ORLANDO - When former Gov. Eric Greitens took a recent trip to the U.S. southern border, he said he spoke with a customs and border patrol agent who told him that one child had been sold 17 times.
"We have to recognize that leftist policies are rooted in cruelty," he said "Right now, Joe Biden and Mexican drug gangs and cartels are involved in the largest human smuggling operation in history and it's happening on our border."
Greitens accused the left of trying to destroy the United States in a speech Thursday at the 2022 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC).
“I took an oath to defend our constitution and it was an oath to protect the constitution against all entities foreign and domestic,” he said. “Right now, despite the mainstream media lies and RINO corruption, we see the true nature of the enemy that we are facing. The brutal fact is clear.”
Greitens is running for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Republican Sen. Roy Blunt, despite having resigned from the governorship in 2018 due to a sex scandal and charges of campaign misconduct, according to media reports.
“They are trying to destroy this country," Greitens said. “When you look at what they have done with the defund the police movement and the horrific rise in murders around this country, they're trying to destroy our country. When you look at critical race theory, you can see they're trying to divide our country. When you look at the COVID tyranny and the assault on our liberties, you can see they're trying to destroy our country. When you look at inflation, when you look at the military disasters in places like Afghanistan and Biden's policy of weakness and chaos that leads to aggression like we're seeing in Ukraine, you can see they are trying to destroy our country.”
Greitens, a former Navy seal, slammed President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.
"The mainstream media might say Joe Biden is senile and Kamala Harris is incompetent and that's true," he said. "They are. But it's more than that because no one is this stupid. No one leaves behind billions of dollars of military equipment for the Taliban, but that's what they did. We must stand together to recognize the nature of the enemy. We are in a fight for the soul of our country and it is a battle against evil. It is a battle against cruelty and it is a battle against tyranny."
Greitens urged the conservative audience to rise up.
"The fact is the left isn't going to stop and you have to make a choice. Are we going to stop it? We know patriots around this country are rising up," he added. "We are going to stand for our country and we are going to take it back not by RINOs. It will be taken back by America first patriots who are willing to stand in courage and faith. There is a stark choice facing our country at this moment and it is a choice between surrender to leftist tyranny and cruelty or a revival of our republic with freedom, faith, and courage and I am here to stand with you for the revival."
Greitens faces six Republican competitors in the Aug. 2 primary.
Candidates include Attorney General Eric Schmitt, St. Louis attorney Mark McCloskey, Missouri Senate President Pro Tem Dave Schatz (R-Sullivan), Billy Long (R-Springfield), and Congresswoman Vicky Hartzler (R-Harrisonville), who has been endorsed by the state's junior Sen. Josh Hawley.