Former Gov. Eric Greitens (R-MO) slammed “Never Trump politician” Gov. Pete Ricketts (R-NE) for contributing hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Show Me Values PAC, which Politico notes was established “with the sole mission of stopping Greitens” from securing the Republican nomination in Missouri’s U.S. Senate race.
Politico was the first to report Thursday that Ricketts pumped $250,000 into the PAC, and the Federal Election Commission record shows the contribution came on June 22, the same day Rex Sinquefield – a top donor to Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) – dumped a million dollars into the PAC. Show Me Values has produced ads personally attacking the former governor.
In a tweet, Greitens called out the sitting Nebraska governor for trying to sway voters in another state’s primary race.
“President Trump was exactly right when he called Pete Rickets a RINO,” Greitens wrote. “He’s a Never Trump politician who has no business colluding with Eric Schmitt and Mitch McConnell to meddle in Missouri’s elections.”
President Trump was exactly right when he called Pete Rickets a RINO.
He’s a Never Trump politician who has no business colluding with Eric Schmitt and Mitch McConnell to meddle in Missouri’s elections. https://t.co/XuQKOfif5D
— Eric Greitens (@EricGreitens) July 21, 2022
https://t.co/pOYSU0da1A pic.twitter.com/lRm3C2vQxZ
— Eric Greitens (@EricGreitens) July 21, 2022
During the Republican primaries in the 2016 presidential election cycle, the Ricketts family helped fund the Our Principles PAC, which was dedicated to preventing Trump from winning the nomination, as Breitbart News previously noted. Our Principles PAC was founded by a former staffer of failed presidential candidate Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT). In February of 2016, Trump said the family should “be careful, they have a lot to hide.”
When Trump became the presumptive nominee, the Nebraska governor changed course and gave him his endorsement. A Republican Party proxy way between Ricketts and Trump played out in the Nebraska gubernatorial primary earlier this year as Trump endorsed businessman Charles Herbster in the race and Ricketts backed hog farmer Jim Pillen, who ended up winning the nomination. KETV reported in December that Ricketts had asked Trump not to endorse a candidate in the race. The battle between the candidates signified a larger happening in the GOP as the establishment and America First wrestle for the future of the party.
Trump has repeatedly called on GOP senators to oust Sen. Mitch McConnell as the Republican leader in the Senate, and Greitens is the only candidate in the race to pledge he would vote against McConnell as leader should he win outgoing Sen. Roy Blunt’s (R-MO) seat. Between his vow and an ad that metaphorically talks about hunting RINOs — “Republicans in Name Only” — he has ruffled establishment feathers. Sinquefield’s and Ricketts’ donations came just days after the ad was released on June 20, and Politico first reported on Show Me Values on June 23, the day after the contributions.
“These swamp creatures and grifters know their time at the trough is finished,” Greitens’s campaign manager Dylan Johnson told the outlet. “That’s why they’re scared of America First champion Governor Greitens.”
“Look, one of the reasons why they come after me… is because they know that in the United States Senate, I’m going to be President Trump’s biggest champion. They know that I’m going to be the biggest champion for the MAGA movement,” Greitens previously told Breitbart News Saturday. “I’m going to be the biggest champion for America First, and that’s why they are so desperate to stop me.
“That’s why [Mitch] McConnell is coming after me, that’s why Karl Rove is coming after me, that’s why all of the RINOs in Missouri are coming after me: because they want to stop me, and they are also really trying to stop President Trump and the America First movement,” he continued.
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