Trumpian Chaos Plays Out with Missouri’s Embattled Governor

By GREG BAILEY

After the continuous presidential campaign of 1972 marked by the Eagleton debacle, the bizarre break-in at the Democratic National Committee and the landslide victory of Richard Nixon, Dr. Hunter S. Thompson wrote, “How low do you have to stoop in this country to be President?”

Now the malignant sociopath in the White House makes those who lived through those times almost nostalgic for Richard Nixon. The current scandals of collusion with Russia, obstruction of justice, violations of election laws, payments to sexual partners and the associated crimes of the participants ranging from bank fraud to perjury make Watergate look like a traffic ticket. The almost daily torrent of exposures is at times overwhelming as the true face of this rot at the core of our democracy reveals itself. But again the question remains: how low to you have to stoop to be President? How many empty and cruel promises to displaced miners and steelworkers? How many thinly veiled appeals to racism? How many attacks on the free press? How many lies and crimes to convince frustrated Americans to throw a monkey wrench into constitutional government?

The same questions are now being played out on a smaller and clearer stage in Missouri. The end of the East, the start of the West, not entirely either northern or southern, Missouri is in many ways a microcosm of the entire nation. Just as the wider nation was descending into chaos in 2016 Missouri elected Republican Eric Greitens as governor. On paper there were few candidates with more impressive resumes, a resume as full of accomplishments as Trump’s was empty. A Rhodes scholar who earned a doctorate from Oxford, who then became a Navy SEAL, meeting the toughest physical and mental challenge in the military, Greitens went on to write books and start a veteran’s support group called The Mission Continues. He registered a web address for a future presidential campaign before returning to his native state to begin his political career at the top. In his television ads Greitens fired automatic weapons and detonated explosives while making vague promises of new policies.

He was elected, took office and was immediately confronted with the reality that he had no idea what he was doing. He alienated his fellow Republicans in the legislature as much or more as any Democrat. His façade cracked with the exposure of his extramarital affair that included subjecting his mistress to bondage. He allegedly took a nude photo of her blindfolded while her hands were taped, which he threatened to use against her if she ever talked. He verbally abused her and, according to an investigative report prepared by seven Republicans and two Democrats, tried to force her into giving him oral sex. For taking the photo and threatening to spread it online, Greitens is facing a felony trial in St. Louis. Greitens now also face a second felony charge for using the donor list of the veterans group to finance his campaign, betraying the troubled veterans he claimed to help. The second charge followed an investigation by the Republican attorney general. While innocent until proven guilty, the evidence is strong.

Voters are asking how this happened. Is Grietens the hero of a Greek tragedy brought down by a fatal flaw, or was his whole list of accomplishments a veneer to hide the darkness of his true self?

Republican leaders and most legislators are not waiting for an answer but have demanded the governor’s resignation or impeachment. Unlike their counterparts on the national stage they are taking action to remedy a bad situation and, as on the national scene, Grietens is fighting back with accusations of “fake news” and a “witch hunt” to take him down. The lesson from Missouri is clear: put aside the partisan considerations and do the right thing. The integrity of the state and nation, the survival of the rule of law and the preservation of liberty depend upon it.

Greg Bailey is a journalist, lawyer and history writer from St Louis. Email rgbstl@aol.com.

From The Progressive Populist, June 1, 2018

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