Why Republicans are calling Walz ‘Tampon Tim’ : NPR

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Republican critics of Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz have given him a brand new nickname: “Tampon Tim.”

After Vice President Harris introduced her decide, Stephen Miller, a former adviser to former President Donald Trump, tweeted, “She really selected Tampon Tim.” Chaya Raichik, who runs the far-right social media account Libs of TikTok, photoshopped Walz’s face onto a Tampax field.

“Tampon Tim is palms down the very best political nickname ever,” tweeted conservative commentator Liz Wheeler. “It’s so… savagely efficient. In a single phrase tells you EVERYTHING you’ll want to learn about Tim Walz’s harmful radicalism.”

The moniker refers to a legislation that Walz, the governor of Minnesota, signed final yr, requiring public faculties to present menstrual merchandise — together with pads and tampons — to college students in 4th by means of twelfth grades.

The merchandise are free for college kids, with the state paying about $2 per pupil to maintain them stocked all through the college yr.

The legislation, which was the results of years of advocacy by college students and their allies, took impact on Jan. 1, although college students say the rollout has to this point been smoother in some faculty districts than others.

It makes Minnesota one in all 28 states (and Washington D.C.) which have handed legal guidelines geared toward giving college students entry to menstrual merchandise in faculties, in line with the Alliance for Interval Provides.

The problem enjoys broad standard help: 30 states have eradicated state gross sales tax on menstrual merchandise, and Trump himself signed a 2018 bundle that requires federal prisons to offer them.

However Republicans seem like taking difficulty with the wording of the laws, which says the merchandise have to be obtainable “to all menstruating college students in restrooms frequently utilized by college students.”

Some Minnesota Republicans initially tried to restrict the initiative to female-assigned and gender-neutral loos, however have been unsuccessful. Even the creator of that modification finally voted for the ultimate model of the invoice, saying his relations “felt prefer it was an vital difficulty I ought to help.”

The invoice’s inclusive language displays that not all individuals who menstruate are girls, and never all girls get durations, which was vital to those that lobbied for the laws.

“It would make it extra comfy for everybody … then folks can use no matter restroom they need with out being concerned,” Bramwell Lundquist, then 15, informed MPR Information final yr.

However some within the Republican Get together — which has more and more promoted anti-transgender insurance policies and rhetoric — see that side of the invoice as a purpose to assault Walz.

“Tim Walz is a bizarre radical liberal,” the MAGA Conflict Room account posted on X, previously Twitter. “What may very well be weirder than signing a invoice requiring faculties to inventory tampons in boys’ loos?”

Trump marketing campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt made the same argument in a Tuesday look on Fox Information.

“As a lady, I believe there isn’t a better menace to our well being than leaders who help gender-transition surgical procedures for younger minors, who help placing tampons in males’s loos in public faculties,” she mentioned. “These are radical insurance policies that Tim Walz helps. He really signed a invoice to try this.”

LGBTQ rights teams have cheered Walz’s choice and praised his monitor file, which features a 2023 government order making Minnesota one of many first states to safeguard entry to gender-affirming well being care, as dozens of states search to ban it.

Walz, who as soon as earned the title “most inspiring instructor” at the highschool the place he taught and coached soccer, hasn’t responded publicly to the “Tampon Tim” taunts. However he had sturdy phrases for his Republican opponents on Tuesday night time.

“I will simply say it: Donald Trump and JD Vance are creepy and, sure, bizarre,” he tweeted, repeating the put-down he helped popularize in current days. “We aren’t going again.”

Many on the left see “Tampon Tim” as a praise

Democratic Minnesota Rep. Sandra Feist, the chief sponsor of the invoice within the state Home, offered it as a “sensible funding”, explaining to her colleagues final yr that “one out of each 10 menstruating youth miss faculty” as a result of an absence of entry to menstrual merchandise and sources.

She defended it once more in a tweet on Wednesday morning, saying she was grateful to have partnered with Walz to handle interval poverty.

“This legislation exemplifies what we are able to accomplish after we hearken to college students to handle their wants,” she wrote. “Excited to see MN illustration on the high of the ticket!”

Feist ended the tweet with the hashtag #TamponTim.

Different Democratic figures have embraced each the hashtag and the coverage behind it.

Many social media customers responded that offering tampons in faculties isn’t the unhealthy factor that Republicans are making it out to be — and actually, they see it as the alternative.

Former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton mentioned it was “good of the Trump camp to assist publicize Gov. Tim Walz’s compassionate and common sense coverage,” including, “Let’s do that in all places.”

Former Georgia State Rep. Bee Nguyen mentioned Walz, as a former instructor, understands how the dearth of entry to menstrual merchandise impacts instructional outcomes.

“This makes me a fair larger fan of Tampon Tim,” she added.

Almost 1 in 4 college students have struggled to afford interval merchandise in the USA, in line with a 2023 examine commissioned by Thinx and PERIOD. Consultants say interval poverty is greater than only a problem: It’s a problem of public and private well being, dignity and extra.

The Minnesota college students who lobbied for the invoice testified final yr about having to overlook class as a result of they have been unable to afford menstrual merchandise, being distracted from schoolwork and assessments and feeling that adults didn’t take their concern critically.

“We can not study whereas we’re leaking,” highschool pupil Elif Ozturk, then 16, informed a legislative listening to in 2023. “How will we anticipate our college students to hold this burden with them throughout the faculty day and nonetheless carry out effectively? The primary precedence needs to be to study, to not discover a pad.”