Herschel Walker is a former NFL football player turned Republican candidate who is running for a crucial Senate seat in Georgia and has extremely hardline views on abortion. He supports a ban on the procedure with no exceptions for rape, incest, or when the life of the mother is in danger – circumstances he describes as “excuses”. He has also repeatedly likened abortion to murder.
All of that is somewhat awkward because it turns out that, by Herschel’s own definition, he may be an accessory to murder and should probably hand himself into the police immediately, if recent allegations are to be believed. On Monday the Daily Beast reported that Walker allegedly paid for an ex-girlfriend’s abortion in 2009. The woman, who has asked to remain anonymous, provided the outlet with evidence supporting her claims, including a $575 receipt from the abortion clinic, an image of a signed personal check for $700 from Walker, and a “get well” card allegedly signed by Walker. The card had “a drawing of a steaming cup of tea” on the front and instructed the recipient to “Rest, Relax, Recover.”
It doesn’t seem that Walker has done much relaxing since the news that he is (allegedly) a raging hypocrite broke. The Senate hopeful had a meltdown on Twitter on Monday, calling the Daily Beast’s report “a flatout lie” and “Democrat attack”. He also said he would be suing the media outlet for this “defamatory lie …tomorrow [Tuesday] morning.” He doesn’t appear to have followed through with his threat of a lawsuit, however. Perhaps – and I’m just speculating here – he looked up the definition of defamation and realised he had to prove the statement was actually false.
Herschel’s adult son, Christian, who is a conservative influencer, certainly doesn’t seem to be buying the idea that the Daily Beast published “a flatout lie”. On Monday night Christian went on a Twitter tirade berating his father. “I know my mom and I would really appreciate if my father Herschel Walker stopped lying and making a mockery of us,” Christian tweeted. “You’re not a ‘family man’ when you left us to bang a bunch of women, threatened to kill us, and had us move over 6 times in 6 months running from your violence … I don’t care about someone who has a bad past and takes accountability. But how DARE YOU LIE and act as though you’re some ‘moral, Christian, upright man.’ You’ve lived a life of DESTROYING other peoples lives. How dare you.”
Christian wasn’t done there. In a video he posted to Twitter he railed against the fact his father “has four kids, four different women, wasn’t in the house raising one of them. He was out having sex with other women.”
If you haven’t been keeping up with the constant Walker scandals and are wondering what on earth Christian is talking about, I suggest you sit down for a second – Walker Sr has quite the past. In 2005, for example, Cindy Grossman, Walker’s ex-wife, secured a protective order against him, citing violent behavior. Grossman told ABC News that Walker once pointed a gun at her head and said, “I’m going to blow your f’ing brains out.” Walker also reportedly threatened to kill Grossman, Grossman’s friend and his therapist in a therapy session. In addition, Grossman’s sister said in an affidavit that Walker had “stated unequivocally that he was going to shoot my sister Cindy and her boyfriend in the head.” Walker hasn’t denied these events but says he can’t remember them, insinuating that they may be linked to the fact he suffers from dissociative identity disorder.
Grossman isn’t the only woman to accuse Walker of violence. One of his ex-girlfriend’s told police in 2012 that Walker threated to “blow her head off” when she tried to end a relationship with him. Walker has denied these allegations.
When Walker isn’t (allegedly!) threatening women, he seems to be impregnating them. Earlier this year it transpired that the Republican, who has been a vocal critic of absentee fathers, had a number of secret children he has never acknowledged. He would, of course, have even more secret children if he hadn’t allegedly paid his mistress to have an abortion. Something, let’s not forget, that he thinks is inexcusable and evil – unless he does it.
Everyone is entitled to make mistakes. Everyone is entitled to a less-than-perfect past. But I don’t think I’m being unreasonable here when I say that a history of domestic violence allegations, a bunch of secret children, and several examples of being a raging hypocrite and shameless liar ought to preclude you from a political career. It certainly ought to preclude you from having any right to preach at people about morality or family values.
So will the new revelations about Walker sink his political aspirations? Sadly, I doubt it. Walker, after all, is hardly the first Republican to have shown himself to be a raging hypocrite. Indeed, it’s almost a job requirement. He’s certainly not the only Republican whose stance on abortions can be summed up as: OK for me, evil for thee. There are a number of anti-abortion zealots who have been outed as having encouraged the women in their life to get abortions. It’s almost like Republicans don’t actually have a consistent moral compass, they just want to control women.
Indeed, there is already ample evidence that Republicans seem unbothered by Walker’s past: following the Daily Beast’s revelations party representatives closed ranks behind their embattled candidate. Donald Trump himself stepped in to claim that Walker is being maligned by the “Fake News Media”. Meanwhile Steven Law, the president of the Senate Leadership Fund, proclaimed: “This election is about the future of the country. Herschel Walker will make things better; Raphael Warnock [the Democrat he is standing against] is making it worse. Anything else is a distraction.”
Law’s words sum up Republican strategy perfectly. At the moment they think Walker will be useful, so they don’t care what he’s done. Hell, they would elect Jeffrey Dahmer or Ted Bundy into a Senate seat if they thought they could help advance their agenda. Republicans like to preach about family values but time and time again they demonstrate that the only thing they care about is gaining power. Anything else is a distraction.
Meanwhile Dana Loesch, a conservative commentator and the former spokesperson for the National Rifle Association, didn’t even bother trying to put a spin on Walker’s actions. After calling women who have abortions “skanks”, she just flat-out said the only thing she cares about is Republicans gaining power. “Winning is a virtue,” Loesch proclaimed. “I don’t care if Herschel Walker paid to abort endangered baby eagles. I want control of the Senate.”
Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian columnist
