December 6, 2022 Editor

Herschel Walker Is the New Normal

Too many of us have simply gotten used to the corrosion of our public life.

By Tom Nichols

December 6, 2022

image above: meetthematts.com

By encouraging Walker to run for the Senate and endorsing him in the Republican primary, Trump reminded the world of his contempt for American government and American ideals. One hot mess is as good as the next when it comes to burning down the GOP and replacing it with a cult of Trump., Deputy opinion editor and columnist, in The tragedy of Herschel Walker, December 6, 2022

WN: The title is tragically true. As the article says:

If Walker is elected, it will be a tragic day in the history of the Senate. But the fact that he ran at all—and garnered millions of votes from perfectly normal American citizens—is the larger tragedy . . .

Rep. Mondaire Jones (D-N.Y.) tweeted that “national Republicans handpicked an unqualified and morally bankrupt caricature to run for Senate in Georgia because they thought his race would be enough to make him competitive with Black voters.” “But we know when we’re being patronized,” Jones added. “Herschel Walker needed to be defeated.”Brett Wilkins,

But Walker lost today . . . And one breathes a tad easier.

We read, by Michael A. Cohen, Herschel Walker Is the Saddest Senate Candidate I’ve Ever Seen

Walker’s campaign [was] a train wreck, but one that emits sadness and wonderment—not only because those closest to Walker aren’t stepping in to rescue him, but because he has a 50/50 chance of actually getting elected.

Sen. Raphael Warnock’s victory in Georgia’s runoff held special significance for one group: women who had romantic relationships with opponent Herschel Walker and came forward with their stories of secret children, abortions, and abusive behavior.

To them, the voters’ decision was proof they made the right choice in breaking long-held silences and baring intimate details of their lives so the public would see the Herschel Walker they knew.

“I am extremely proud of the outcome of this runoff,” said Cheryl Parsa, who was in a five-year relationship with the former football star in the 2000s and alleges he habitually lied, cheated on her, and once violently attacked her.

“The great people of Georgia deserve better representation in the Senate than Herschel Walker, and today they have chosen better,” she said.

Another woman, who had an affair with Herschel from 1996 to 1998 and then reconnected with him a decade after that, said she found strength in the election outcome.

“Finally, this violent liar, cheater, adulterer, abuser and deranged, manipulative idiot has been defeated,” she told The Daily Beast. “As a victim of this disgusting liar, I finally feel relieved, vindicated, and not alone.”

But there is also this: October 4, 2022, by : Baptist Megachurch Pastor George Leads Prayer Event for Herschel Walker after Abortion Allegation. We read:

The “worship and luncheon with Herschel Walker” had already been planned by “Prayer Warriors for Herschel” before the abortion allegation that Walker denies. As attendees walked in, a welcome sign featuring a smiling Walker announced it as the “Herschel Walker Prayer Luncheon.”

Although George did not explicitly mention the report about Walker paying for an abortion, his comments appeared to reference the news of the day. George said he wasn’t sure how Walker would be today but found Walker and his wife to be “in good spirits today because they know the name of the Lord is a strong tower.” George then read from Psalm 35, which he attributed to King David (though the text doesn’t note authorship).

O Lord, oppose those who oppose me. Fight those who fight against me. Put on your armor, and take up your shield. Prepare for battle, O God, and come to my aid,” George read. “May those who rejoice at my troubles be humiliated and disgraced. May those who triumph over me be covered with shame and dishonor. But give great joy to those who came to my defense. Let them continually say, ‘Great is the Lord, who delights in my blessing, blessing his servant with peace!’ Then, Lord, I will proclaim your justice, and I will praise you all day long.

George added, “I want to claim those verses for my friend Herschel Walker.” The crowd, which had said “amen” during the scripture reading, erupted with applause.

In two words: tragic and sick. And one again asks: Who are these “Christians” who so malign the name they call on? An answer is found by clicking on the highlighted phrase. Yet again: Which comes first for these guys: Politics or Jesus?

Please also see, by Michael A. Cohen, Herschel Walker Lost, but the GOP Is Still Poisoned by MAGA Loonies. In it:

This helps explain why, between 2016 and 2020, Canadians were united in their contempt for Trump, who served as a bipartisan symbol of evil they rallied against regardless of their political leanings.

Tonight, Georgia Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock won re-election to the U.S. Senate, defeating Republican Herschel Walker. Depending on your perspective, it’s either a peak moment for American democracy or its nadir.

First, the good news. Walker is one of the worst political candidates in modern political history—and tonight, thankfully, he lost.

