Editor’s Note: InsiderAdvantage CEO & Publisher Phil Kent interviewed Republican U.S. Senate candidate Herschel Walker on Friday. This is part of a series of articles on Republican and Democratic statewide candidates.
PHIL KENT: The liberal mainstream media keeps repeating that incumbent Democrat Sen. Raphael Warnock, who is up for re-election this fall, is a so-called moderate. How do you counter that description?
HERSCHEL WALKER: It’s very easy to counter. Look at what’s going on in this country. They say he’s a moderate but when you listen to the things he says and look at his voting record– he has voted about 90 percent with (President) Joe Biden. Just look at the economy and the things (Warnock) has voted for over and over again.
Herschel Walker
KENT: Let’s talk more about Warnock. Let’s assume you’ll be the Republican U.S. senatorial nominee, and you say that Warnock is a Biden puppet especially by fostering rising inflation, high gas prices, etc. Will that be one of your main campaign themes for the general election– that he’s not really an independent and just going along with Biden?
WALKER: That’s going to be a big theme. He’s not voting like he’s from Georgia. He’s just voting whatever they seem to tell him what to vote on. Let’s talk about energy independence. That should be something easy that everyone should want. You don’t go to other countries to get energy. On the Democratic side I think they are looking at what is better for themselves than for our country. I think that’s what Senator Warnock is looking at right now.
And all of a sudden he starts talking about gas tax legislation where they take 25 cents off of your gas bill when they are already taking $2.75 out of your pocket. So they are still taking $2.50 from you and they want to give you 25 cents back. They are telling him how to vote and he doesn’t seem to have a mind of his own, which is sad.
I would have thought a man like himself, who’s a reverend– who also believes in abortion– would have his own ideas.
KENT: To expand on that, I assume you’d be for restarting the Keystone XL Pipeline and doing more oil exploration in Alaska and in the Gulf of Mexico. So are you in favor of increasing domestic gas and oil production?
WALKER: I would be in favor of that. The people of America and Georgia should realize that we have the best environmentally friendly drilling than anyone else in the world. Democrats continue to talk about this green new deal, yet we have some of the cleanest air, some of the cleanest water than anyone. Why don’t you talk to China and India about how to clean up the environment? At the same time, you just don’t turn everything off and think that everything is then going to change. The green new deal would take a lot of time and money. The green new deal isn’t going to work right now. Now we’ve got to worry about what’s going on overseas. I don’t think China or Russia are thinking about a green new deal when they want to be the next superpower. If we don’t get ourselves straight, we are going to give that right to them.
KENT: In this connection, who do you think is the biggest threat to our national security— China, Iran, North Korea, Russia?
WALKER: I think China would be. The reason is that we seem to be giving all the things we need done for us to China. China seems to be the one who dictates what we’re going to have and what we’re going to do. We should have learned from the pandemic that when times of trouble occur, or whenever anything tough comes, China isn’t going to give it to us. Most of our pharmaceuticals are made in China. So when we needed them, they didn’t have them. And now you see what’s happening with our car industry. It needs (computer) chips and it can’t get them from China. We have to do more manufacturing of items here in the United States. We have to think about the security risks facing this country, and that we can use our resources here in the United States.
KENT: Let’s shift to domestic policy. In Georgia we have a real crisis with criminal gangs and in Atlanta violent crime continues to rise. What is your position on crime control? Do you have ideas you’d like to see implemented if you are a U.S. senator?
WALKER: Defunding the police was a terrible idea. Everyone needs law and order. And we can’t continue to make criminals heroes and demons out of the police. That was one of the worst things we have ever done. I don’t think a lot of people know, but there are 159 counties in Georgia and there’s a gang in every county. And the way you solve crime is to get behind the men in blue. There are a couple of bad apples, but there’s not that many (with the police). We have too many officers who have left. We have to again trust our police and also have elected officials stand behind them.
And now they are getting more people out of jail. There are some people we need to keep people in jail so they don’t have to be among decent people– because they are criminals. And the homeless rate in Atlanta has increased 30 percent since last year, and that is absolutely ridiculous. We cannot continue to live like that.
KENT: Another factor, too, is the liberal drive for gun control, and I think the ultimate goal is gun confiscation. Are you a big Second Amendment supporter?
WALKER: I’m a big Second Amendment supporter but I’m also a Constitution supporter as well. The U.S. Constitution is the second greatest thing since the Bible and we have to protect it. We must continue to protect the gun rights in the Second Amendment. It’s to protect your family and your home. If they continue to try to remove that, we won’t have any protection.
KENT: Let’s talk about illegal immigration that is out of control at our borders, and the Biden administration and Warnock don’t seem to care. Warnock hardly ever speaks about it. I know you’re in favor of securing the border but how exactly would you do that? Would you finish the Trump wall and would you try to address the broken exit-entry visa system because we often don’t know who’s coming here. We also have a broken guest worker system regarding agriculture and other sectors. Could you explain your platform on illegal immigration and how you would fix things?
WALKER: We have to protect our country through border control. There’s no doubt the wall works. But there are some areas where you can’t put a wall, and you’d have to put more drones, more men and you have to put money into securing the border.
Now it’s not just illegal immigrants coming in, we have other people that we have not even vetted. This is a national security problem, it’s a gang problem and there are all types of problems created when we don’t control the border. Other countries have walls around them. But what’s great about our country, most of those other countries that have walls are not for keeping people out but for keeping people in. People just need to come here legally.
KENT: Lets shift to the brutal Russian invasion of Ukraine. Tell about whether we should be arming countries like Ukraine that are under threat. And consider the island of Taiwan across from Communist China. The people want freedom and have a free enterprise system like ours. Should we be arming them since they are threatened?
WALKER: What’s going on in Ukraine is really sad. It seems we always want to be reactive rather than proactive. We waited until Russia invaded Ukraine until we decided to do all the sanctions and other things. But it was a little bit too late then. Why didn’t we arm them before? Russia invaded, but there may not have been an invasion. Right now President Putin may have realized that it is not as easy as he thought it would be because the Ukrainians are fighting for their country. That’s the same for Taiwan. We have to protect this country as well. We have to be more proactive.
Everyone must come together and support the sanctions that we are putting on Russia and try to cripple their economy. If we cripple their economy we can stop that war.
KENT: To follow up, would you be in favor of sending airplanes also to Ukraine along with all this other lethal weaponry going there?
WALKER: Yes, I would send planes over, if we can get the planes over there. That’s one of the problems. There is a war going on, so how would we get it over there? That is very difficult Because with this administration you really don’t know what they’re doing or how they’re going to do it.\
KENT: Lets end with your observations on the campaign. If you look into the crystal ball, what are you seeing for the May 24th primary election and beyond?
WALKER: We are going to win that primary. It’s going to be a tough race and the polls are looking good, but we don’t rely on polls. We still have to do the work. I hope people put me in (as the Republican nominee) because I can beat Raphael Warnock. I’m not putting my other opponents down, but I’m the only one that can beat him.
