The Political Incompetence of Herschel Walker

By David Starr

Over the years the Republican Party has had quite a number of members who have been very unqualified to hold office. And the tradition continues. Herschel Walker won the Georgia Republican primary by a landslide, which says a lot about his supporters considering that Walker is one of the most unqualified individuals to run for office.

Over the past few months, Walker has made incredibly inaccurate assertions, has lied, and has a violent past. He’s also made the kinds of remarks that an incompetent would make. The right, particularly Trump supporters, have consistently asserted that the presidential election Joe Biden won was, and is, fraudulent. Donald Trump has been very loud in condemning the “stealing” of the election. Walker thinks the same way. But in an interview, Walker claimed that he never heard Trump say the election was stolen, expressing an obvious lie.

According to a CNN Fact Check report (08/28/2021) by Daniel Dale, Walker claimed that there was “Country wide election fraud.” He urged Trump and “TRUE PATRIOTS” to conduct a “total cleansing.” (A total cleansing. Bad choice of words.) Walker also asserted, “Let’s get back to real Law and Order and prosecute all the bad actors. Whatever it takes to get the job done.” In saying this, Walker is parroting the right-wing line about imposing a draconian-type of law and order.

Dale’s report also included Walker suggesting that all the votes be tossed out in Nevada, Arizona, Georgia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin. His solution was to conduct the voting process all over again, which could be “done within a week, and “maintain our democracy.” The term, “our democracy,” sounds funny coming out of Walker’s mouth since he, when it comes down to it, has aligned himself with Trump and the GOP, and in turn their agenda which is hardly democratic. (Although the GOP is not 100% unified when it comes to Trump.)

Regarding the January 6, 2021 riot at the Capitol, Walker implied that the rioters were there to oppose Trump and his supporters, with the latter wanting to stop the Biden presidency from becoming official. This signifies Walker’s total flight from reality. Obviously, the rioters were Trump supporters and were breaking into the Capitol building.

In the aftermath of the shootings in Uvalde, Texas, Walker was asked about gun control. In a report by Ryan Bort published in Rolling Stone (05/26/2022), his answer was bizarre and incoherent: “What I like to do is see it and everything and stuff.” Not exactly the words of someone who would be a responsible senator.

Bort also wrote that Walker has been on Fox “news” and made another incoherent comment during an interview about school shootings: “Cain killed Abel. That’s a problem that we have. What we need to do is look into how we can stop those things…What about getting a department that’s looking at young men, that’s looking at young women, that’s looking at social media.” As with Walker’s other comments, this one sounded not only incoherent but vague.

There are other lies Walker has expressed, according to Bort: He claimed that his company employs hundreds of people and makes about $75 million a year. But in actuality, Walker employs only eight people and makes under $2 million a year. He also claimed to own chicken processing plants, but this isn’t true. Walker licenses his name to them. And Walker claimed that he owned the U.S.’s biggest upholstery business, but again that’s another lie.

On the subject of evolution, Bort got Walker’s take on it. Walker’s view? “At one time, science said man came from apes, did it not? If that is true, why are there still apes? Think about it.” There’s nothing to think about. That is a meaningless statement.

Walker didn’t think much when it came to a history of violent and abusive urges. Bort detailed Walker’s relationship with his former wife Cindy Grossman, with her stating that Walker exhibited extremely threatening behavior and also physical abuse. When Grossman dated someone else after filing for a protective order, Walker didn’t comply with it. He called her family members and made threats, saying he would shoot Grossman and her boyfriend in the head.

Given the facts about him, Walker would be an obvious disaster as a senator. Hopefully, Georgia voters will vote for his opponent Raphael Warnock, who is the incumbent, voted in in the last mid-term election cycle. Truly, many Georgians can’t be as incompetent as Herschel Walker.