Please work with me for a second here. It's not that ludicrous to think Ron DeSantis, governor of Florida, could have Georgia Senate candidate Herschel Walker arrested and perhaps fly him to an entirely different state to boot.
DeSantis has an election police force he created earlier this year. In August, his election police announced in advance it would arrest 20 people for voter fraud and, shortly after those arrests, released video of Black men being arrested for voting when they had no idea they'd done anything wrong.
These weren't white Republicans who'd deliberately voted multiple times to give Trump an edge in the 2020 presidential election. Four voters in a Republican stronghold, The Villages, pleaded guilty to knowingly voting twice; they were issued a $400 fine and given a requirement to take a class, and received no jail time. A Black woman from Texas—who voted once after being told by her local election board she could do so—got served five years.
So what's the case against Walker, you ask? It seems that the former football star once lived in Texas and still claims his home there as his primary residence—a means of securing a tax break. A Texas resident who is running for office and voting in Georgia must violate multiple laws. DeSantis should get him.
One might reasonably ask, why should the governor of Florida go arrest someone in Georgia? DeSantis had no problem sending planes (owned by campaign contributors) to Texas to scoop up brown people legally filing for asylum, lying to them, and dumping them in Martha's Vineyard to score political points. Walker is just the one DeSantis is looking for: a high-profile Black man caught breaking the law who he can arrest and use to scare other Black people from voting. Georgia is much closer and shares a border with Florida, which is much more than can be said for Texas.
With his political rival constantly in the news regarding various investigations, special prosecutors, and civil suits, DeSantis needs to keep his exposure high. Arresting Herschel Walker would be just the trick. His stunt of kidnapping migrants was probably illegal (it's already being investigated). DeSantis needs to double down and arrest Walker to demonstrate his conviction. Even falsely arresting a Black man will win DeSantis points in both Florida and Georgia, so it's a win all around.
An arrest likely won't stand. Texas officials (who happen to be Republican) are willing to give Walker more time to get his paperwork straight. Georgia officials have overlooked Walker's crimes and behavior to this point, which isn't likely to change. So what if he threatened to blow his wife's f**king head off?
If Ron DeSantis wants to be considered a serious candidate. Arresting Herschel would be just the thing to raise his profile. I have a few words of advice for Walker should they come for him. Run, Herschel, Run!
H. Drew Blackburn
This post originally appeared on Medium and is republished with author's permission. Read more of William Spivey's work on Medium.