Michael Kosta of "The Daily Show" called out conservatives Wednesday night for going after Vice President Kamala Harris' running mate, Gov. Tim Walz, D-Minn., for inking a bill last year mandating that public schools in his state make sanitary products available in all bathrooms for sixth grade and above. Kosta, a Comedy Central correspondent since 2017, was filling in for regular host Jon Stewart, who recently tested positive for COVID-19.
“This energy is great for Democrats,” Kosta said in his Wednesday monologue while displaying footage from Walz's inaugural rally alongside Harris in Pennsylvania. "And terrible for Republicans, which is why they spent all day trying to find an angle of attack on Tim Walz.”
Walz's signing of the bill came at the behest of student activists and medical professionals who sought to ensure that students going through puberty were provided menstrual supplies. Kosta then aired clips of GOP-ers condemning the law and dubbing the Minnesota governor "Tampon Tim."
“With all due respect to Tampon Tim, I really just don’t care about this,” Kosta said. “Best-case scenario: A trans kid gets tampons. Worst-case: The weird kid in class puts them up his nose and pretends to be a walrus, which is also the best-case scenario.”
“Personally, as someone who was a 13-year-old boy, it doesn’t matter what you put in that bathroom. Whatever it is, they’re going to draw a penis on it," the host added.
Kosta also showed footage of numerous Republican figures claiming that Walz was a “progressive in sheep’s clothing,” “a socialist in sheep’s clothing” and “a freak in sheep’s clothing.”
“Isn’t sheep’s clothing just like a wool sweater?" Kosta quipped. "I love wearing sheep’s clothing in the fall. I can make so many more cute outfits.”
Regarding former President Donald Trump's Wednesday phone interview with Fox News, in which he claimed that Walz was “a very, very liberal man” who “would want this country to go communist immediately, if not sooner," Kosta asked: "Immediately, if not sooner? There is no sooner. That’s what makes it immediately.”
“By the way, when Joe Biden rambled like this, all of us were like, ‘This man is obviously senile,’" Kosta said. "But now that he’s dropped out, it’s becoming more obvious that Trump’s brain isn’t exactly in great shape, either. He should get that looked at immediately, if not sooner.”
During the discussion on "Fox & Friends," Trump also alleged that Walz was politically aligned with Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. “He’s probably about the same as Bernie Sanders,” Trump said. "He’s probably more so than Bernie Sanders. She is more so than Bernie Sanders. That’s got to be your guy, Bernie Sanders, and that’s not a great guy. But there has never been a ticket like this. This is a ticket that would want this country to go communist immediately, if not sooner. We want no security. We want no anything. He’s heavy into transgender.”
Trump on Wednesday also posted to his Truth Social platform that Walz had "let Minnesota burn" during the protests that emerged in 2020 after the murder of George Floyd by former police officer Derek Chauvin.
However, Harris' campaign swiftly countered Trump's with a counter-post featuring Trump in a 2020 phone call referring to Walz as an "excellent guy" who had an "incredible" response to those very protests.
“I totally agreed with the way he handled it the last couple of days,” Trump said. “Tim Walz, again, I was very happy with the last couple of days, Tim.”
