Again: There is no underlying Republican philosophy. None at all, aside from an insistence that anything a Republican does is good and anyone who criticizes a Republican is bad. Republican voters don't care if you have sex with minors (Matt Gaetz), help cover up the sexual abuse of student-athletes (Jim Jordan), troll local malls looking for teen girls to sexually assault (Roy Moore), or commit actual treason against the republic (Donald What's-His-Name). If former Republican House Speaker Dennis Hastert, a child rapist and now-felon, ran for office again on a platform of Every Republican Gets To Rape Children, a goodly portion of the Republican base and nearly all of its evangelical flank would rally to his cause immediately.
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If you think anti-abortion-rights ex-football star Herschel Walker being exposed as having paid for an abortion would make a dent in any of those skulls, after the Republican Party's bigwigs breezily brushed aside prior episodes of Walker holding a gun to his then-wife's head or brazenly lying to his campaign staff about how many children he had, forget it. The Republican Party has hitched its wagon to violent insurrection and to a Big Lie crafted as justification for nullifying elections that don't go the party's way.
So yeah, we're now in the Gosarian state of having even Herschel Walker's own family washing their hands of him as official Republicanism insists that, no, yet another Republican paying for an abortion before turning around and demanding abortion be banned for everyone else is not a big deal. It's just your average Tuesday.
Herschel Walker's son, and the only child he publicly recognized back when he first announced his run for office, really is fed up with his ever-dishonest father and his campaign. But he'd be the only one.
Righty sort-of pundit Erick Erickson was so quick to dismiss the story he hit send before deciding which excuse he'd go with. Let's go with one of everything, and let the audience take their pick!
You're supposed to pick just one slip from the Excuse Box, Erick. Don't just reach in there with both hands.
Then you've got the Nazi-adjacent crowd, and the Nazi-adjacent crowd has a very simple message: Nothing Our Candidates Do Matter. The only thing that matters is power.
If you're noticing that the Republican defenses of Walker suffer from a distinct lack of consistency, that's because Walker first responded to the story by denying it ever happened and threatening to sue the media outlet reporting it. Walker, however, is considered such a prolific and unapologetic liar that even his own campaign staff doesn't trust him any farther than they can throw him, and initial Republican excuse-making presumed from the outset that the story was true no matter what Walker might personally say about it.
Mind you, Donald Trump says he believes Herschel's denials. And that, my friends and neighbors, is how you end up bankrupting your own casino.
As for the actual blowback Walker is facing from the not-surprising revelation that his anti-abortion stance is just as hollow as his "pro-family" declarations and his supposed business accomplishments: Losing his son's support seems to be the beginning and end of it. National Republicans are uniformly standing behind him, dismissing the news just as they dismissed Walker's record of abuses and violence. From Rick Scott to Mitch McConnell, the people controlling the money are sticking with him.
So are donors: Walker's campaign is boasting of a supposed "record-breaking" fundraising haul after this latest news broke, with Republican supporters giving $182,000 to the campaign in one day.
This is not actually that much, in campaign terms...
… but it does show that Republican voters sincerely do not give a flying damn about all these supposedly deep-seated religious-or-not principles that they insist the republic abide by. Herschel could have personally performed the abortion himself, and it would only have resulted in the Republican base giving him even more money.
And, given the way his campaign's been going, we're not willing to say that won't be next week's story.
Abortion rights, gun safety, and the our planet are all at stake in this election. We must persuade Democratic voters to turn out in November. Click here to volunteer with Vote Forward and write personalized letters to targeted voters on your own schedule from the comfort of your own home, without ever having to talk to anyone.
RELATED STORIES:
Herschel Walker’s son blasts his dad over abortion denials, lies, and domestic violence
Herschel Walker says forget about him holding gun to his wife’s head because Jesus
Herschel Walker has such a hard time telling the truth he’s even lying to his own campaign staff
Herschel Walker now admits having second son. Wait, third son. Oh, and a daughter too?
