Herschel Walker has ordered 1,000 imitation police badges for an upcoming fundraiser, which he plans to distribute in a show of support for law enforcement.
According to NBC News, the plastic badges say “I’m with Herschel,” for the Republican Senate candidate’s campaign for the Georgia seat. The campaign hopes to distribute them at Thursday’s Macon, Georgia, crime-themed fundraiser.
Walker displayed his own mock law enforcement badge at Friday’s Senate debate, refusing to put it away after the moderator repeatedly asked him to put it away since props are not allowed. The prompt to pull out the badge came from Walker’s Democratic opponent Raphael Warnock’s calling out Herschel’s lie that he has “worked in law enforcement.”
“We will see time and time again tonight, as we’ve already seen, that my opponent has a problem with the truth,” referring to Walker’s ongoing abortion scandal.
Walker’s false badge came from Georgia’s Cobb County Police Department, with one law enforcement official comparing it to “a junior ranger” badge, according to Mother Jones. A CNN fact check also debunked Herschel’s lie that he worked for the FBI.
NBC News reported that he has at least two fake badges, another given to him via Johnson County Sherrif Greg Rowland, with whom Walker appeared in a social media video, displaying the honorary medallion.
“Herschel Walker has been a friend to law enforcement and has a record of honoring police,” Gail Gitcho told NBC.
Gitcho, the Walker campaign strategist who ordered the batch of badges Saturday, tied Warnock’s calling out of Walker’s lie to the new campaign move.
“If Sen. Warnock wants to highlight this, then bring it on,” Gitcho added. “It just gives us a chance to talk about Herschel’s support of law enforcement and law enforcement’s support for him. It’s a great issue for us.”
The former NFL running back and Georgia Bulldogs Heisman Trophy winner has received an endorsement from former president Donald Trump.
Reactions to Herschel’s latest campaign strategy range from mocking to critical. Read some more of what Twitter had to say below.
