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Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz slammed President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance at a conference for progressives in Spain on Saturday, accusing Trump of being a “feeble-minded, trigger-happy president” who has “no exit plan” for the ongoing conflict with Iran.
Walz delivered the criticism after a crowd at the inaugural Global Progressive Mobilization event in Barcelona heard video messages from New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani about affordability and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., speaking about the “illegal and dangerous wars being waged by Netanyahu and Trump in Iran and Lebanon.”
“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. We need to call that what it is. That’s fascism. Or at least it’s fascist curious as they would be,” Walz said.
“Look, it’d be easy to stand up here and just bash Donald Trump. He’s an easy target. And if you know me, we don’t get along very well,” Walz added. “But we’ve got a lot of bigger fish and bigger problems to fry in this room, because the truth is, authoritarianism is not just confined to the United States. It’s everywhere.”
JD VANCE TELLS POPE LEO XIV TO ‘STICK TO MATTERS OF MORALITY’ AND STAY OUT OF US PUBLIC POLICY
Gov. Tim Walz gestures while speaking at the Global Progressive Mobilization conference in Barcelona, Spain, on Saturday, April 18, 2026. (Nacho Doce/Reuters)
Walz also said “Many of you might know me as the guy who isn’t currently the Vice President of the United States, and all I have to say about that is I’m very sorry about that.”
“But unlike our current vice president, I’m not here to arrogantly lecture or scold you. I’m not here to pick up a fight with the Pope, and I’m not here to host a rally for some local wannabe 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.
Fox News Digital has reached out to the White House for a response.
GOV. TIM WALZ SAYS HE’D ‘BEAT THE S— OUT OF’ JD VANCE IN A DEBATE REMATCH
Vice President JD Vance and President Donald Trump attend the inaugural meeting of the Board of Peace at the Donald J. Trump Institute of Peace in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 19, 2026. The board was established to raise funds for rebuilding and stabilizing Gaza. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Walz told the crowd at one point in his speech, “Please don’t give up on the American people.”
“Go ahead and give up and condemn that monstrosity that sits in our White House,” he added in reference to Trump. “Keep the pressure on. Keep calling it out. Keep standing up to it. Keep naming it. But know there are more good people that stand on the right side of history. There are more good people that care about equality, that understands it’s not America First, it’s humanity first. It’s all of us together.”
The 2-day Global Progressive Mobilization conference described itself on its website as a “necessary alternative to conservative and far-right forces.”
Prior to Walz’s remarks, Trump took to Truth Social to criticize Spain.
“Has anybody looked at how badly the country of Spain is doing. Their financial numbers, despite contributing almost nothing to NATO and their military defense, are absolutely horrendous. Sad to watch!!!” Trump wrote Saturday.
A split image shows Pope Leo XIV, left, and Vice President JD Vance, right, amid tensions between the Vatican and the Trump administration. (Simone Risoluti – Vatican Media via Vatican Pool/Getty Images ;Alex Wong/Getty Images)
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Begona Gomez, the wife of liberal Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, also was formally charged this week with corruption following a years-long probe into charges she and her husband deny, according to Deutsche Welle.