Since Dobbs, women have registered to vote in unprecedented numbers across the country, and the first person to dig into these stunning trends was TargetSmart CEO Tom Bonier, who's our guest on this episode of The Downballot. Bonier explains how his firm gathers data on the electorate; why this surge is likely a leading indicator showing stepped-up enthusiasm among many groups of voters, including women, young people, and people of color; how we know these new registrants disproportionately lean toward Democrats; and what it all might mean for November.
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Campaign Action
If you think anti-abortion-rights ex-football star Herschel Walker being exposed as having paid for an abortion would make a dent in any of those skulls, after the Republican Party's bigwigs breezily brushed aside prior episodes of Walker holding a gun to his then-wife's head or brazenly lying to his campaign staff about how many children he had, forget it. The Republican Party has hitched its wagon to violent insurrection and to a Big Lie crafted as justification for nullifying elections that don't go the party's way.
So yeah, we're now in the Gosarian state of having even Herschel Walker's own family washing their hands of him as official Republicanism insists that, no, yet another Republican paying for an abortion before turning around and demanding abortion be banned for everyone else is not a big deal. It's just your average Tuesday.
Herschel Walker's son, and the only child he publicly recognized back when he first announced his run for office, really is fed up with his ever-dishonest father and his campaign. But he'd be the only one.
Righty sort-of pundit Erick Erickson was so quick to dismiss the story he hit send before deciding which excuse he'd go with. Let's go with one of everything, and let the audience take their pick!
You're supposed to pick just one slip from the Excuse Box, Erick. Don't just reach in there with both hands.
Then you've got the Nazi-adjacent crowd, and the Nazi-adjacent crowd has a very simple message: Nothing Our Candidates Do Matter. The only thing that matters is power.
If you're noticing that the Republican defenses of Walker suffer from a distinct lack of consistency, that's because Walker first responded to the story by denying it ever happened and threatening to sue the media outlet reporting it. Walker, however, is considered such a prolific and unapologetic liar that even his own campaign staff doesn't trust him any farther than they can throw him, and initial Republican excuse-making presumed from the outset that the story was true no matter what Walker might personally say about it.
Mind you, Donald Trump says he believes Herschel's denials. And that, my friends and neighbors, is how you end up bankrupting your own casino.
As for the actual blowback Walker is facing from the not-surprising revelation that his anti-abortion stance is just as hollow as his "pro-family" declarations and his supposed business accomplishments: Losing his son's support seems to be the beginning and end of it. National Republicans are uniformly standing behind him, dismissing the news just as they dismissed Walker's record of abuses and violence. From Rick Scott to Mitch McConnell, the people controlling the money are sticking with him.
So are donors: Walker's campaign is boasting of a supposed "record-breaking" fundraising haul after this latest news broke, with Republican supporters giving $182,000 to the campaign in one day.
This is not actually that much, in campaign terms...
… but it does show that Republican voters sincerely do not give a flying damn about all these supposedly deep-seated religious-or-not principles that they insist the republic abide by. Herschel could have personally performed the abortion himself, and it would only have resulted in the Republican base giving him even more money.
And, given the way his campaign's been going, we're not willing to say that won't be next week's story.
Abortion rights, gun safety, and the our planet are all at stake in this election. We must persuade Democratic voters to turn out in November. Click here to volunteer with Vote Forward and write personalized letters to targeted voters on your own schedule from the comfort of your own home, without ever having to talk to anyone.
RELATED STORIES:
Herschel Walker’s son blasts his dad over abortion denials, lies, and domestic violence
Herschel Walker says forget about him holding gun to his wife’s head because Jesus
Herschel Walker has such a hard time telling the truth he’s even lying to his own campaign staff
Herschel Walker now admits having second son. Wait, third son. Oh, and a daughter too?
Since Dobbs, women have registered to vote in unprecedented numbers across the country, and the first person to dig into these stunning trends was TargetSmart CEO Tom Bonier, who's our guest on this episode of The Downballot. Bonier explains how his firm gathers data on the electorate; why this surge is likely a leading indicator showing stepped-up enthusiasm among many groups of voters, including women, young people, and people of color; how we know these new registrants disproportionately lean toward Democrats; and what it all might mean for November.
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