Possessing no experience in government or politics, he provided voters with scant evidence that he even understood the responsibilities of the job he sought. Indeed, in a brief interview with Politico this week, Walker appeared to suggest that his victory would ensure Republican control of the “House.” Walker was, of course, running for the Senate, and control of that body had already been determined.

Walker’s sole claim to public renown is that, 42 years ago, as running back for the University of Georgia Bulldogs, he won the Heisman Trophy as college football’s best player.

Now, here’s the bad news, 1,908,442 Georgians voted for Walker in the first round of voting, and, so far, more than 1.6 million have voted for him this time.

This is, of course, not a bipartisan problem: according to November exit polls, approximately 94 percent of Republicans cast a ballot for Walker (by a more than ten-point margin, independents supported Warnock).

Indeed, while American democracy undoubtedly dodged a bullet in 2022—as election-denying candidates with no qualification for office lost across the board—this election was far too close for comfort.

But in the modern GOP, where competence and experience have become foreign, even toxic concepts, the bar for political entry has been lowered to the floor.

At least in Pennsylvania, voters rejected the election-denying, abortion-criminalizing Christian nationalist Doug Mastriano by nearly 15 points, but in far too many races, the margin of victory suggests that a small segment of the population saved the country from candidates who have no business holding public office. Lest we forget, in 2016, an unqualified candidate can lose the popular vote by 3 million votes… and still get elected president.

No wonder we in Canada go tut, tut, tut, when it comes to America. Please see on this, my post: Why Donald Trump was bad for America but good for Canada. We read:

Polls taken in August 2016 showed that, if given the chance, only 15 to 20 per cent of Canadians would have cast a ballot for Trump, while 73 to 80 per cent would have voted for Hillary Clinton. And a poll taken just prior to election day in November 2016 found that more Canadians would support a third-party candidate than Trump.

This helps explain why, between 2016 and 2020, Canadians were united in their contempt for Trump, who served as a bipartisan symbol of evil they rallied against regardless of their political leanings.

This is evident in Canadian media coverage during this period. Upon analyzing mainstream print media articles published between 2016-2020 for an ongoing research project, I identified common themes: Canadian media increasingly associated “America” with “Trump,” and both of these with authoritarianism, selfishness, racism, bigotry, xenophobia, ignorance, irrationality, dishonesty and a lack of concern for the least advantaged.

Trump’s personal gargantuan cesspool of unbounded evil is a bottomless “swamp” that makes the Washington one look like a five-star holiday resort by contrast.

And this from Fox News columnist, Liz Peek | Fox News, December 7, 2022: Herschel Walker just wrote Donald Trump’s political obituary. She writes:

Herschel Walker, the Heisman Trophy winner who led the Georgia Bulldogs to a national championship in 1982, just wrote Donald Trump’s political obituary.

The midterms were, instead, a referendum on the increasing unpopularity of Mr. Trump. Yes, he still has a lock on some (declining) portion of the Republican Party. And, yes, Trump-always voters may refuse to back anyone else, ever.

Walker was endorsed by former President Trump.

Having suffered the rare humiliation of failing to win a second term in the Oval Office, and having cost his party a majority in the senate – three times – it is time for Donald Trump to step away from politics. It is the right thing to do for his party, for the country, and for himself.

But his refusal to admit defeat in the 2020 election, and the tragic aftermath of that refusal, shut the door on his political career. After January 6, and having publicly nursed his grievances for two years, there is no comeback.

Mr. Trump will not win another election. His most glaring political strength today is his ability to energize Democrats, causing not only historic turnout but attracting gushers of campaign cash – for the opposition.

The writer gets it!–sort of; albeit years too late! Her claim, “It’s time for former President Trump to realize that staying in the 2024 contest will only further erode his legacy,” rings true–but not remotely in the way she means! Trump’s legacy, reflected in multiple articles found on this site (by clicking on the highlighted phrase) will, tragically, indefinitely endure: one of obscene narcissism; of overweening racism, bigotry, and hatred; of the “American Dream” he personifies summed up in one word: (unmitigated, self-centred, unadulterated) GREED . . . An Ultimate American Exceptionalism, yes–a kind of Extreme Apotheosis . . . of Evil . . .

So no, Ms. Peek. Trump’s personal gargantuan cesspool of unbounded evil is a bottomless “swamp” that makes the Washington one look like a five-star holiday resort by contrast. It seems you’ve not even so much as taken a peek at that (though at last you peek and boo)! In fact, his own evil nadir has never peaked! But you’ve managed to pique abject scorn in writing such an article.

So yes, Ms. Peek:

It is a tragedy that will only be made worse by Trump’s continued presence on our national stage.

