Editorial: Eric Greitens should leave Senate race

This week's news about Eric Greitens, disgraced former Missouri governor, was disturbing and sad. It also fits a pattern of behavior that, if indeed true, makes him further unfit to represent our state.

To recap the sordid affair, the former governor and current U.S. Senate candidate is alleged to have physically abused his family and demonstrated "unstable and coercive behavior." This is according to a sworn affidavit by his ex-wife, Sheena Greitens, which was revealed in court records recently.

Eric and Sheena Greitens are in a court battle over the custody of their children. Sheena Greitens, who filed for divorce following her husband's extramarital affair, is now a public affairs professor at the University of Texas.

According to the affidavit, she paints a dark picture of her now ex-husband -- one who not only resorted to physical abuse but also threatened to use his political power and influence to control her and gain custody of their children.

"Prior to our divorce, during an argument in late April 2018, Eric knocked me down and confiscated my cell phone, wallet and keys so that I was unable to call for help or extricate myself and our children from our home. I became afraid for my safety and that of our children at our home," Sheena Greitens wrote.

She later added that Eric Greitens demonstrated physical violence toward their children, including cuffing their "then-3-year-old son across the face at the dinner table in front of me and yanking him around by his hair."

She said a few weeks later when she tried to fly with their children to her parents house, Eric Greitens "threatened to come to the airport and have me arrested for kidnapping and child abuse, saying that because of his authority as a former governor who had supported law enforcement, the police would support him and not believe me."

A story that appeared in Tuesday's Southeast Missourian highlights more details.

Of course, we know the Eric Greitens story didn't start with these allegations. As governor, he endured multiple investigations with the most prominent being whether he blackmailed his hairdresser during an extramarital affair.

A former Rhodes scholar and Navy SEAL, he had the resume of someone who could be a political power player. But his hubris got in the way and he became his own worst enemy. The pattern of how he has treated other people, especially women, is appalling.

We pray Eric and Sheena Greitens find an amicable resolution, and everyone receives the help they need.

However, Missouri has a choice to make. Eric Greitens has chosen to put himself before the voters in the upcoming U.S. Senate race. With Eric Greitens' pattern of behavior and these new allegations, it is better for him, his children and the state that he withdraws his candidacy for Senate.

If he won't leave the race, voters should make it abundantly clear in August that he should not be the Republican nominee for U.S. Senate.