Following Vice President Kamala Harris' selection of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate, Fox News host Jesse Watters unleashed a tirade against him, painting him as a radical and appearing to reference a bizarre conspiracy theory from the far-right corners of the internet that Walz is trying to push Islamic influence in his state.
"This guy put tampons in boys' bathrooms," said Watters. "Fourth-grade boys' bathrooms, tampons. He wants [critical race theory] taught. He was all about toppling the Columbus statue. This guy changed the flag of the state to look more like Somalia! What is wrong with this guy?"
Watters is referring to Minnesota's decision last year to replace the state flag it has used since 1983, which consisted of simply the state seal on a field of blue and was widely regarded as dull, and which also included a portrayal of an indigenous figure widely seen as offensive. The design was replaced by one with a simpler and more distinguishable design, consisting of a white eight-pointed North Star in a blue, stylized shape of the state, all against a field of turquoise.
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The flag of Somalia contrasts to Minnesota's flag in that it features a white, five-pointed star against a solid blue background of a different shade. The symbolism and colors also carry different meanings on each flag.
However, some pro-Trump figures have tried to draw a connection between the two, with some trying to claim it's the influence of the Somalian ex-pat population living in Minneapolis, or Rep. Ilhan Omar, one of America's first female Muslim members of Congress, who came to America as a refugee from Somalia.
Most prominently, Mike Lindell, the election-denying CEO of MyPillow who is himself a Minnesota native, agreed with Steve Bannon in an interview earlier this year that the new flag was an "Islamic symbol" and raged, "It's an atrocity! Everybody's going, what is this? Is this a takeover? This is like a Trojan horse here in Minnesota, Steve. When they started pouring in, they don't love our country."
Watters, who has garnered attention for a number of controversial on-air remarks over the years, just last week attacked Algerian Olympic boxer Imane Khelif based on false claims that she was transgender, saying, "All of these international Olympic committees are corrupt ... We're now at the point where we're going to give gold medals to men for beating up women."
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