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 choose, Stephen Miller, a former adviser to former President Donald Trump, tweeted, “She truly 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 arms down one of the best political nickname ever,” tweeted conservative commentator Liz Wheeler. “It’s so… savagely efficient. In a single phrase tells you EVERYTHING you must find out about Tim Walz’s harmful radicalism.”

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

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

The regulation, 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 thus far been smoother in some faculty districts than others.

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

The problem enjoys broad in style 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 out there “to all menstruating college students in restrooms repeatedly utilized by college students.”

Some Minnesota Republicans initially tried to restrict the initiative to female-assigned and gender-neutral loos, however had been unsuccessful. Even the writer 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 ladies, and never all ladies get intervals, which was vital to those that lobbied for the laws.

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

However some within the Republican Social gathering — which has more and more promoted anti-transgender insurance policies and rhetoric — see that facet of the invoice as a cause to assault Walz.

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

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

“As a girl, I believe there isn’t any larger risk 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 colleges,” she stated. “These are radical insurance policies that Tim Walz helps. He truly signed a invoice to do this.”

LGBTQ rights teams have cheered Walz’s choice and praised his observe 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 robust phrases for his Republican opponents on Tuesday night time.

“I am going to 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 assets.

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

“This regulation exemplifies what we will accomplish once we take heed to college students to deal with 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 colleges isn’t the unhealthy factor that Republicans are making it out to be — and in reality, they see it as the other.

Former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton stated it was “good of the Trump camp to assist publicize Gov. Tim Walz’s compassionate and commonsense coverage,” including, “Let’s do that all over the place.”

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

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

Practically 1 in 4 college students have struggled to afford interval merchandise in the USA, in response to a 2023 examine commissioned by Thinx and PERIOD. Consultants say interval poverty is greater than only a problem: It’s a difficulty 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 had been unable to afford menstrual merchandise, being distracted from schoolwork and checks and feeling that adults didn’t take their concern severely.

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