NFL Great Herschel Walker on His Georgia Senate Bid

CLAY: We bring in now the man who knows a little bit about the South. He’s Georgia’s favorite son, Herschel Walker, Heisman Trophy winner, all-time legend, and maybe the man who is going to flip back control of the United States Senate to Republicans from Democrats. Herschel, what’s up, my man? Are you in Atlanta yet?

WALKER: I am in Atlanta. How are you doing?

CLAY: I’m doing fantastically well. So I want to start with this question. We’ll get to your Bulldogs, who have a chance to beat Alabama and advance in the College Football Playoff here in a moment. But you are on the road. We have had you on a couple times when you did the Fox college football pregame show with me. I had you on with me with Hannity from down at the Georgia-Florida game in Jacksonville. How are you liking the campaign, and what’s it like to be running for Senate compared to the other things that you’ve done in your life?

WALKER: Well, I’m going to be honest because I always try to be honest with the people. When I first started, I didn’t know what to expect. People always tell you how terrible, how bad it is. “Ah, people are going to come after you.” And after I got into all my different listening sessions and started looking, talking to the people — and, Travis, I’ll be honest — this is the best thing I’ve ever done in my life because this is an opportunity I can help people.

And when I’ve been spending as much time with the military that I’ve spent and been around a lot of our law enforcement and just listening to the people, I see that this country needs some help. We’re the greatest country in the world. Right now, we need some help. We need people that are going to be honest.

We need people that care about this country. We need people that care about these kids and care about law enforcement, public safety. People that’s going to talk it up and tell people to have faith, because it is sad that we seem to be going away from things that is so free to this country that we’re trying to get away from it.

CLAY: Herschel, it’s interesting, you’re good friends with Donald Trump, and obviously Donald Trump is not a career politician. If he hadn’t run for president and gotten elected president, do you think you would have ended up in politics?

WALKER: Yeah, I think I still probably would have because Donald Trump had nothing to do with me running. He talked about me running on Fox. It had nothing to do with whether I was going to run or not. I went into prayer about it, and I told people, “This is not something I thought I’d ever do in my life. It was something that was called upon me.”

And as I looked at it and I realized, “You know what? My life ain’t about me. It’s about helping other people.” If I can say, “I love the Lord Jesus,” if I can tell kids to go out and sacrifice and make good grades to do what you want to do — if I can see what the military is sacrificing, our men in blue are sacrificing — and yet all I’ve done is throw a football around, and all I’ve done is been on a track field or in a bobsled?

Those are great privileges that I had on the backs of people that fought to give me these freedoms I have in this country. Well, right now, there’s an opportunity where I can change some things. I can go out and maybe be a voice to let the people know that I’m behind the American people. I’m behind this country. This is not a terrible country. This is not a racist country.

This is not a country that people don’t want to work. People do want to work. This is a country that we can come together, and we can solve problems. We’ve done it time and time again. And just because we elected some people to Washington who don’t want to seem to do their job, that don’t seem to want to believe in the Constitution, don’t give up faith or hope, because I’m going to get elected and I’m going to tell them that you can believe in those things; you can have that American dream that I’ve had.

CLAY: Amen. Why do you think so many athletes and entertainers have gotten wrapped up in saying America is an awful place? You and I obviously disagree and think America is the greatest country that’s ever existed in the history of the world. Why do you think it’s become so trendy for athletes and entertainers to tear down America?

WALKER: Well, that’s very simple. Look at the cancel culture we’re in right now. Right now, you can’t even agree to disagree. Right now, if you speak out on something, you’re going to get chastised. People are going to come down on you. One of the worst things that happened is early on with the BLM, when they wanted to put like, “Don’t stand, do stand, what are you going to do for the National Anthem?”

It’s like, “Oh, we’re going to do this here,” and you have some players on that team that didn’t get a voice. I guarantee you that some of the players on the team that wanted to disagree, but they were not going to speak up. They were not going to speak up because they were going to get chastised. They were gonna get put down, and that’s what’s sad. We’ve got to get away from that.

Why don’t we remove this racism out of here? We quit talking about it and move on, because we are Americans, and I’m tired of hearing this about black, white, African-American. If you are living in America, why don’t you just be an American? I asked my son this the other day. I said, “Christian,” because I didn’t know. I was totally confused what do he put down on his sheet.

He said, “Dad, I put down ‘other.'” I said, “My son is not an ‘other.’ He’s an American,” and you know what? If he’s an “other,” we have a lot of others in this country because 23andMe has just screwed us all up. We all have different races within us. So we all are “others.” So why don’t we just get down to being an American, who we are, protecting this country, protecting its citizens, sending our kids to school, putting people back to work, getting this economy down.

This economy is blowing people out of the roof. How in the world can you enjoy Christmas when you can’t even buy gifts, when the gas prices are going up, and people don’t even know the reason why. Well, the reason why is what he did he do with the pipeline? He gave it away. That’s one of the biggest reasons! So everything now is going up. Can’t pay for stuff on the shelves. Parents can’t go to the grocery store.

CLAY: Herschel, you’re saying a lot of things I think people agree with out there. It’s fun because I’ve been on my bus tour all over the South — meeting white, black, Asian and Hispanic people — and to your point we all have a lot more in common than we do apart. But it feels like many people in the media are trying to tear us apart every day. I bet on your tour around Georgia, as you began your campaign, you found that out, right, how much more people in Georgia and the around the country have in common than they do apart?

