The Coach Walz Way

It’s as if we all manifested a real life version of Ted Lasso.

by Bob Cesca

WASHINGTON, DC – Every once in a while, a movie or streaming series appears and it’s so perfect that it makes you wonder how it got made in the first place. How did something of such quality manage to navigate the gauntlet of hack studio executives and insufferable focus groups? But every now and then, truly great things slip under the radar in spite of all the usual impediments.

It’s similarly inconceivable that someone like Gov. Tim Walz – Coach Walz – made it to this level of American politics. And he’s done it with his soul fully intact. I can’t stress enough how rare it is for a political leader of his quality and values to rise within reach of the second highest constitutional office in America, especially now. Usually, political leaders up and down the ballot become corrupted by the job: the power, the money, the status often turn good people into two-faced drones. Yet somehow, Walz has navigated the political landscape, rising to this level without selling his soul.

We obviously live in an era when selling out to the ongoing grift – when acting like an unforgivable dick is confoundingly popular. Donald Trump, as Sen. Raphael Warnock said at the Democratic convention, is a “plague on the American conscience.” One of the most infuriating aspects of this truth is that so many of us crave the plague. Donald’s fanboys encourage and cosplay the plague. They empty their bank accounts to finance the plague. They recklessly tether their votes and family names to the plague – the awful, ungainly legacy of an authoritarian fascist who probably couldn’t define what “ungainly,” “authoritarian,” or “fascist” means. And the American soul has sunken to new and awful depths because of it.

But then, on July 21, the turbulence broke and new possibilities for the future of our democracy began to take shape in the form of Kamala Harris and Coach Walz.

If and when Kamala and the Coach win this election (don’t get happy!) the effort to marginalize the plague will surely commence.

The good news is that both Harris and Walz are the kinds of positive role models we need to help us to collectively jettison the toxicity of the Donald era. In particular, Coach Walz will stand as an example of empathetic, rational, decent, and, yes, fun leadership.

It’s as if we all manifested a real life version of Ted Lasso. 

To describe Jason Sudeikis’s character is to describe Coach Walz. Obviously they don’t look the same nor are they in the same professional field, but their personalities and what they can achieve are wonderfully similar. Both possess a form of upbeat charisma, rooted in – sorry – wholesome goodness without being too hokey, and it’s infectious – inspirational. He appears confident, upbeat, inclusive, and invariably open-minded. He’s all about the team and not any one individual. Of course he has his demons, we all do, but he doesn’t allow his mistakes and flaws define him, another value he instills in the folks around him.

When Lasso started his gig as a British football coach, he took over a team that was formerly run by a loser blowhard who couldn’t keep his balls in his shorts. The Richmond club was likewise damaged goods due to the selfish arrogance of the old coach. By the end of the series, the players became infected with Lasso’s values and end up being hugely successful. The other characters in the Ted Lasso universe became enthusiasts of Lasso’s style as well – even Trent Crimm, the cranky, incredulous sports reporter from The Independent became a Lasso enthusiast, publishing a book about the club called The Lasso Way. (Always a team player, Ted requests it be changed to The Richmond Way.)

Likewise, when you talk with Minnesotans, they speak about their governor with great reverence and admiration, and I don’t blame them. I’ve become a Coach Walz enthusiast myself. Even though I refuse to elevate fellow humans to godlike status, I deeply admire who he is as a person: his character and values, how he carries himself publicly with charm and outreach. Seeing his example – how he treats his family, his job, people he meets on the road – he makes me want to be a better man. I can count on one or two fingers the number of politicians I’ve felt that way about, but yeah, I’m a Coach Walz enthusiast. (The root of the word “enthusiasm” comes from the Greek enthousiasmos, meaning “inspired by the gods.”)

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And it doesn’t hurt that his politics are spot on, by the way. It’s all rooted in wanting to do the right thing for the people of his state, and he’s been wildly successful at that. I don’t love the hunting thing, but I’m willing to overlook it, given his myriad leadership attributes. At the very least, his hobby connects him with his people, and that’s a good thing.

What’s most important about Coach Walz beyond his leadership skills and political positions is his utter lack of toxic masculinity. He doesn’t mind wearing his heart on his sleeve, but he’s no pushover either – you can’t be if you’re a public school teacher or football coach. But he’s not afraid to express affection for his loved ones, and he’s not afraid to be thoughtful in an era when thoughtfulness is an endangered species. You can see it in the faces of his wife and children, especially his son Gus, who expressed genuine love and pride for his now famous Dad during the convention. You can see it in how his daughter Hope interacts with him. We can learn a lot about people by how their families see them.

Clearly I’m thrilled to be in a place with our politics where I can stow the cynicism for a while and write glowing things about a politician, rather than sitting here coming up with new, often fecal adjectives to describe the Republican nominee. My sincere wish for American politics is that we somehow manifest many more Coach Walzes in leadership posts. It’s one of a gazillion reasons why I want Kamala and the Coach to win in November, because if they do, maybe, just maybe, the next generation of American leaders will also become inspired by the gods to pursue The Coach Walz Way. 

And if that happens, the plague will surely disappear.

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Trump's Campaign Is In Even More Trouble Than You Thought

The cult of personality is disintegrating faster than anyone thought possible.

by Justin Rosario

It has been equally astonishing to watch the Trump campaign self-destruct at as it has been to watch the juggernaut Harris campaign appear almost from thin air. It is the equivalent of watching one jet plane being disassembled at 30,000 feet while watching another being built at the same height. Having one of these things happen is unusual. Both at the same time is a once-in-a-lifetime event.

But that is, in fact, what is happening. Donald Trump is undisciplined at the best of times and this is very far from the best of times. He’s cracking under the stress and my guess is he won’t last much longer. Meanwhile, Kamala Harris has all of the momentum one could possibly hope for despite the media’s incessant whining that she’s not playing by the(ir) rules.

How bad/good are things going for Trump/Harris? If I were a betting man and I had wagered all of little Timmy’s college money on Trump a month ago, let’s just say little Timmy is going to have to make some hard choices when he graduates high school.

The Trump Train is coming to the end of the line (and it’s a cliff)

We’ve all watched Trump become completely unhinged since Joe Biden stepped aside. The increasingly deranged tweets. The desperate fanfiction begging Biden to come back like a jilted lover. The Republican threats to sue to force Biden back into the race. One would think Trump is afraid of Kamala Harris. He certainly seems to be afraid to debate her…

Then again, he has every reason to be. Trump’s polling is…not great…

This is an excerpt from today’s Member Only piece. To continue reading, get 50% off a Banter Membership and go here: