GEORGIA REPUBLICAN INSIDERS BEARISH ON HERSCHEL WALKER SENATE RUN:

Opposition research on Walker first surfaced from the Associated Press in mid-July in the form of “documents detail[ing] accusations that Walker repeatedly threatened his ex-wife’s life, exaggerated claims of financial success and alarmed business associates with unpredictable behavior.” The most notable and disturbing story is that of his ex-wife, who has alleged that Walker aimed a gun at her head and said “I’m going to blow your f’ing brains out.”

Erick Erickson, a prominent Georgia radio host and conservative pundit, reacted to the AP piece by pouring cold water on the idea that the damaging stories emerged because of partisan ugliness.

“Folks thinking the Democrats dropped that oppo research on Herschel Walker. HAHAHAHA. No. Nope. Wasn’t them,” he tweeted, instead implying that we were all bearing witness to Republican-on-Republican violence.

In interviews with National Review, a number of Erickson’s fellow Republican insiders confirmed that much of the Peach State’s political class is bearish on Walker.

“There is a growing sense that the Herschel Walker candidacy is a vanity project for President Trump and a gold-mining expedition for a few consultants,” worried one such senior Republican strategist. “The sentiment’s very pervasive that Herschel can’t win a general. He just can’t.”

It’s also their opinion that the situation is very much out of the hands of party insiders and strategists.

“Trump’s gonna do what he’s gonna do. . . . We’re all just kind of sitting here with this pit in our stomach like, ‘Is he really gonna go through with this?’ We all know about Trump’s infatuation with Georgia, and we all know his ability to engage with the primary electorate here. If he wraps his arms around Herschel Walker, it’s going to be really tough,” the strategist said.

No word yet if Georgia Republicans will trade Walker to Minnesota for 12 GOP congressmen to be named later.