Kansas City talk show host Pete Mundo Wednesday morning lamented the growing trend of political frontrunners dodging debates.

That will absolutely not include Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley, a fact the conservative firebrand made clear with repeated pleas to debate Democrat challenger Lucas Kunce during a raucous, U.S. flag-draped rally in Smithville that evening.

In his re-election campaign kickoff, Hawley said the Democrat nominated Tuesday to oppose him in November wants to keep the border open, despite multiple criminal assaults on Missourians and one child being killed by an illegal’s alleged reckless driving; to have taxpayers pay for “gold-plated” healthcare for illegals; to ban fossil fuels; and to allow men in women’s locker rooms and in girls’ sports.

“Think about this,” Hawley told the crowd. He wants every church and school in this state, every one of them, to have to say that if a man comes into a woman’s bathroom or a woman’s locker room or a woman’s space, you gotta let that man in. It doesn’t matter what you believe. It doesn’t matter if your church says, ‘Wait, that’s not what we believe. We want to protect women.’ No, he would use the force of law to force you — to force you — to allow these men. …

“He’s gotta be, by the way, the nuttiest guy with the nuttiest policies ever nominated by a major party in this state for the Senate,” Hawley opined. “I mean, who could you think of who would be even close to it?

“So I said to him, I said listen, listen, listen. How about this? How about this? How about you and I, Lucas, you and I get on a debate stage, the two of us, next week in Sedalia at the State Fair? One on one. 

‘He’s afraid of his positions’

“I said, listen, it’s simple: I’ll bring a trailer. It’ll be Lincoln-Douglas style. If it was good enough for Lincoln, hey, it’s good enough for us, right? Lincoln-Douglas style. No fancy studio, no moderators, no filter, just you and me. We’ll just go back and forth. And I said, hey, listen, I’ll even let you go first.

“Do you know what he said? ‘No.’ He said no! He said, ‘Ohh, well, my gosh, no, I only want to do it if it’s in a TV studio. Ohh, I wanna do it later.’ He wants the temperature to be 71 degrees. He wants there to be moderators. He wants to be able to wear makeup. You cannot make this up. 

“So listen, if you’re watching, Lucas, here’s the message, man: Quit dancing around. Quit running away. Come to Sedalia next week. Come on Thursday at the fair and debate me. One on one. Come on. And we’ll take questions from the crowd. You bet. One stage, two podiums. We’ll just go back and forth, back and forth. 

“I don’t think he’s gonna do it, ‘cause you know what? I think he’s afraid of his positions. But hey, he ought to be thanking me because I’m giving him the chance to defend his nuttiness.”

Hawley said the problems facing America are too sober and malignant to ignore – and that the preservation of America is on the ballot in November.

“Here’s the deal. We are at this moment, this inflection point moment in our country’s history, and I just want to say this: I don’t know how you feel; sometimes, you know, you wake up in the morning, you think, ‘My gosh, what else could happen in this country? I mean, what else could go wrong?’ 

‘We live in times that matter’

“But I’ll just say this: We may not live in quiet times, we may not live in smooth times, but we live in times that matter. We live in times of consequence. And thank the Lord for the opportunity to live in a time when the decisions that we make, when the choices that we make, when the courageous stand that we take matters. 

“I don’t know about you, but I want to be able to say to these little ones over here when they’re older – and I wanna be able to say, Lord willing, to my grandchildren one day – that in this time of trial, in this time of challenge, in this time of need for the greatest country in the history of the world, in this time I did all that I could. We did all that we could. In this moment, we’ve saved this country. 

“That’s our mission. That’s our agenda. That’s our mandate. 

“So, you’ve got my pledge that, from now to November, I will waste no time. I will spend every day fighting to save this country, fighting to take our message all across the state of Missouri. We will leave no stone unturned. We will take nothing for granted – because we know that the stakes are too high. And all I ask is that you and I stand together. 

“You know, we hear sometimes about, oh, what’s going on in Washington and all the solutions coming out of Washington; solutions don’t come out of Washington. I’ve been there a few years now. They don’t come out of Washington. I’ll tell you where the solutions in this country are. They’re right here. I’ll tell you where the salvation of this country is. It’s right here. The people who are gonna save this country are standing right here, elbow to elbow, right in front of me. This is it. You are the best hope of America. 

“And when the left says that we’re deplorables and we’re flyover country, and we cling to our guns and our God and our religion, I would just say: I do! Guilty as charged! 

“What I say to them is, we represent the hope of America, we represent both the history of America and the future of America. And with God’s help, we will save America beginning this year.”