It is an even greater tragedy that you and your ilk only discovered this fully seven years too late!

But there is (the only) hope: for you; for Trump; for the GOP; for America; for the world . . .

And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love. (Romans 5:5, NLT)

Please also see, by Roger Sollenberger, Political Reporter, ‘Duct Tape and Band-Aids’: Inside Herschel Walker’s Campaign Collapse

It was no secret that Herschel Walker had baggage.

Before he even announced his candidacy, Walker’s still-unofficial campaign hired outside consultants to compile a report on Walker’s potential problems. The report weighed in at over 500 pages.

According to two people familiar with the tome of opposition research, which was first reported by NBC News, it didn’t include allegations of secret children, or Walker paying for multiple abortions, or even his obviously false claim to have graduated in the top 1 percent of his class at the University of Georgia, which the campaign was later forced to scrub from his official website bio.

The rest of the story continues the sad tale. His son

Christian Walker shared that perspective [that Walker should never have run], and had choice words for the Republicans he sees as selfishly and callously complicit in the personal and political disaster that unfolded over the last year.

“I think most people who pushed him to run were doing so for their own personal interests. They thought they could take credit for his win and/or utilize his win for their own personal gain, if he wound up winning,” Christian Walker said. “I don’t believe it was in the interest of the party or anyone but themselves.”

It’s obvious that GOP supporters of Walker’s candidacy were bent on “using” Walker, should he have ever reached the Senate. As one commentator noted, Walker had a lifetime of white handlers telling him what to think and do . . . The above-noted article gives instances of this. So sad.

excerpts:

Once Vices, Now Habits

We have come to the end of the 2022 midterms with a final contest in Georgia. By the time you read this, we will likely know whether Herschel Walker will become a United States senator. (I suspect he will not, but terrible things that seem improbable can still happen.) Yards of columns have been written about Walker’s palpable, cinder-block denseness; yesterday, he seemed confused about whether he was running for the House or the Senate. And, as my friend Jill Lawrence pointed out today, supporting an allegedly abusive rake like Walker makes a mockery of Republicans who once extolled virtue and character as the most important qualities in a public servant.

As usual, however, the real problem lies with the voters. The Republicans are getting the candidates they want.

The larger problem, however, is that Walker’s candidacy is a reminder of just how much we’ve acclimated ourselves to the presence of awful people in our public life. Although we can be heartened by the defeat of Christian nationalists and election deniers and other assorted weirdos, we should remember how, in a better time in our politics, these candidates would not have survived even a moment of public scrutiny or weathered their first scandal or stumble.

There’s a lot of blame to go around, but no one did more to pioneer the politics of disgust than Donald Trump.

And yet, here we are: An entire political party shrugs off revelations that a man running on an anti-abortion platform may have paid for an abortion (possibly two), has unacknowledged children, and may also be a violent creep. Not long ago, Walker would have been washed out of political contention as a matter of first principles.

Television evangelist Jimmy Swaggart breaks down in tears on televised sermon as he confesses his relationship with a prostitute. 1988 photo (Credit Image: © Robin Nelson/ZUMAPRESS.com)

Think of how much our civic health has declined in general. Only 35 years ago, during the long-ago Camelot of the late 1980s, Gary Hart had to pull out of the Democratic

[Trump] also changed the temperature of the room; there is no “too far” anymore. His outré pronunciations are something like the norm now, with other elected officials, from Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), mimicking his parroting of right-wing conservative media rhetoric back to the base.Trump will go away slowly, then all at once, by , December 6, 2022.

primaries for getting caught with a pretty lady on a boat named “Monkey Business,” and the televangelist Jimmy Swaggart stood with tears streaming down his face because he’d been caught with a prostitute in a Louisiana motel. In 1995, Senator Bob Packwood (again, more tears) resigned in the aftermath of revelations of sexual misconduct just before being expelled from the Senate.

I’m not sure who said it first, but the Doobie Brothers said it again in the title of their 1974 album: What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits.

There’s a lot of blame to go around, but no one did more to pioneer the politics of disgust than Donald Trump, who took the outrageous moments of his two presidential campaigns and turned them into virtues.

Please click on: Trump and Walker: Vices Into Habits

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Editor

Wayne Northey was Director of Man-to-Man/Woman-to-Woman – Restorative Christian Ministries (M2/W2) in British Columbia, Canada from 1998 to 2014, when he retired. He has been active in the criminal justice arena and a keen promoter of Restorative Justice since 1974. He has published widely on peacemaking and justice themes. You will find more about that on this website: a work in progress.

Always appreciate constructive feedback! Thanks.