A MAGA influencer is trying to spread a nasty rumor about Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz. The issue is it reads more like fan fiction than facts.
“DocNetyoutube,” whom Washington Post media reporter Will Sommer describes as “an up-and-coming new player in the ‘making things up’ corner of online Trumpworld,” claims he has proof that Walz sexually assaulted a student during his time as a high school teacher.
In a series of “drops,” a term popular in the QAnon community, DocNetyoutube on Sunday posted several alleged screenshots of communications between himself and Walz’s anonymous victim. But the posts have several red flags about their authenticity.
The email dates are formatted in an inconsistent way, with misplaced commas and strange text alignment. Another clue is what appears to be a typing cursor that still appears on the screenshots, indicating that the internet personality most likely wrote them himself.
Much of DocNetyoutube’s conspiracy hinges on him breaking the news of a student who went to a concert with Walz and his wife while the couple were teachers at the same Nebraska school. The story isn’t new. The New York Times published this story in August, noting that after the anonymous gay student confided in them, the couple took them to an Indigo Girls concert, a rare queer-friendly event in the area.
But on Sunday, the MAGA conspiratorial account tried to claim that the media was “trying to get out in front of this story,” instead of acknowledging that he was publishing old news. The internet personality claimed to have a “statement from the victim” to prove the legitimacy of the posts. The anonymous statement noted that Walz has a Chinese symbol tattooed on his upper thigh. “I remember he explained to me what it meant, but I do not recall at this time,” the supposed student wrote in the statement. In the comments on X, MAGA users quickly spun out about whether Walz could have gotten that tattoo laser removed or could have done a skin graft procedure. Very normal stuff.
Baselessly calling Walz a groomer is nothing new. Laura Loomer has previously spread similarly vague allegations against Walz. “There’s a reason why he shakes his wife’s hand and panders to the gay community, and it’s not because he’s awkward.… It will all come out,” she wrote on X in August, citing no evidence.
Several X-verified QAnon accounts have also spread the claims far and wide, boosted by Elon Musk’s algorithm. Earlier this month, the pro-QAnon podcast “RedPill78” interviewed an anonymous man who alleged he was a former foreign exchange student at Walz’s high school who was inappropriately touched by the Democrat.
Previously, terminally online Republicans also tried to push the narrative that Walz was grooming children by being the faculty adviser of the newly formed Gay-Straight Alliance at his Minnesota school. In reality, queer students appreciated his support. “It was important to have a person who was so well-liked on campus, a football coach who had served in the military,” one former student at the school told The New York Times. “Having Tim Walz as the adviser of the Gay-Straight Alliance made me feel safe coming to school.”
Since that talking point didn’t stick, it appears they had to escalate. Of course credible assault allegations should always be taken seriously. But if Republicans don’t want to vote for someone who has touched someone inappropriately, perhaps they shouldn’t vote for the convicted rapist.
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