WALKER: I’ve totally, totally found that out. You know what’s so strange about it? I’m a big Judge Judy fan, and she makes a statement that is so, so true. She said, “You’ve got two ears and one mouth. Why don’t you close your mouth and listen? Because if we listen, we can hear each other.” But yet we want to yell at each other and argue with each other, rather than coming up with solutions and not problems. We need to start thinking about the easy things we can fix first.

The easy things we can fix first because we can get that done. Let’s not try to come onto the complicated things. We can get the things done. And people ask me, why do I want to run for office? The reason I want to run is I love America. The reason I want to run is I love the Constitution. I want to run because I love this country I live in.

I’m not an African-American. I’ve never been to Africa, and I’m sorry to say that. I’m an American. I’m an American. I live in America, and I’ve got an American son. I’ve got an American wife and I’m an American. So let’s get back to being that and solving the problems we have here and get out of all this stuff we have right now going on.

CLAY: We’re talking to Herschel Walker. All right, one of the things that’s going on — I’m going to hop in my car and drive down to Atlanta as soon as I’m done with the show here, Herschel — is your Bulldogs are playing against the Alabama Crimson Tide on Saturday, tomorrow, in the Georgia Dome, big-time SEC Championship game. What happens?

WALKER: It’s going to be a great game. I think Georgia is going to win this game, and I’m going to tell you the reason why. I don’t think this team is intimidated by Alabama. But I think the people need to realize that Alabama is a great team. Coach Saban always, always puts a great team out on the field. You can’t look at how Alabama has played in the past. You saw them play against Auburn.

You saw it was a close game, but they pulled it out. It was a close game, but they won. Guys, Alabama has got a great, great program. But I think Georgia right now is playing at the top of their game. But one of the things Georgia has got to realize: This is the beginning of their season right here. You’ve got to go out and beat Alabama. Don’t worry about anything else, because Alabama is a tough, tough ball game. But Georgia got this team to beat it.

I think Coach Smart has done an incredible, incredible job to get those guys prepared. When those guys come to play you see they’re having fun. I think that’s one of the biggest keys. You go out there and you have fun, because if that defense wants to go out and have fun, they’re gonna play football. And I think the same thing is going to happen with the offense. You see the defense having fun.

Now you want to go out and have fun. And this is like playing at home. You know, Athens is, what, 70 miles away from Atlanta? It’s like playing at home. It’s going to be an incredible game. Whoever can buy a ticket or can see it on television — and I’m not putting any other team down, but — I think you’re watching the two best college football teams play this coming Saturday.

CLAY: It’s been 41 years since you won a national championship with Georgia in 1980, Herschel. Would you have ever believed it would be two generations before Georgia potentially would win another one, when you won it back in 1980?

WALKER: I would have never thought that. They’ve come so close, and I think this is the year that they can close the door and make that happen. I never thought I could ever win a championship, and I had an opportunity last night to be with Coach Dooley, and I’m reminded of something he said to us at training camp. He said, “Men, we come together, we stay together, we fight together, we can win a championship.”

I think I can see that what Coach Smart has this team doing is playing together. There’s not one hero on that team, they’re all heroes, and that’s what I felt we had at Georgia, and I see that in this team. And one thing I said early on, people said, “Oh, jeez. Don’t say that.” I said, “I think this team here is better. I think this team is better than the team I played on.”

I’m not putting the team I played on down, because the team I played on was incredible. But I think this team here has the potential to do some incredible things, and they’re showing it. Out on the field, they’re showing what they can do. And I threw Jordan Davis’ name in the Heisman Trophy.

I said, “Guys, who is not a more colorful guy playing on that defense than Jordan Davis?” That guy is incredible. You see him play. You see him run. I’ll tell you what — and I’m not putting any the other Heisman candidate down, but — why is Jordan Davis’ name not on that list?

CLAY: It’s well said. By the way, we’re having some fun on Friday. I understand that your golden retriever has a Twitter handle, @CheerioWalker. How is he being received, your dog, so far on Twitter?

WALKER: He’s doing well. Let me tell you what happened. He got here to Georgia. Everyone thought I was going to come in with a bulldog. I came in with Cheerio.

CLAY: (laughing)

WALKER: He’s a golden retriever and he’s got some style. I tell you, he’s a very good looking dog. He’s very good looking. But let me tell you, he’s a prima donna. I’ve got to get him kind of tough. He’s not like Uga. Got to get him a little bit tougher. Cheerio is more… You know, having a wife who loves animals as well, she’s always dressing him up with things around his neck.

CLAY: (laughing)

WALKER: She’s making him look (crosstalk). That’s not for Cheerio there. We have to keep Cheerio looking tough. I said, “You’ve gotta look tough,” and Christian, absolutely loves him. That was his dog, and he goes off to college. He leaves Cheerio with us, and now he’s got a Twitter. People coming over, wanting to do pictures with him. They can put him on their Twitter account. He has a couple of followers right now.

CLAY: Herschel, tell your wife I said hi. She’s fantastic as well. Good luck to the Bulldogs. Should be great game tomorrow — and more importantly, good luck to you when it comes to winning that Senate back in Georgia.

WALKER: Hey, thank you so much, and just remind people to go to TeamHerschel.com because I am going to win that Senate seat. I’m going to go out and fight like I’ve never fought for before in my life, because this is more worth it than anything I’ve ever done because I love the people, I love America, I love Georgia, and I’m going to keep letting people see that.

CLAY: Awesome stuff. Herschel Walker. He’ll be at the Georgia/Alabama game. Big one down in the SEC Championship game tomorrow, and he’ll be on the ballot come 2022 as Georgia goes to select a new senator. Thanks to Herschel Walker and his crew.