If you were appointed as an ambassador to another country, you’d expect to have some kind of political background or at least a meaningful connection to the place. Maybe you speak the language. Maybe you’ve lived there long enough to understand the culture.
Or maybe you’re just a former NFL player with a failed 2022 Senate run in Georgia — one who happens to be tight with Donald Trump.
On October 7, 2025, Herschel Walker, the former running back for the Dallas Cowboys, New York Giants, and Philadelphia Eagles, was confirmed by the U.S. Senate as the first American ambassador to the Bahamas since 2011 on a 51–47 vote.
Since Obama-nominee Nicole Avant’s exit in 2011, the position had been filled by a revolving door of chargé d’affaires — temporary stand-ins keeping the seat warm.
Walker was first nominated by Trump in December 2024, and his confirmation seems to have less to do with diplomacy and more to do with celebrity. The official competency report reads like a highlight reel: “As President and CEO of Renaissance Man Food Services and H. Walker Enterprises, he has led successful ventures in the food service industry, with his brands recognized nationally for excellence.” The next section, naturally, gushes about his football career: “Mr. Walker’s collegiate football and Track and Field careers at the University of Georgia are legendary.”
The report also praises his work with the Patriot Support Program, where he visited hundreds of military bases and promoted mental health awareness. “There is no shame in asking for help: I did,” he reportedly told troops — a nod to his own very public mental health journey.
In 2001, Walker was diagnosed with dissociative identity disorder (DID), a condition he detailed in his 2008 book Breaking Free: My Life with Dissociative Identity Disorder. He describes living with a dozen “alters,” or alternate personalities, developed in response to childhood trauma.
Add to that the very real concern that decades of football left him with Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE), and you begin to see why his mental fitness was a campaign issue during his 2022 Senate run — one that raised alarms from organizations like the Patrick Risha CTE Awareness Foundation.
Then there were the scandals: allegations of secretly paying for abortions while running on an anti-abortion platform, and a string of personal controversies that derailed his political aspirations. These were enough to keep him out of Congress — and, theoretically, should’ve been enough to keep him out of any other high-ranking government role.
But theory doesn’t mean much in Trump’s Washington.
The federal government has become a revolving door for loyalists with limited qualifications and unlimited confidence. Walker’s appointment is just the latest example — a political favor disguised as diplomacy. With Trump’s backing, he didn’t need experience in international relations, foreign policy, or even the Bahamas. Just name recognition and proximity to power.
In the end, Herschel Walker’s rise to ambassador says less about his credentials and more about what the modern Republican Party rewards: loyalty over expertise, fame over function. He may not be a diplomat, but in Trump’s orbit, that’s beside the point.