Erick Erickson tells Herschel Walker to deal with reports about violence by saying that he is trying to raise awareness about mental health

Written by Media Matters Staff

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Erick Erickson tells Herschel Walker to deal with reports about violence by saying that he is trying to raise awareness about mental health

From the October 4, 2022, edition of Resurgent Radio's Erick Erickson Show

ERICK ERICKSON (HOST): Now let me just give you the lay of the land here. And again, I'm getting hate on both sides. Hate on the left for saying I am betraying my principles and standing by my man. Hate on the right for saying I'm throwing Herschel Walker under the bus. I'm just trying to tell you guys what's going on. If you can't handle me giving you the lay of the land, please go elsewhere. Put your big boy britches on and let's just navigate what's actually happening in Georgia right now. Herschel Walker vigorously denying this. Now, last night when this broke, I started getting text messages from Republicans around the state that, okay, we got to figure this out. We got to figure this out. What's actually going on?

The problem was Republican mood turned very sour the moment Christian Walker started tweeting, Christian Walker is Herschel Walker son. Now, Christian Walker, to a degree, is trying to revise his record. He has been a champion of his father. 

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The Daily Beast is one thing. Your own son is something else.

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I will tell you this. I have thought for the last month and a half that it was probable that Herschel Walker won. Now, I think it's possible, but less probable that he wins because forget where you are as someone who's going to vote Republican, a yellow dog Republican, you'll vote for a yellow dog that's Republican over any Democrat, including one named Jesus Christ. I get you exist. I'm not talking about you. 

What about those 50,000 people who refused to vote for Joe Biden or for Donald Trump in 2020? Do you really think that because of the economy and because of Joe Biden and the like, they're going to come out to vote? Maybe they will, but I can't tell you they will. What I can tell you is that if voters internalize this and believe that it's real, Georgia is far less of a Republican state than Alabama and Alabama voted for Doug Jones over Roy Moore, so you can't be sure you know.

What I can be sure is that Herschel Walker has the opportunity within the next 48 to 72 hours to mitigate this story. He came out on Sean Hannity last night and forcefully denied it. 

He's going to need to either forcefully deny it again or he's going to have to come out and he's going to have to absolutely repent. Yes. My initial reaction was to lie about it. I'm sorry it actually happened. It was 2009. I've changed my life. I've changed my ways. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Whatever he wants to do, either forcefully deny it or fess up to it, but do it in the next 48 hours. If you're going to confess to it. 

If you're going to deny it, get out there in an ad campaign and this is the problem, they don't have the money. They're going to have to get the money. Donald Trump has $99 million just sitting there, hasn't spent it on Herschel Walker or any of his other candidates. Herschel Walker could get out there. Put up a high definition video on YouTube. And let anybody capture it and run with it if they want. Herschel Walker could produce a high def interview. Put it on YouTube as B-roll footage and let one of these superPACs run it. It's not coordination. He's put it on YouTube. Anybody can use it. Herschel Walker could come out and say listen, they're running an ad with my ex-wife and yes, I held a gun to my ex-wife's head. I was struggling with mental health. What they left out is that my ex-wife and I were participating in an interview to raise awareness about mental health. And I have fought that fight, and I've chosen to run for office to raise awareness about mental health. We should not be stigmatizing people with mental health. We should be encouraging them from a large national platform to get help. Because like me, they can get help and they can move on with their life. 

But while the Democrats are smearing me with this, they're also lumping in allegations that simply aren't true, including saying I paid for an abortion. It is vehemently not true. I absolutely deny that it's true. And shame on the Democrats for doing this to distract from a bad economy. From an increase in crime. From high inflation. From Joe Biden. Whatever he wants to say to tie it back to the Democrats. I vehemently deny this. Yes, this is true. And I'm sorry. And I grew up and I got help. No, this isn't true. I vehemently disagree. This is a lie. And they're doing it to distract from whatever he wants to say. There is a way to handle this. Will it be effective? I don't know. Will it mitigate the damage? You're damn right it will. But he's got to do something and he's got to do it in the next 48 to 72 hours for it to have an impact. 

You're about five weeks away from the election as of today. Next week will be a month. Early voting will be starting very soon in Georgia. Herschel Walker is going to have to respond. They don't have their first debate until next Friday. In fact, Walker's coming on my program next Thursday. Obviously, we will talk about this, but he can't wait until then. He's got to do something this week. He's got to pivot it.