Trudy Busch Valentine Doesn’t Know What Citizens United Is

For months since Missouri Democratic Senate candidate Trudy Busch Valentine made her initial campaign announcement, let’s be polite and say that many of us had questions.

First, there was the obvious thing: Why did a reasonably well-liked and respected candidate drop out and endorse her in a day?

Why was a billionaire heiress from a notably conservative family getting into a crowded Senate primary after not having ever entered the political fray before?

After months of speculation (and some embarrassing stories emerged about her and her rather obvious links to white supremacy and the NRA), those questions largely went (and go) unanswered. That doesn’t mean that we haven’t been asking as a community. 

On my own podcast, we’ve asked if she would appear several times (to date, her campaign hasn’t scheduled an appearance on The Heartland POD, where every other notable candidate on the Dem side has come on at least once). The very grassroots Missouri community that cares deeply about progressive policies and this very critical Senate race has also been disappointed by her lack of public appearances or public accountability.

It’s not just the humble grassroots that she’s rebuffed. Recently, she was invited to debate the other presumed frontrunner, Lucas Kunce, on St. Louis television. Gallingly, the debate was postponed “due to lack of response to invitations” by Busch Valentine. The host of said debate: KMOV (the CBS affiliate) in St. Louis. She didn’t even no-show. She no-answered.

Until she finally held a town hall in July months after announcing her candidacy, no one had the opportunity to meet with her and, you know, ask questions and all the other types of pesky details that primary voters usually care passionately about. (I can attest to personally attending the St. Louis Young Dems forum earlier this month, to which she was also a no-show. Lucas Kunce and Spencer Toder both appeared. Toder walked away with their endorsement.)

On July 13, Busch Valentine finally met a slender slice of the St. Louis electorate, and appeared at a live-streamed town hall for the Chesterfield Township Dems. Firstly: Chesterfield is hardly a working-class stronghold (although it’s arguably at least a swing district). The event was poorly publicized and streamed exclusively on Facebook and YouTube.

I wasn’t even aware it was happening until the day of and wasn’t able to rearrange my schedule to attend it, such as it was. Let’s just say that the post-press after the event was…not great. None other than Susan Sarandon tweeted a section of it the next day, accusing Busch Valentine of being a “Terf” (a woman who denies the existence of trans women). 

For the record: I think that’s bullshit. If you listen to the rest of that statement, it’s clear that Valentine is vamping. In fact, it sounds like she is anything but anti-trans. (The words “I am for LGBTQ people” should clear that right up.) However, the reason that it was even possible to make such a bold accusation is because Busch Valentine is so astoundingly unprepared to speak in public. In 2022, what Democratic candidate should stumble when asked a gimme question about how to treat trans children? Not a good look. 

And then came the part of the town hall where I realized precisely why being in front of the public is something she hasn’t done yet.

At minute 39-ish, you can hear a mumbled question about campaign finance reform, and her response (to which listened several times over because I genuinely couldn’t believe I heard it correctly) was:

“Just tell me again what Citizens United is doing?” 

Record scratch. 

Are you fucking kidding me? 

Then someone (presumably, a member of her campaign staff) can be heard telling this kajilionare woman a decade my senior what Citizens United is…and her response to that is “I think we need campaign finance reform.”

Slow claps all around, lady. You’re from Missouri. You’re a resident of the state with some of the darkest dark money that exists. You couldn’t answer a question about dark money contributions (let alone what to do about it) at a soft-pedaled town hall event designed just for you alone?

I am always willing to give regular ass people the benefit of the doubt when they start the unforgiving process that is running for office. There is nothing remotely “regular-ass” about her background. A campaign filing from July 2022 disclosed that her income for 2021 was between $4.25 million and $30.5 million.  

Oddly enough, that’s not what I’m more bothered by. If she sounded like someone with her level of education, privilege, and resources, I’d be like, “Girl, go kick some Greitens ass.” I have been giving her every single out as to why she wasn’t talking to us. (She’s new to this. She’s not ready. She’s going to make a big splash closer to the primary.)

She reminded the scant live audience (and the maybe dozens more who have watched since) that she doesn’t have a corporate PAC and doesn’t take corporate money. But that doesn’t reflect the truth. Or at least not all of it. 

Busch Valentine’s source of income is her stock investments. In a country where no one is required to put stock assets in a blind trust during their Senate tenure, how do we as voters know where her loyalties are? Based on what I saw, she is not remotely equipped to answer those questions, let alone prove to any of us that she even could address them succinctly. 

If her campaign event on the 13th was evidence of what we can look forward to if she makes it to the general, I have one thing to say: No, thank you.

After I went back and watched more of the stream, I sensed some genuine warmth that would play well against someone as clumsy as Hartzler or as sanguine as Greitens. Those are two candidates who, the moment they smell any blood in the water, they’re going to pounce. And the woman we just saw make her first public appearance doesn’t appear to have the gravitas, the speaking skills, or the knowledge to fend off either of those people. She also might have some serious conflicts of interest that we have the right to ask her about. I just don’t think that’s ever going to happen.

I can forgive a gaffe or two. Or ten. We all misspeak, say stupid shit, or have a bad day. Your not knowing the earth-shattering decision that once and for all equated money to speech? That’s not a gaffe. That’s full-blown ignorance and the wrong kind if you have the audacity to run for an open seat in the United States Senate.

Hard pass. 

She can’t be our candidate. If we give this woman the nomination, it will be at our state’s and nation’s peril. We may as well throw in our hats and let one of the Erics walk away with it and save us all the time and money.