Why yes, the Republican Party is at it again. This time, it’s in Missouri, where former Governor Eric Greitens has announced that he’s running for that state’s open US. Senate seat in 2022. He’s probably the front-runner for the Republican nomination.
Does his name ring a bell? Perhaps it’s because he resigned in disgrace in 2018 to avoid likely impeachment by the Republican-majority legislature, and as part of a plea bargain. As the Kansas City Star writes:
He faced allegations that he photographed a woman nude without her consent in 2015 in an effort to keep her from speaking about an extramarital affair. Greitens, who announced a divorce last year, has admitted to the affair, but repeatedly denied claims of blackmail and violent sexual abuse.
After the blackmail investigations became public, an investigation by the Missouri House uncovered additional allegations of sexual and physical abuse by Greitens against the woman, who was his hairdresser.
The GOP-led committee investigating the allegations found the woman’s testimony credible, and the Missouri House began impeachment proceedings in the spring of 2018.
Gregg Keller, a St. Louis Republican strategist and one of Greitens’ most vocal critics, said GOP primary voters should keep in mind that the allegations against Greitens were made under oath and penalty of perjury.
The Star reports that many leading Republican politicians and operatives in the state don’t want anything to do with him, at least in part for the very good reason that he would put what should be a safe Republican seat at risk. It takes a lot to shake partisanship, but violence and blackmail against women might be sufficient.
But politicians and operatives aren’t the big players in the Republican Party. The key to the Greitens comeback is that he announced it on Fox News. That’s not to say that the Republican-aligned national media are anointing him the winner, but they certainly are not blackballing him. And that makes it difficult, and perhaps impossible, for the rest of the party to treat him as an outcast. As long as Greitens gets national publicity, he’ll have ample resources for a serious run.
There’s also speculation that former President Donald Trump might endorse Greitens as well. But that, too, seems like as much a Republican-aligned media effect as a separate Trump action. Sure, Greitens has been endorsing Trump’s false claims of fraud in the 2020 election — but the way that Trump would know and care about that is if it’s happening on his TV.
We can note that Republican-aligned media, and thus the party, have ridiculously low standards for their own politicians. The case against Greitens was strong enough to convince most Missouri Republicans three years ago that he didn’t meet their standards; the national party media don’t care about that. (And yes, this is the same national party media that complain that people weren’t paying enough attention to much milder — albeit serious — sexual misconduct allegations against New York Governor Andrew Cuomo). This is one of the reasons the party winds up with a House freshman class featuring several embarrassments. Resentment sells to Republican viewers and listeners, and anyone who can convincingly play the victim (even if what that means is that evidence turned up that they were guilty of serious crimes) can be great for ratings.
But a more important point here is that Republican-aligned media are also out to make a profit. They respond to financial incentives that have nothing to do with winning elections or creating public policy. Republicans have thrived on resentment long before Fox News or conservative talk radio went on the air — it was a central theme of former President Richard Nixon’s career — but once upon a time, that was generally in service to other party goals.
Now, stirring up trouble and driving ratings are at the heart of Republican politics, even if it leaves the party unable to govern when it’s in office and, occasionally, liable to nominate candidates so unacceptable that they risk losing even in strongly Republican states. Republicans cost themselves a Missouri Senate seat for six years by nominating Todd Akin in 2012. Are they ready to risk doing it again in 2022?
Bloomberg
