Florida Sen. Rick Scott, chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, will travel to Georgia on Tuesday to stump for GOP Senate candidate Herschel Walker, whose campaign is engulfed in an evolving scandal after reports that he asked a girl to have two abortions.
The Georgia Senate seat, currently held by Sen. Raphael Warnock, a Democrat, is crucial to GOP hopes of controlling Congress and the most recent developments are testing conservatives’ commitment to winning in any respect costs.
“The Democrats need to destroy this country, and they’ll attempt to destroy anyone who gets of their way,” Scott said over the weekend in an announcement. “Today it’s Herschel Walker, but tomorrow it’s the American people.”
“I’m proud to face with Herschel Walker and be sure Georgians know that he’ll at all times fight to guard them from the forces attempting to destroy Georgia values and Georgia’s economy, led by Raphael Warnock.”
The Every day Beast reported last week that Walker paid for a lady to have an abortion in 2009. The lady also told The Latest York Times that Walker tried convincing her to have a second abortion two years later, but she refused and gave birth to a son, who’s considered one of Walker’s 4 children.
As a candidate, Walker supports a full ban on abortion, with no exceptions.
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Also heading to Georgia on Tuesday to back Walker is Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas, and over the weekend a chorus of Republicans admitted they plan to persist with Walker for no other reason than the seat is just too vital to their possibilities of controlling the chamber – an admission that showcases the issue the Republican Party finds itself within the run-up to Election Day. Though polls are tight, the Red Wave they once anticipated appears to be unlikely. In some ways, it’s an issue of their very own making.
Walker has yet to confess any wrongdoing, vacillating between denying the story altogether – “flat-out lie,” he said initially – to asking the Holy Father for forgiveness, depending on who’s interviewing him.
“Had that happened, I’d have said it, since it’s nothing to be ashamed of there,” Walker said in an interview with conservative talk show host Hugh Hewitt last week when asked whether there’s anything he must be forgiven for.
“You realize, people have done that, but I do know nothing about it,” he continued. “And if I knew about it, I could be honest and discuss it, but I do know nothing about that.”
At a rally over the weekend, Warnock told reporters that Walker “has trouble with the reality,” but steered clear of addressing the allegations directly.
“It’s as much as Georgia voters. It’s lower than him, it’s lower than me,” Warnock said. “We do know that my opponent has trouble with the reality. And we’ll see how all this plays out, but I’m focused squarely on the health care needs of my constituents, including reproductive health care.”
But when the actions of Scott and other GOP leaders within the wake of the bombshell reporting are indicative of anything – there’s little to nothing else Walker could say throughout the debate that may end in the Republican Party withdrawing its support. As conservative commentators were quick to indicate within the immediate aftermath of the Every day Beast’s report, the goal is to win at any cost.
“Does this variation anything,” asked Dana Loesch, the previous spokeswoman for the National Rifle Association. “I’m concerned about one thing, and one thing only at this point. I do not care if Herschel Walker paid to abort endangered baby eagles. I would like control of the Senate.”
And while Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who blessed Walker’s campaign with an endorsement throughout the Republican primary, has been silent on probably the most recent developments, the Senate Leadership Fund – the largest Senate Republican super PAC that’s aligned with McConnell – is continuous with greater than $34 million in television ads within the state in support of Walker.
“In the event you think the GOP goes to desert Walker over this, it’s like what planet are you on,” Joe Trippi, a Democratic campaign strategist who has worked on presidential, gubernatorial, Senate and House races, said on his podcast Monday morning.
“The fitting is coalescing around Walker, from the federalists arguing he’s the lesser of two evils to watching evangelicals praying for him,” he said. “That is where the GOP is now. It really doesn’t matter what you’ve got done. What’s really vital for 2024 is power. Period. Accept anything to get it.
In past midterm election years, someone like Walker could be solid as a fringe candidate that squeaked through resulting from a rare combination of unexpected circumstances. But in the most recent era of GOP politics dominated by former President Donald Trump, where probably the most zealous candidates rise to the highest in primaries, it’s more the rule than the exception this 12 months. Indeed, the present election cycle boasts 299 Republicans candidates running for Senate, House, governor and state positions who’ve denied the outcomes of the 2020 election, a Washington Post investigation found.
“The perimeter is the mainstream now for the Republican Party,” Trippi said. “The extremism within the party is tainting all their candidates now. And we’re seeing crazier and crazier stuff.”
And for evangelicals and conservative Christians – whose faith was tested during former President Donald Trump’s tenure and who ultimately ignored character flaws in exchange for political power – their continued support of Walker despite the brand new revelations, is the most recent and most extreme example of how this 2022 crop of candidates is forcing voting blocs to suspend reality.
“Folks, it is time to acknowledge that ‘evangelical’ is not any longer a Christian religious label but a political one focused on political power greater than faith,” former Sen. Doug Jones, Alabama Democrat, said in a tweet over the weekend. “Walker’s opponent is an ordained minister whose life has been an indication of religion and repair.”