Republicans are being widely mocked for referring to Harris VP pick Tim Walz as ‘Tampon Tim’
Many people are mocking the fact Republicans are nicknaming Harris VP pick Tim Walz ‘Tampon Tim’ (Fox News/TikTok: Sabocat)
Republicans are referring to Kamala Harris’ VP pick, Minnesota governor Tim Walz, as “Tampon Tim” in a bid to discredit him – in the latest weird twist to the increasingly unusual upcoming 2024 presidential election.
In 2023, a trans-inclusionary law was passed in Minnesota, which required menstrual products to be available in bathrooms of all schools for grades 4 to 12.
At the time, Republican state lawmakers in Minnesota tried — and failed — to amend that bill so that it would only apply to “female restrooms,” reports the New York Times.
State Representative Sandra Feist, the chief author of the bill, explained the importance of using inclusive language at the time, saying: “I actually received emails from trans students, parents, teachers…talking about how they were — or that they knew — trans students who faced these barriers and needed these products, and how much it meant to them that they would have that access, and that we were standing up for them.”
Despite this, the concept of “tampons in boys’ bathrooms” has, predictably, been latched onto by Republicans in an attempt to paint Walz as a “radical leftist”.
In a heated Fox News interview on Tuesday (5 August), Trump’s 2024 campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt went one step further, calling Walz a “danger to society” “threat to democracy” during a lengthy rant about the dangers of tampons in men’s bathrooms.
After Fox host Gillian Turner pointed out that Walz had called former President Donald Trump a “danger” to women’s health and society, Leavitt replied: “I think the real danger to society, the real threats to democracy, are Kamala Harris and Tim Walz again, who support defunding the police.”
In 2020, Harris worked to drum up support for the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, which aimed to create a national standard for excessive use of force, among other progressive police-reform proposals. At the time, she also said “it is old, tired, wrong, status quo thinking to think you get more safety by putting more police officers on the street.” This is now being used by Republicans to paint Harris and her campaign as “anti-cop.”
Leavitt then continued: “As a woman, I think there’s no greater threat to our health than leaders who support gender transition surgeries for young minors, who support putting tampons in men’s bathrooms in public schools. Those are radical policies that Tim Walz supports.”
The controversial anti-LGBTQ+ X account Libs of TikTok subsequently posted a meme showing Walz’s face superimposed onto a tampon box, labelled “Tampon Tim”, a move that was widely mocked online.
“Calling Walz “Tampon Tim” because he made sure Minnesota high schools had free tampons available is just making me love him more, sorry,” one person responded.
“MAGA is referring to Walz as ‘Tampon Tim’ I mean, he’s definitely going to stop any chance of a red wave,” another person quipped.
Others took to TikTok and Instagram to mock the bizarre nickname.
Walz’s trailblazing work as a gay-straight alliance advisor in the 1990s, widely celebrated by many LGBTQ+ voters, has also come under attack from the right, along with many of his other progressive acts, laws and projects. Walz also signed a bill last year designating Minnesota as a legal refuge for transgender people.
