The Tribune

with CHARLIE HARPER

As we look ahead to a new year full of promise and peril, a recent announcement has stirred up quite a bit of local discourse. That announcement originated from a seaside estate in Palm Beach.

Two weeks ago, president-elect Donald Trump declared his intention to nominate Herschel Walker to serve as his ambassador to The Bahamas.

Assuming he is confirmed by the US Senate sometime around the middle of this year, Walker would be the first American ambassador to our nation in over 13 years.

(The last US ambassador here was Nicole Avant, an accomplished film producer and member of American entertainment royalty whose father was Clarence Avant, known as “The Black Godfather”. Clarence Avant was, among many achievements, chief executive officer of Motown Records. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2021. And Nicole Avant has been married for 15 years to the CEO of Netfilx.)

The New York Times reported the news of Walker’s appointment matter-of factly: “Mr Walker has no previous diplomatic experience, and no obvious ties to The Bahamas, an island nation of about 400,000 people just off the coast of Florida.

“That is not unusual for those appointed as ambassadors to smaller or less politically significant assignments, which often go to top donors, party officials, business leaders, star athletes or other high-profile figures. They are then usually supported in their overseas missions by career diplomats from the State Department.”

Events and politics have conspired to leave us without a US ambassador for these past 13 years, but it’s fair to say that the career diplomats mentioned by the Times in its report have reflected the care given by the US State Department to the stewardship of its embassy here.

While many Bahamians have taken umbrage at Washington’s inability to get the US Senate to confirm any of its numerous nominees for ambassador here, the overall quality of American charges d’affaires has been high. We shouldn’t feel neglected.

New ambassadorial nominee Herschel Walker was one of the most accomplished collegiate American football players of his or any generation. After leading the University of Georgia to its first undisputed national collegiate football championship in 1980, he won the Heisman Trophy as America’s best college football player in 1983. A prodigiously accomplished running back, he was named to Sports Illustrated’s all-time All-America first team five years ago.

Walker has known and obliged himself to Trump for over 40 years. His relationship with Trump began when the football star joined the upstart New Jersey Generals, a United States Football League team then owned by Trump.

The USFL was one of several would-be competitors over the years to challenge the behemoth of American sports – the National Football League. The USFL represented an attempt by its owners to force the NFL to accept some new members from a group including Trump who hadn’t gained entry into one of the world’s most lucrative and exclusive clubs: NFL team ownership.

To gain credibility, the USFL signed some of the biggest American college football stars. The most glittering was Herschel Walker. He signed with Trump’s team. A lengthy friendship began. (The USFL collapsed after just a couple of years of operation, but Walker landed on his feet with the Dallas Cowboys.)

Nearly 40 years later, Trump endorsed Walker early in the US Senate campaign in 2022 in Georgia, despite concerns from some Republicans about Walker’s background and experience.

Trump’s endorsement boosted Walker to the GOP nomination, but he lost in the general election to incumbent Raphael Warnock, who had won a special election for the seat in 2020 and who has been the pastor at Martin Luther King’s Atlanta church for twenty years.

That brings us up to the present. Some members of our community feel insulted that the US has named someone without diplomatic or much political experience to head its large embassy here. Others are celebrating the assignment for many reasons including Walker’s fame and ethnicity.

Amid many streetcorner and coffeehouse discussions, there is a fair representation of local opinion in the letters to the editor of this newspaper.

Here are some samples, many penned by frequent contributors to the public discourse:

In support: “This nomination bodes well for our wonderful nation. I have long advocated that once a Republican administration is in place that The Bahamas is respected and treated in a dignified manner. Bahamians, in the main, are colour blind but as a majority black nation, it is more than appropriate that Mr Trump would nominate someone who is probably better suited to interact and relate as a ‘down home boy,’ an electrifying personality like brother Herschel.

“With this proposed appointment, president-elect Trump is sending a very strong signal to The Bahamas that despite the occasional flare ups, he and the American people continue to have an unbreakable bond with The Bahamas.”

Skepticism: “The cushy appointment of Herschel Walker as US Ambassador to the Bahamas is simply Trump doing some payback for Walker’s unwavering loyalty. Trump knows absolutely nothing about the Bahamas and its struggles. Walker himself shows no empathy or sympathy for his fellow Georgians, so it is highly unlikely he will have any positive feelings towards Bahamians.

“Absolutely nothing of benefit to the Bahamas will come of this appointment. Walker’s appointment is a sad indictment of just how far we have fallen as a nation.”

Overview: “Here are three things of paramount importance to Trump:

1. Drugs coming into the US

2. Illegal immigrants coming into the US

3. Chinese influence in the region

“The appointment of a US ambassador to the Bahamas is a clear signal that these issues will be addressed in the coming months. The Bahamas had better be ready!”

As Walker’s nomination makes its doubtless tortuous, laborious way through the political and bureaucratic thickets of US Senate protocol, perquisite and prerogative, we will likely hear snippets of information about its prospects and timing of a confirmation. The process is likely to take at least half a year.

As we have seen since 2011 and not infrequently before, nominations to serve as US ambassador here have often been controversial for one reason or another. We’ll be subjected to rumors and reports both in favor of and opposition to the nomination. Eventually, absent the revelation of particularly damaging information, Herschel Walker should be confirmed by a GOP-dominated US Senate.

Here’s what it will likely mean for us, and why his confirmation would represent a potential advantage for The Bahamas.

The US maintains over 250 embassies and consulates all around the world, a number second only to the overseas representations of China. At the great majority of those diplomatic and consular missions, routine business is conducted mostly out of the headlines and in businesslike fashion. Nothing particularly special or spectacular.

Here in The Bahamas, however, the US maintains a large presence, driven by factors such as various aspects of bilateral and even multilateral law enforcement cooperation and the millions of American tourists who visit us every year. Embassy staff handle routine matters in these areas.

However, during Trump’s second term in office (and Walker’s prospective tenure here), history informs us that there may be a few occasions when circumstances oblige the two neighbour nations to work closely, even urgently, to address exigencies that may occur.

Maybe a hurricane like Dorian changes course at the last moment and decides to visit us. We all know all too well the devastation and damage that one of these meteorological monsters can inflict.

Maybe a crisis in Haiti or elsewhere in our region provokes a sudden exodus of refugees hoping to reach the United States, and their path leads them through our immense territorial waters. This will elicit in both Nassau and in Washington a sharp concern about the social and economic burdens of such an unexpected influx of desperate people.

Or maybe in halls of the multilateral bureaucracies in Brussels, Geneva, New York or Washington a concern arises about international banking or financial compliance, and a questioning finger is pointed in our direction.

On such exceptional occasions, we may need a US ambassador who can call his or her president to cut through all the bureaucracy and help us navigate a crisis.

If Herschel Walker or any other American ambassador can do that, we should be satisfied and grateful.