Herschel Walker Story Reminds Us Conservative Media is Now a Team Sport Where Nothing Else Really Matters

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Herschel Walker, the Republican nominee for U.S. Senate in Georgia, had a very rough week as a bombshell report detailing he paid for a girlfriend’s abortion in 2009 led to his own son blasting him on social media, apparently confirming the report, and a later revelation he fathered a child with the woman that he publicly denied knowing.

Walker did himself no favors in subsequent media interviews in which he vehemently denied the reports, but added “if that had happened” there’s “nothing to be ashamed of” – comments he then denied making hours later while speaking to reporters.

While Walker’s campaign tried to right the ship, one very noticeable group of people was quickly rallying around him – the conservative media.

The day after the news dropped that Walker, who has taken a hardline stance on abortion by calling for a national ban with no exceptions, paid for an abortion, The Federalist ran a headline, “The Herschel Walker Abortion Accusation Changes Nothing.”

Former NRA spokeswoman Dana Loesch told her massive radio audience, “please keep in mind that I am concerned about one thing, and one thing only at this point. So, I don’t care if Herschel Walker paid to abort endangered baby eagles. I want control of the Senate.”

Loesch argued “winning is a virtue” and also called the woman Walker impregnated a “skank” and said that Walker’s opponent Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA) “wants to use all of our monies to pay a whole bunch of skanks for abortions.”

Comments like these pervaded right-wing media as Walker himself made the rounds on Sean Hannity’s show, Fox & Friends, and many other programs denying the allegations as friendly hosts did little to push Walker on the details of the story.

Additionally, evangelical Christians also rallied around Walker – despite his transgression, which is highly frowned upon in such circles. “Christian evangelical leaders have not flagged in their support, saying that he aligns with them on key policy matters. It’s a practice that has become common for Christian conservatives since the rise of Donald Trump — a political era that has inured religious voters to news of lewd behavior by Republicans,” wrote Natalie Allison in Politico who took a deep dive into the evangelical response.

As the week wore on, the defense of Walker on the right became more and more novel as pundits stretched for new ways to rationalize supporting the former NFL star beyond just raw power politics.

A column in the Washington Examiner on Friday argued that Walker should “do a ‘virtual withdrawal'” from the race — meaning he stays on the ticket and if he wins, he will resign the seat and allow the GOP governor to replace him.

“It was already asking a lot from voters to elect as a senator a man with a dangerous personality disorder that could reappear any time he forgets to take medications,” wrote Quin Hillyer, offering a rare conservative take actually hitting Walker on his many defects as a candidate and potential U.S. Senator.

In another unique take, Martha MacCallum had Joe Concha on her Fox News show Friday and displayed a recent tweet in which the media analyst replied to criticism of the GOP remaining in lockstep with Walker with a photo of Teddy Kennedy.

“And then you just put that photo up, which is an interesting reminder,” said MacCallum.

“That was after Chappaquiddick. Right. And what happened there in a horrible death, in a car accident that Teddy Kennedy walked away from, and then he was elected for four decades after that,” replied Concha.

“So as far as voting for somebody, because you think they’re morally better than their opponent, I’m sorry. People will vote sometimes regardless of moral scruples. And Raphael Warnock has a history himself that is nothing to be proud of. So I just found that interesting that well, that I think that picture with Teddy Kennedy in that neck brace…” he continued, before MacCallum jumped in saying:

Need to apply the same standards to both sides and be careful where you cast stones. Sometimes they come back at you. Yeah, it’s interesting. Joe, thank you.

While Concha and MacCallum’s argument will undoubtedly resonate with many viewers and they are certainly right to point out that both sides elect and reelect less-than-savory characters, they omitted the one key point that has been missed in all the rights’ defense of Walker — the stunning moral hypocrisy.

The best take of the week explaining why morals no longer matter came from Maggie Haberman, who was asked by MSNBC’s Nicolle Wallace why Trump and the GOP are standing behind Walker — beyond simply their desire to retake the Senate.

“Does he want more damaged Republicans in the party?” Wallace asked of the reporter who Trump once said is like his “psychiatrist.”

“He wants to show that nothing matters,” Haberman responded, before arguing, “And one of his goals and I write about this is he believes that everyone is just like him. Everything is a transaction. Everything can be exchanged. Everything can be reduced to a deal. There are no red lines. And so to show that there are no red lines always makes him happy.”

It’s worth noting that the GOP and conservatives in the U.S. were not always like this. In 2012 after then Missouri Senate candidate Todd Akin said women rarely become pregnant from “legitimate rape” and therefore an abortion ban exception for rape was unnecessary, he was largely dumped by the GOP. As was former Alabama Supreme Court Justice Roy Moore when he ran for the U.S. Senate in 2017 amid allegations of sexual misconduct.

Standards of accountability within a party are key for a representative republic to function. While the voters do have the final say in who gets into office, with gerrymandering and the fact that so many elected offices in the U.S. today are effectively non-competitive between the parties, both conservative and liberal media must hold both Democrats and Republicans accountable as they seek public office, winning for the team cannot be the only qualification for office or virtue we uphold.

This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.