From our correspondent in the United States,
A former anti-abortion American footballer chosen by Donald Trump, accused of having financed the abortion of an ex-girlfriend. An influencer son who settles accounts with his father’s “hypocrisy” on Twitter. And executives of the Republican Party who are sweating profusely a month from midterms. In Georgia, an election that could prove crucial for the control of the Senate, on November 8, has turned into a great unpacking that continues to grow.
Former US college football star in the 1980s, Herschel Walker campaigned against the right to abortion, including in cases of rape or incest. But he would have made an exception… for his personal case. According to an investigation by the Daily Beast, Walker would have financed the voluntary termination of pregnancy of an ex-companion in 2009. This summer, the candidate had already been forced to admit having had three children out of wedlock.
“A hypocrite” who presents himself as a “family man”
Walker adopted the strategy of his mentor, Donald Trump, who dubbed him during the primaries, categorically denying, denouncing “a blatant lie”. But his accuser, who says he urged her to have an abortion, provided the site with a bill from an abortion clinic, a photo of a check from Walker that she cashed, and a card wishing her a “good recovery” signed by the ex-footballer.
Faced with his denial, his son Christian, released the flamethrower on Twitter Monday evening and Tuesday morning, accusing his father of being “a hypocrite” who presents himself as a “family man” but had “four children with four different women and raised none”. “All members of Herschel Walker’s family asked him not to be a candidate, because we knew some (aspects) of his past. He decided to give us the middle finger by washing his dirty laundry in public while lying. I’ve had enough,” wrote Christian Walker, a conservative “anti-woke” influencer who has more than 160,000 followers on TikTok and 278,000 on Twitter.
Himself accused of being a hypocrite because he seemed to support his father until then, Christian Walker claims to have agreed to go to the meeting to launch his campaign because his parent had promised him that he would take responsibility for his past. .
Death threats and dissociative identity disorder
Christian Walker makes more serious accusations. He claims that his father threatened him with death, as well as his mother, and that they had to “move six times in six years to flee (his) violence”. The candidate’s ex-wife, Cindy DeAngelis Grossman, claimed in the media after their divorce in 2001 that Herschel Walker threatened her with a gun on several occasions, telling ABC: “The first time pointed it at my temple, he said he was going to blow my brains out. Remarks that an organization of anti-Trump Republicans took up in a campaign spot broadcast in Georgia. In American politics, all shots are allowed.
Christian Walker’s mother had at the time obtained a restraining order (restraining order) from a judge, who temporarily prohibited Herschel Walker from possessing a firearm. The latter published a biography in 2008, in which he said he was diagnosed in 2001 with dissociative identity disorder by a controversial therapist. He certifies that he does not remember certain episodes of violence.
Poor “Quality” Republican Candidates
This liability did not prevent Donald Trump from convincing him to be a candidate. The two men have known each other since the 1980s: Herschel Walker played American football for Trump’s briefly owned franchise, the New Jersey Generals, in a league that hoped to compete with the NFL. He then appeared on the show The Celebrity Apprenticein 2004. On Truth Social, Donald Trump denounced the “fake news media” and the Democrats who, according to him, are trying to “destroy the life of a man who has a very promising future”.
Herschel Walker faces Democratic incumbent Raphael Warnock, elected in January 2021 for just two years after the resignation of a Republican senator. The surprise victory of Warnock and Jon Ossoff in Georgia had allowed the Democrats to retain control of the Senate by the narrowest of margins.
One month before the election, Walker and Warnock are neck and neck in the polls. In the event of defeat, the Republicans would absolutely need to win the seat in Pennsylvania, where Donald Trump’s colt, “Doctor” Oz, has chained blunders and is 4 points behind. Without naming them, the boss of the Republicans in the Senate, Mitch McConnell, had criticized this summer the “quality” of the candidates supported by Donald Trump chosen by the voters during the primaries. The future could prove him right.