Source: The Washington Post / Getty
Former Republican Senate candidate Herschel Walker has been chosen by Donald Trump as his ambassador to the Bahamas.
On Tuesday (Dec.17), President-elect Donald Trump picked the former football star and Republican political candidate Herschel Walker to be the American ambassador to the Bahamas. Trump announced the choice on his Truth Social online platform, citing his past athletic record and former role in his first administration as the co-chairman of the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness, and Nutrition. “Herschel has spent decades serving as an ambassador to our nation’s youth, our men and women in the military, and athletes at home and abroad,” Trump wrote.
The position has been empty for over a decade, mainly due to the Senate failing to move forward with nominations for the role. President Joe Biden nominated Calvin Smyre in 2022, and both of Trump’s picks in his first administration were also stalled. The pick demonstrates Trump’s preference for those loyal to him to fill his Cabinet – former Georgia senators Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue have also been appointed to positions, with the former chosen to run the Small Business Administration and the latter chosen as U.S. Ambassador to China. Trump’s ties to Walker go back to the running back’s time with the New Jersey Generals, the 1980s USFL team that the former president owned.
Walker’s most recent political foray was in 2022 when he challenged the incumbent Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock in Georgia. The race was bogged down with scandal as Walker, who ran on a platform of anti-abortion, was revealed to have paid for the procedures for two girlfriends. He also was forced to disclose the identities of two other children who he hadn’t acknowledged – which came after his comments criticizing absentee fathers, pointedly in Black households. The former Heisman Trophy winner was also found to have lied about graduating from the University of Georgia at the top of his class and of having an elite role in law enforcement.
