The Irony of Republicans’ ‘Tampon Tim’ Insult

Even before the official announcement that Tim Walz would be named the vice presidential candidate on the Democratic ticket, the Internet churned out a cacophony of clips and quips reflecting his progressive bona fides. As Minnesota governor embracing a gaggle of children at the bill signing for free school breakfasts and lunches. As folksy dad joking with his daughter, a vegetarian, about whether turkey is meat. (According to Walz, “In Minnesota, turkey is special.”)

Amid these, a corresponding, more crude moniker arose: Tampon Tim. This time, an apparent conservative dig referencing Walz’s support for a 2024 state law that requires all Minnesota public schools to provide menstrual products in bathrooms.

There is an element of deja vu in the timing. Nearly nine years ago to the day, on August 8, 2015, then-presidential candidate Donald Trump hurled an insult at then-Fox newscaster Megyn Kelly: he accused her of having “blood coming out of her wherever” when he thought her debate questions were unfair. At the time, I wrote here at TIME: “Period jokes are a dime a dozen, Donald. Half of the American electorate–indeed, half the world’s population–copes with menstruation. But for those who live in poverty, lack of access to menstrual health care is more than a punch line.”

Now nearly a decade later, periods have become a mainstream public policy priority. Far from being mocked or maligned, “menstrual equity” is an agenda that enjoys broad bipartisan support across the country. So far, 30 states have eliminated state sales tax on menstrual products (also known as the “tampon tax”), including a law signed last year by the Republican governor of Texas, Greg Abbott. Minnesota is one of 28 states committed by law and/or budget to providing menstrual products in schools, joined by states with Republican leadership like Georgia, New Hampshire, Ohio, and Utah.

In fact, in 2018, Trump himself signed the first-ever federal menstrual access requirement into law—the First Step Act, a 2018 prison and sentencing reform package that mandates menstrual product provision in federal prisons. In 2020 he went on to sign the CARES Act, which made it possible for the first time for employees to use their Flexible Spending Account allowances to buy menstrual products with pre-tax dollars.

And finally, as Walz reminds us—anyone who thinks that period jokes are appropriate or funny is just plain, well, weird. 

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