GOP, why Herschel Walker and not Ketanji Brown Jackson?

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Let me get this straight. GOP members are endorsing Herschel Walker for the U.S. Senate, a man who has no governing experience and whose ex-wife said that Walker was “physically abusive” and displayed “extremely threatening behavior.” But they are not endorsing Ketanji Brown Jackson? 

What we can presume is the majority, if not all, of the Republican senators, are planning to vote against the Honorable Ketanji Brown Jackson to the U.S. Supreme Court. Unlike Walker, Jackson has no accusations of displaying violent behavior and happens to be the most qualified nominee in our nation’s history. 

In 2005, a judge authorized that a restraining order be placed on Herschel Walker to protect his ex-wife, Cindy DeAngelis Grossman, after he allegedly told her sister “that he was going to shoot [Cindy] and her [new] boyfriend in the head.” 

Grossman even shared that Walker allegedly once held a straight razor to her throat during their marriage and repeatedly told her that he would murder her.

Nevertheless, Ketanji Brown Jackson displays characteristics of model citizenry; she is outstanding, a Harvard grad, a bipartisan nominated federal court judge, devoted wife and mother, the embodiment of Black excellence — our ancestors’ wildest dreams actualized.

She is a woman who Republican Paul Ryan once declared, “Our politics may differ, but my praise for Ketanji’s intellect, for her character, for her integrity, it is unequivocal.”

So GOP, why Walker and not Jackson? 

Republicans came out swinging against Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson

From the day President Biden publicly declared that he would choose a Black woman — in the name of racial equity — to replace Justice Stephen Breyer on the U.S. Supreme Court, GOP members, plagued with White fragility, were hollering their disapproval. 

“Black women are, what, 6% of the U.S. population? He’s saying to 94% of Americans, ‘I don’t give a damn about you,” Republican Sen. Ted Cruz said during an interview. He then adds, “If you’re a White guy, tough luck. If you’re a White woman, tough luck; you don’t qualify.”

So, if you think Republican attacks weren’t laced with racism, think about why Cruz made the aforementioned statement.

Republican Senator John Kennedy said, “Number one, I want a nominee who knows a law book from a J.Crew catalog. Number two, I want a nominee who’s not going to try to rewrite the Constitution every other Thursday to try to advance a ‘woke agenda.’”

It was sexism coated with racism.

I highly doubt that Senator Kennedy would have presumed that Ketanji Brown Jackson was coming to the court with a ‘woke agenda’ had she not been Black. 

After all, why do Republican Senators think Amy Coney Barrett is a great role model for little girls but not Jackson?

  Republicans support anti-Black Black folks

Meanwhile, Herschel Walker is the furthest from being a role model and believes the 2020 election was stolen. 

Despite this historical moment, Walker, as if having a clean record, has resulted in Black public cannibalism in order to please his majority White Republican friends. He wants to prove that he’s one of them by tweeting inaccuracies about Jackson.

Black cannibalism is why White Republicans treasure him. Herschel Walker is a political commodity. He adds value to their Republican cause. 

They know that a White Republican candidate, using dog-whistle politics, will not work in a state that recently elected its first Black senator. Moreover, knowing that Stacey Abrams nearly beat Brian Kemp in the 2018 Georgia gubernatorial election, they are in the market for Black votes. Hence, Walker is their perfect tool to achieve their goal.

Do I think Republicans care about Herschel Walker? No, I don’t. I believe they are using him. 

Herschel Walker has no experience for the job

Although I’m sure Walker would disagree, I think they are taking advantage of the fact that he suffers from mental health issues.

Prior to Trump egging him on, Walker had never held a public office seat. Usually, when candidates run for America’s highest legislative seats, such as the U.S. Senate, they typically have some form of public governing experience. 

Democratic Sen. Raphel Warnock was the senior pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta since 2005. Its congregation boasts 6,000 members. 

Former Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler was chief executive officer of Bakkt, a subsidiary of commodity and financial service provider for the Intercontinental Exchange market. 

Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff worked as a national security staffer and legislative assistant for foreign affairs and defense policy for U.S. representative Hank Johnson from 2007 to 2012. 

Walker’s political experience includes never holding public office at a lower level. And his ability to run successful businesses is also questionable. Like Trump, Walker has resulted in grossly exaggerating his business success. Moreover, the failure of several business enterprises led to creditors bringing lawsuits against him.

Herschel Walker has no platform aside from GOP talking points

In fairness, Walker was an outstanding athlete, but he is a public speaker who can’t think on the spot and thus results to parroting GOP talking points to excite the Republican base. 

Here’s what he said last week in Georgia:

“We need to get men out of women’s sports first of all. Let’s get the men out of women’s sport [sic]. 

“We gotta support our men and women in Blue. We need our men and women in Blue to continue doing the great job that they have been doing for this country.” 

“People wanna ask me all the time why I’m running. I’m sick and tired. I’m sick and tired of them wanting to teach CRT in school,” he said. “Critical Race Theory — can you tell me what that mean [sic]? We’re Americans. We’re not Black; we’re not White. We’re all mutts. I hate to tell you that.” And laced throughout his Save America speech was his dedication to religion.

GOP engages in racial hypocricy

But what you did not hear from his supporters is how articulate he is. They didn’t say it because they don’t think he’s intelligent and deep down inside they don’t think that most Blacks are intelligent. Thus, they almost always display shock when they come across a great code switcher like the Honorable Ketanji Brown Jackson. 

“I have enjoyed listening to you today. I find you to be very intelligent and very articulate. I’m still a little uncertain about how you think, how you approach cases, deciding cases,” Republican Sen. John Kennedy said to Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson during her confirmation hearing to the US Supreme Court. 

The racial undertones the GOP is displaying couldn’t be more evident. And their double standard couldn’t be starker when it comes to these two Black icons.