The leading candidate in the Missouri Republican primary for U.S. Senate, former Gov. Eric Greitens (R-MO), appeared on Sirius XM’s Breitbart News Saturday and emphasized that the Republican Party needs “real America First fighters” to prevail this midterm election cycle.
To start the interview, Breitbart News Washington, DC, Bureau Chief Matthew Boyle asked for Greitens’ take on the major development in the Show-Me State’s U.S. Senate race Friday, in which former President Donald Trump emphatically stated he would not support Greitens’ opponent, Rep. Vicky Hartzler (R-MO).
“Yes, big news last night because President Trump is saying what everybody in America believes because he is the leader of the MAGA movement, and he’s said it consistently that we need real America First fighters. We cannot have weaklings who refuse to stand up to the left, who refuse to stand up to the mainstream media, and who are part and parcel of this corrupt and cowardly RINO establishment,” Greitens said.
Trump did not mince words in his announcement, which came via a Truth Social post:
President Trump is exactly right. We need tough & courageous conservatives who will NEVER back down in the Senate.
That is why MAGA is all in for my friend, @EricGreitens. 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/rL1KAKDOIB
— Kimberly Guilfoyle (@kimguilfoyle) July 9, 2022
“I’ll tell you what, Matt, that’s what it looks like when President Trump goes RINO hunting and the people of Missouri like it. In fact, they love it,” Greitens said, referencing his own RINO hunting ad. “Tremendous response last night, so grateful to President Trump, the people of Missouri are, for calling it like it is. We need real America First fighters.”
Listen:
Trump’s statement is a devastating blow to Hartzler’s campaign, as all 13 GOP U.S. Senate candidates who have received his endorsement have been victorious in primaries thus far in the midterm primaries. Boyle, who was in Las Vegas for a law-and-order-focused panel event hosted by Trump Friday night, noted that he caught up with the 45th president afterward. Trump said an endorsement is coming soon in the Missouri race, according to the Breitbart News Saturday host. It certainly looks as though Trump’s choices come down to Greitens and Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt, with Hartzler out of contention for the most valuable endorsement in politics, as no other candidate besides the three has eclipsed the 10 percent threshold in RealClearPoltics’ polling average.
Shortly after the Hartzler news came down, another candidate in the race, Rep. Billy Long (R-MO), who is fourth in RealClearPoltics average at seven percent, highlighted the attorney general’s previous attempts to stop Trump from winning the Missouri primary in 2016 and his endorsement of Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) in the primaries. Long also dubbed his opponent “Shanghai Schmitt.”
I'm hopeful 45 realizes #ShanghaiSchmitt endorsed #TedCruz over him and was in on the attempt to rig the delegates for Cruz for weeks after the #Missouri primary. Not to mention scrubbing his files before he filed for Senate. Try and find any comments he made on Trump 2015 -2021.
— Billy Long (@auctnr1) July 9, 2022
When asked about Long’s comments, Greitens pointed out he is a “really, really good guy” who “has got the facts right on this.”
“I think what’s happening now is all of Eric Schmitt’s pro-McConnell and anti-Trump history is now being exposed,” Greitens said. “Eric Schmitt was one of the biggest anti-Trump surrogates in Missouri in 2016, Trump won Missouri in 2016, But Schmitt was one of the guys meddling in the Missouri primary, colluding against Trump and trying to steal Trump’s victory in 2016. And yeah, Billy Long is a really, really good guy and he’s got the bead on, as he calls him ‘Shanghai Schmitt,’ sometimes he calls him ‘Chicken Schmitt.’ I mean Billy Long has got the facts right on this. And the facts are Eric Schmitt is a sloppy guy. His policies are sloppy, as you said; he supported selling Missouri to China; he supported all of these insider tax cuts to have a China hub here. His office is sloppy; his politics are sloppy. That’s why people in Missouri call him “Sloppy Swampy Schmitt” because all of those swampy pro-McConnell ties and yes, as Billy Long pointed out, all of Eric Schmitt’s anti-Trump rhetoric, his policies, all of that are now being exposed.”
Greitens also highlighted that the Republican primaries are seeing the rise of America First candidates around the country unlike any other midterm election cycle before and emphasized that they are precisely the type of candidates needed to change the status quo in Washington and stand up to the establishment.
“It’s not just that Republicans win; we need MAGA America First pro-Trump fighters to win. We’ve seen time and time again how RINOs have stabbed President Trump in the back,” Greitens said.
“We need to have real fighters who are going to not only put an end to Joe Biden’s agenda, not only stand up to mainstream media, not only stand up to the corrupt and cowardly RINO establishment, but who also have the courage and the clarity to blaze the path so that when president Trump comes back into office,” he added. “We already have a strong base of very clear fighters who are willing to stand up for the MAGA movement, who are going to have his back in the Senate and in the House.”
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