Kirksville, MO— They all crammed their way into the small office on Franklin which had been emptied of its desks, chairs and other supplies to make room. The mostly elderly crowd was waiting for Eric Greitens, Missouri’s Republican candidate for governor, the self-styled conservative outsider. Eventually joining his supporters Mr. Greitens, fresh off his primary victory, launched himself energetically into his stump speech. “Are you ready to win? I said, ARE YOU READY TO WIN?” With that, Mr. Greitens struck a note few Americans would fail to recognize as echoing the fiery rhetoric of Donald Trump.
Proposing to “end politics as usual” and “take our government back,” Greitens’ speech became a litany of grievances against the political class. He claims these corrupt insider politicians are ruining the great state of Missouri and vows to fight against them while failing to note that his own parties controls nearly all of the state government. Mr. Greitens painted a picture of Jefferson City as rampant with corruption and political cowardice and even though he was introduced by Rep. Nate Walker, a self proclaimed “inside-outsider,” Mr. Greitens attacked members of his own party as complicit or involved in systemic corruption. Across the state, Mr. Greitens has taken flak from grassroots Republicans and party leaders, frustrated with is bellicose rhetoric against his own party. In spite of such criticism, Greitens speech to the crowd envisioned himself as Missouri’s knight in shining armor.
His speech did not end with attacks on his own party, Mr. Greitens then went on to describe Missouri as a broken and downtrodden state. He told the crowd that the America looks down on Missouri because of the crisis in Ferguson, as if the brokenness of race relations in this country were the flaw of a single Democratic governor or attorney general. Mr. Greitens, while claiming to be a proud Missourian and Republican, attacked elected members of his own party as weak and derided his state as broken and failing. Mr. Greitens’s stump speech began to sound like the doom-tinged ramblings of Donald Trump as he highlighted his unconditional support of police officers, attacked the apparent “media bias” of the New York Times and claimed that Hillary Clinton was fighting to oppress Missourians. Mr. Greitens speech played well with the crowd of senior citizens who filled the room, but several college student supporters noted the absence of major policy content in his speech.
Divided supporters may be the least of Mr. Greitens campaign worries. His opponent, Attorney General Chis Koster has already secured major endorsements from the Missouri Farm Bureau, the National Rifle Association and other traditionally Republican-leaning groups, speaking to the strength of the Democrat’s state-wide appeal. Highlighting the frustration with Mr. Greitens’ attacks on his own party, he is devastatingly behind in the polls, with the most recent one showing him 11 points behind. Mr. Trump is currently more popular in Missouri then Greitens. Coming out of a contentious Republican primary where the majority of Republicans voted for another candidate and entering a general election without the support of major interest groups, the Greitens campaign is facing insurmountable odds.
When I first listened to Mr. Greitens speak a few months ago, I doubted that he could win the highly contested Republican primary. He did. When he attacked fellow members of his party, I said he was making to many enemies to be able to govern. When he derided his own state as broken and offered no polices to fix it besides his total lack of experience, I refused to believe that Republicans had picked this man. Yet, in an election season when the hateful rhetoric of Donald Trump has succeeded, it should not be a surprise that some Republicans are fitting their rhetoric to match his.
Missouri, like our nation, does not need another inexperienced outsider in our government. We need an experienced public servant who has dedicated their life to betterment of Missouri. The problems faced by Missourians are too great to be handled by someone who can’t even make nice with his own party. Greitens proclaims to his followers his ignorance of government as if it is a badge of honor and derides hundreds of public servants as weak and corrupt. We have seen this rhetoric again and again across the nation, but here in Missouri politics needs to be about solutions, not empty bluster.
