Trump’s Walz criticism referred to tensions between the administration and Minnesota officials over a widening investigation into alleged fraud in the state’s social-services system. Federal prosecutors have charged several individuals, many of them Somali immigrants, in what authorities describe as a multimillion-dollar scheme involving misuse of public benefits. Trump has repeatedly blamed Walz for what he calls a “collapse in oversight,” framing the case as evidence of mismanagement and permissiveness toward immigrants.
Minnesota leaders, including Walz and Senator Amy Klobuchar, have pushed back forcefully, accusing Trump of conflating isolated criminal cases with an entire community and misrepresenting the state’s response. The controversy intensified after Trump used increasingly harsh rhetoric about Somali immigrants, prompting condemnations from community groups and civil-rights organizations.
Trump invoked the October 1, 2024, vice-presidential debate, where Walz and Vance faced off at the CBS Broadcast Center in New York. Analysts at the time characterized the debate as tense and policy-heavy, with each candidate largely energizing their respective bases. Fact-checkers noted inaccuracies in some of Vance’s statements, while Walz received criticism for occasionally vague policy explanations.
Trump has repeatedly claimed Vance “won” the exchange, but his latest characterization — suggesting both debaters were “incompetent” — has fueled new scrutiny about whether the president was attempting to praise, criticize, or simply improvise, albeit clumsily, on the spot.
Published: Dec 3, 2025 06:32 pm