Donald Trump Is Hurting Herschel Walker Where It Counts
Donald Trump is hurting Herschel Walker where it counts: right in the pocketbook.
According to the Atlanta Journal Constitution, Walker, the former pro football star and MMA fighter, has found it difficult to book speaking engagements since he announced his public support for the Republican presidential candidate. Walker also claims that many of the events he had previously been scheduled for have been cancelled by organizers.
Walker feels that organizers are hesitant to hire him to speak at their events because of Trump’s controversial views in the areas of race, gender, and immigration. Potential clients do not want to be associated with such views, and they also fear the backlash that could come with such an association, including potential on-site protests.
The former football star has known Trump for over 30 years, and the fact that his relationship with Donald Trump is hurting Herschel Walker has not swayed Walker from his stance, as reported by the Washington Post.
“First of all, I’ve known Donald before he became ‘The Donald,’ and Donald is not a racist,” Walker said. “Just because you want to build a wall doesn’t make you racist.”
Walker was one of the first celebrities to publicly support Trump’s candidacy, and despite the outside pressure, Walker feels that Trump is the best person for the job. He also thinks that Trump will select others for his staff based on that same criteria.
“I know for a fact that Donald Trump, who’s best for the job in those positions, is gonna be there to do it,” praised Walker in an interview conducted last week. “It ain’t gonna be about Republican-Democratic. With him, it’s going to be about who’s best for that job.”
Based on Walker’s personal experience with Trump, he simply doesn’t see the man with outlandish views that the public and potential clients see. Despite that, Donald Trump is hurting Herschel Walker due to the perception people have of the Republican presidential candidate.
“I’ve seen (Trump) around people, I don’t know where he says those outlandish, crazy things,” Walker stated. “And people say that he’s racist. But I’ve never seen anything that (made me) consider Donald is a racist.”
The relationship between Walker and Trump goes as far back as the early 1980s. Walker was a superstar running back for the Georgia Bulldogs and was expected to continue that greatness in the National Football League. However, the upstart United States Football League won a bidding war for Walker, and he signed with the USFL’s New Jersey Generals in 1983. The team was sold to Trump the following year.
Thus began a long-time friendship between the two men — Walker even appeared as a contestant on Trump’s reality TV hit The Celebrity Apprentice in 2009. Then, in late 2015, Walker pledged his support to Trump in his race for the presidency, which inadvertently led to Donald Trump hurting Herschel Walker in his current career as a pubic speaker.
Trump, now 70-years-old, was originally known for his success as a businessman, primarily in real estate development. However, unlike most business executives, Trump has always been very media-friendly and very much in the public eye. His strong name recognition is just one of the factors that has led to his political ascension.
Walker, after his storied college career and spectacular showing in the USFL, went on to play for 12 years in the National Football League. Walker was named to the Pro Bowl twice and accumulated an impressive 13,084 yards from scrimmage over the course of his NFL career.
Ironically, Donald Trump is hurting Herschel Walker in an area that is near and dear to Trump’s heart: making money. However, Walker remains steadfast in support of his former boss, and loyalty like that simply can’t be bought.
[Photo by Paul Morigi/Getty Images]
