This week, Georgia Republican Senate candidate Herschel Walker showed up outside an Atlanta apartment complex reportedly mostly owned by the local church where Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) serves as pastor, and bystanders turned against him.
Walker was trying to highlight controversy around reported evictions of tenants at the premises, and a reporter asked if people gathered behind Walker were among those receiving the eviction notices under discussion — and if so, if they could personally speak to the issue instead of leaving those gathered to hear from the candidate. Walker himself doesn’t have a great relationship with the truth. He has claimed, for instance, to have led the largest upholstery company in the United States and the biggest minority-owned food company in the country, neither of which were true. He also claimed to still have had people in his employ working in textiles after two companies Walker was potentially trying to reference were already dissolved. For both defunct firms, evidence indicated he wasn’t involved in the founding or primary leadership. What on earth was he talking about?
As for the Atlanta gathering, someone asked Walker: “Any of the people behind you, have they received eviction notices, and if so, could they speak to us?” Although it’s often difficult to parse what he’s actually saying, Walker was evasive. “No, we want you to go in and see the people behind us,” he told the journalist. “That’s the reason you’re here. I hope you’re going to go in and see the people behind us. That’s the reason I brought you down here. You were here in Atlanta, and you have not come down to see this… so now you can go in, and see the people right here. I hope you’re going to go in. Are you going to do that, or no?” He nearly instantly repeated the last part of his reply. As the journalist tried to get in the rest of her question, Walker aggressively spoke over her. Bystanders eventually began shouting for Walker to “answer the question!” as the candidate looked around, seemingly flustered and trying to move on. None of it was a broadly appealing look.
Why are so many GOP politicians so openly aggressive towards journalists? Polling indicates the Georgia Senate race is among the closest in the country this year. Watch below:
