The Kanye West of politics, Herschel Walker, is once again grabbing headlines for the wrong reasons.
The Daily Beast reported on Monday that the Republican Senate candidate from Georgia paid a girlfriend for her abortion. We are all about reproductive rights and freedom, but Walker is famously anti-choice.
Walker said he would support a ban on all abortions after 15 weeks, with absolutely no exceptions for mothers. According to Walker’s policy platform–which is more a collection of vague ideas and tropes than actual policy– he considers himself “a compassionate conservative who is pro-life and pro-family.”
It’s the hypocrisy for us.
Since then, his son Christian Walker (a conservative influencer on the receiving end of that recently famous Kehlani meme) has been outspoken about the abortion news.
According to Christian, his father has been “lying” about a problematic history.
Much like former President Donald Trump, Walker has been caught in multiple misleading and false claims. Here are just a few of his head-scratching moments.
01
Said he graduated from UGA. And then said that he never said that.
We’ve got a 2 for 1 deal here, with the former pro-footballer claiming that he graduated from the University of Georgia, even though he didn’t.
He then backtracked. According to CNN, “Walker’s claim that he ‘never’ and ‘not one time’ said he graduated from the University of Georgia is flat out false. Walker said on camera at least twice that he graduated from the school. Walker’s promotional materials have also featured the false claim that he graduated.”
02
Claims he was in law enforcement, the FBI specifically. Which is not quite the flex he thinks it is.
“I worked for law enforcement, y’all didn’t know that either?” Walker has once said. “I spent time at Quantico at the FBI training school. Y’all didn’t know I was an agent?”
According to MSNBC, that was a lie.
As the outlet reports, “Walker has never been an FBI agent. His campaign said he spent a week at an FBI school in Quantico, but a week does not an agent make. (He couldn’t have been an agent anyway, since agents are required to have college degrees, and Walker doesn’t have one, even though he’s claimed otherwise.).”
03
Has an ongoing beef with trees
The Inflation Reduction Act has plans to plant more trees in low-income neighborhoods, as many of them face extreme heat and form “heat islands.”
Walker apparently has a problem with this, sharing the half-truth that the project will raise taxes for middle and low income households, and he blames Biden and Warnock for the costs. However, according to Politifact, he has failed to mention the cost savings built into the bill.
Walker told the fact-checking website: “Our inner cities need less crime, not more trees,” as if, somehow, we can only have one good thing at a time.
Getty
04
Largely blames Raphael Warnock for rising gas prices
“Gas is more expensive because you and Senator Warnock cancelled the Keystone XL Pipeline and stopped domestic drilling sending American jobs and energy overseas,” Walker tweeted to President Biden.
Unfortunately for those who care about climate change, drilling actually didn’t stop. In fact, drilling permitting was higher in Biden’s first year as president than Donald Trump’s.
