MSNBC's Joy-Ann Reid Accepted Herschel Walker's Challenge to a Debate. Now what?
If you were in a food coma over the weekend you might have missed the fact that Herschel Walker, the abortion-opposing, abortion-funding, Texas-dwelling Republican nominee for U.S. Senate representing Georgia, actually challenged MSNBC host Joy-Ann Reid to a debate, and that Reid accepted.
Nevermind that Walker has way bigger things to worry about, like the fact that investigators are being urged to look into whether he committed a felony by voting and running for office in Georgia while accepting a homestead tax exemption on his “primary” residence in Texas, or the fact that initial data on early voting in his runoff—which in the past has favored Democratic candidates—show that more than 181,000 votes have already been cast (with the largest chunk of those, more than 85,000, being Black voters, who during the general election overwhelmingly favored Walker’s opponent Sen. Raphael Warnock).
Whether he said it in jest (and we can’t imagine he was being sincere given how hard it was to get him to debate Warnock during the campaign) or not, Reid says she wants the smoke, and we’re here for it. Hell, I might even buy it on pay-per-view, despite the risk that a portion of my $59.99 might end up in Walker’s campaign fund to make up for what conservative groups have grifted away.
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But how would that debate actually play out? Walker seems to have already set himself up at a disadvantage by saying Reid could choose the subject. Given his propensity lately to appear with other Republican senators for interviews, his tendency to go off script and pull out props, it feels like it’s in Walker’s best interest to challenge Reid around more familiar subject matter, like maybe ranking the top NCAA tailbacks of the ‘80s, or maybe University of Georgia athletic department history.
He might also want to push back on Reid’s sole stipulation, that he abandon the aforementioned GOP handlers, who, as she pointed out couldn’t keep him from confusing an “election” with an “erection” in a Fox News appearance last week. To keep things on a level playing field, Walker should also consider limiting the subject matter to only those issues where he hasn’t contradicted himself during the campaign, so no talk about abortion, or support for law enforcement or deadbeat dads or domestic violence or...you know what Herschel?
Just concentrate on finishing your race fam.
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