Video: Sen. Tim Kaine Says Trump Claiming Dems Are “becoming a Communist Party” Is “just goofy word salad”

See below for video and highlights from Sen. Tim Kaine’s appearance this morning on “Face the Nation” (note: Sen. Kaine is in Brussels, “with a bipartisan delegation of senators visiting NATO allies and our troops, talking primarily about NATO summit next week and support for Ukraine”):

• On “three far-left candidates” (as Margaret Brennan called them) who won last week “over more centrist candidates,” as well as Trump saying Democrats are “becoming a Communist Party” – “godless Communists…the most serious threat to our country since its existence”: “What the president said is just goofy word salad. I am not an expert on New York House races. I am an expert on Senate races. And we have got Senate candidates all over this country working to flip red seats blue, by focusing on the president’s mismanagement of the American economy. Families are suffering cost increases because of chaotic tariffs, illegal war, and a focus on goofy things like ballrooms, arches, and the Reflecting Pool. And in Virginia,the House races, I’ve got four Democratic challengers running to flip red seats blue who are focused on that same kind of cost and affordability agenda that led us to have a landslide win in state races last fall. So, I can’t really explain what’s on the voter’s minds in New York City congressional races, but I know what’s on Virginians’ minds and I think I know what’s on Americans’ minds; let’s focus on the economy and bringing costs down, not foolish wars and chaos.”

• On Sen. Elissa Slotkin arguing the Democratic Party needs new leadership, including in the US Senate and US House: “I don’t exactly [know] the context in which she was making it. Look, I do think some of these elections can show that there is  a desire for new, and it’s a tough environment for incumbents.  And that, I think, works to the Democrats; advantage in November.  Remember, primaries are interesting, but where you really make the difference is not trading out one Democrat for another, or one Republican for another; where you make the  difference is flipping a seat from red to blue. And it is a challenging environment for incumbents, but that will work to Democrats’ advantage in November.”
• On whether he “will continue to support Chuck Schumer as leader”: “Yes…he was one of the best Majority Leaders we’ve had in a long time, and if he gets the chance, he’s going to be a good Majority Leader going forward.”

• On Trump’s and Hegseth’s firings of senior U.S. military officers:  “Well, I don’t think that concern is misplaced. We are worried about the same thing – are you pushing out the truth tellers to surround yourself by yes-men? And in particular, it looks like the secretary [Pete Hegseth] is coming down hardest on the Army.  He served in the Army, he felt like he wasn’t treated well by the Army.  That’s a grudge he has carried that he described publicly. And so when you see Army officers forced out, you got to wonder, is this a personal thing, or is it really what’s best for the nation?  So, we are working on the defense bill right now, we voted it out of the Senate Armed Services Committee.  There’is nothing in the bill at this point that would address the situation, but when we bring it up on the floor, I think by then we will have some of our questions answered, and if we  need to go farther to put some guardrails in place, you’ll probably find bipartisan support to do that.”

• On what he’s hearing from our NATO partners about Trump administration talk about reducing troop strength in Europe: “European nations are not only concerned about rhetoric coming out of the White House; they see a chaotic tariff policy as hurting their economies. But they also see the U.S. continuing to make sizable investments in European defense, troop presence. The Senate version of the Armed Services bill that we just passed has sizable investments for the defense of Ukraine. And I think you’re going to see some positives coming out of the NATO summit next week, that’s my expectation.”
• On voting against the defense bill due to objections to the Iran war, etc.: “It was the hardest votes I’ve cast in the 13 years in the Senate, but here’s the reason. President Trump is seeking at least a 40% increase in the defense budget in one year. He hasn’t really told us where that money is coming out of. Is it coming out of education? Is it coming out of health care? And to vote for that kind of an increase without knowing where we’re going to pull the money from, in the middle of a war that I think is illegal, unnecessary, and foolish, and also to support that kind of an increase without guardrails about how the money is spent, I just couldn’t do it. Part of protecting our Virginia troops and going to bat for them is making sure that they’re- that when we use troops, especially when we go to war, we do it the right way, not the wrong way. Our troops have deployed into the Middle East often over the last 25 years, and an illegal war for kind of a suspect rationale- that’s no way to treat our troops.”
• On “what is going on with the U.S. Army Europe General Chris Donahue,” who “was ordered by Secretary Hegseth to turn in his retirement papers”: “I will say on General Donahue, a lot of questions and very few answers. He was very well regarded in the Armed Services Committee, where I sit, both sides of the aisle thought really highly of him, and so the news that he was being ushered out caught us all by surprise, and we don’t yet have good answers from the Pentagon.”