The Republican Party has nominated a group of seemingly unstable candidates for various political races around the country.
And in the case of Missouri, the GOP Senate nominee is downright disturbing. Eric Greitens—the Trump-backed former Governor of the state—actually resigned in 2018 amid horrifying allegations of sexual assault, abuse against his ex-wife and a raft of felony charges.
That was all before he created a campaign ad last month in which he, armed with an assault rifle, subtly called for violence against Republicans not aligned with the far-right and Trump's "Big Lie" accusations of 2020 election fraud.
He is currently polling far ahead of any potential GOP challenger in the Missouri Senate race. And Greitens' former friend and roommate, nonprofit executive and former Navy pilot Ken Harbaugh, is doing his damnedest to change that.
Harbaugh took to Twitter to post a video in which he calls Greitens a "broken man" and begs him to withdraw.
See his post below.
\u201cI have known @EricGreitens for 30 years. He is a broken man, who will do anything, including inciting violence, to regain power. He\u2019s not the same person whose weddings I went to. Eric, drop out. Try to repair the damage you have done, to your family, your country, and yourself.\u201d— Ken Harbaugh (@Ken Harbaugh) 1657122288
Along with his video, Harbaugh wrote:
"I have known @EricGreitens for 30 years."
"He is a broken man, who will do anything, including inciting violence, to regain power."
"He’s not the same person whose weddings I went to."
"Eric, drop out. Try to repair the damage you have done, to your family, your country, and yourself."
As searing as those words are, they are nothing compared to the video. In it, Harbaugh tried to appeal to Greitens' better angels. He said:
“...[What you’re doing now is not honorable. Even if you do win, you’re going to lose more than you can imagine by campaigning like this."
Harbaugh went on to use Greitens' once heartfelt relationship with Harbaugh's mother to try to talk some sense into him:
"Your call to hunt down Republicans who disagree with you? That’s my mom, Eric."
"Just because she doesn’t think the election was stolen, and let’s be honest, you don’t either. That’s not a reason to threaten her."
"She was one of the few people to reach out when you were forced to resign as governor."
"She wrote to you about grace, and redemption. She reminded you that even the greatest sins, those against one’s own family, can be forgiven."
Unsurprisingly, given the seemingly total lack of shame all too many MAGA-oriented Republicans show, Greitens was unmoved. Asked to respond to Harbaugh's video by The St Louis Post-Dispatch for its article about it, Greitens said:
"Ken is obviously a disturbed individual hoping to profit from his former friendship with the governor for 40 seconds of the leftist spotlight."
And just 45 minutes after Harbaugh posted his video, Greitens posted a new campaign ad even more disturbing than the last, in which he claims "they came for me" while subtly calling for civil war.
\u201cBecause I fought for you, they came after me.\n\nBut we're back\u2014wiser, stronger, still fighting\u2014 but this time, we are coming with an army.\n\nWe will not stop until we take our country back and Make America Great Again.\u201d— Eric Greitens (@Eric Greitens) 1657124859
Greitens' unhinged thirst for violence is all the more shocking given the details about his past that Harbaugh reveals in his video and to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, which make his rising Republican star seem sordidly opportunistic at best.
As Harbaugh tells it, the Greitens who ran for Governor of Missouri was a pro-choice, pro-same-sex marriage Republican who'd been a supporter of former Democratic President Barack Obama.
Harbaugh even donated to Greitens' campaign, thinking though he'd rather have a Democratic Governor, a Republican on the right side of history "wouldn’t be the worst thing for" deep-red Missouri, where Democrats have fared poorly in recent times.
Greitens' alignments rapidly changed once he was in office and according to Harbaugh, people who've known him for a long time are "appalled" by his radical lurch to the fascistic far-right.
This includes another old friend, former Democratic Missouri Governor Bob Holden, who told the Post-Dispatch he and Greitens traveled together to Denver in 2008 to see Obama's speech at the Democratic National Convention.
Harbaugh's video may not have changed Greitens' mind, but it certainly made an impact on people on Twitter, especially among those who've watched loved ones make similarly horrifying lurches to the right.
\u201c@Team_Harbaugh @EricGreitens This must be heartbreaking for you. I wonder what made him change so radically. You are a good friend.\u201d— Ken Harbaugh (@Ken Harbaugh) 1657122288
\u201c@Team_Harbaugh @EricGreitens Instead of displaying guns behind him, look closely at what he chose to go on record with his words.\nWe have to get back to a place where having a disagreement didn't mean you had to be enemies.\nThe goal is and always should be to find common ground or the best compromise.\u201d— Ken Harbaugh (@Ken Harbaugh) 1657122288
\u201c@dockellis10 @Team_Harbaugh @Lysdexicia @EricGreitens Perhaps as well as any of us knew friends and loved ones who fell into the cult of MAGA and who continue to be there or join up to this day.\u201d— Ken Harbaugh (@Ken Harbaugh) 1657122288
\u201c@Team_Harbaugh @EricGreitens Ken, I think this is an incredibly kind, generous message. I don't know Eric but I've read a lot about him including the sordid tale of duct-taping a woman in his basement & doing nude blackmail photos. Certainly he isn't now the man you knew; maybe he never was who you thought.\u201d— Ken Harbaugh (@Ken Harbaugh) 1657122288
\u201c@Team_Harbaugh @EricGreitens Heartbreaking.. so many lost. Friendships and families broken. Thank you for posting this, I hope Eric's heart hears this.\u201d— Ken Harbaugh (@Ken Harbaugh) 1657122288
\u201c@Team_Harbaugh @EricGreitens Wow. I know that cannot have been easy as the debates you've probably had with yourself before reaching the point where you made this video were not easy. But I thank you for having the moral courage to do so. Peace and blessings to you and your family.\u201d— Ken Harbaugh (@Ken Harbaugh) 1657122288
\u201c@Team_Harbaugh @EricGreitens This plea makes me sad for him, for you, and for all of us.\u201d— Ken Harbaugh (@Ken Harbaugh) 1657122288
\u201c@Team_Harbaugh @EricGreitens If more people stood up & spoke out like this, we would not be here. It's the complicit & the complacent who do so much damage by never speaking up...\n\n"The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing".\u201d— Ken Harbaugh (@Ken Harbaugh) 1657122288
\u201c@Team_Harbaugh @EricGreitens Very moving - huge defense for democracy, and a reach out to your damaged friend who is doing tremendous damage in his campaign to our society and our democracy.\u201d— Ken Harbaugh (@Ken Harbaugh) 1657122288
\u201c@Team_Harbaugh @EricGreitens Wow . . . from a guy who used to call himself a republican and once admired @EricGreitens, I say many thanks for the courage to publish this message.\u201d— Ken Harbaugh (@Ken Harbaugh) 1657122288
Greitens' Democratic opponent will be chosen in Missouri Democratic Primary on August 2.
