In a new article, the editorial board of The Kansas City Star shreds recent antics by Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), who garnered an extra level of prominence after he helped provide the rhetorical foundation for the assault on the Capitol by Trump supporters in January of this year. Specifically, the paper called out Hawley in connection to a recent call that he made for President Joe Biden and top members of his national security team, including Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, to resign.
Referring to the recent suicide bombing attack at a Kabul airport that claimed the lives of bystanders including 13 U.S. service members, the paper describes the recent speech in which Hawley called for Biden to resign as “shamelessly exploiting… the deaths of U.S. servicemen and servicewomen for political gain.” Hawley, of course, has long stuck by theatrics as an entire political approach, and that trend continues in this situation. As the Star’s editorial board put it, “Hawley’s threat to our republic is real and ongoing,” adding that his “desire to overthrow the people’s choice for president has not abated.”
The Star noted in addition to these issues that, no matter his dramatic criticisms of the Biden administration’s handling of the withdrawal from Afghanistan, Hawley himself “was an enthusiastic supporter of abandoning Afghanistan — not on Aug. 30, when the final troops departed, but months earlier, in May.” The Star added as follows:
‘Does Josh Hawley, or anyone, think a withdrawal on May 1 would have been more successful or orderly than the one in August? No. Would Trump have done better? The idea is laughable. Hawley’s speech was a classic exercise in second-guessing, by a man who sided with treasonous rioters two weeks before Biden’s inauguration. It’s the way all cowards operate: Sound brave, from a distance, then head for the bunker when trouble erupts. That’s what Hawley did on Jan. 6, and again Sept. 14, on the Senate floor.’
Alongside other points, the paper pointedly added as follows:
‘Nothing about this call for mass resignations is serious. Yet Missourians should never forget Hawley’s attempt to put his own ambition ahead of the security of the United States. And the House select committee investigating the insurrection at the Capitol should deeply investigate Hawley’s role in the events of that awful day. When our democracy itself was under attack, he stood with those attempting to bring it down.’
Hawley has never shown contrition for what amounts to his rhetorical support for the Capitol rioters, to whom he provided inspiration with his brazenly false claims that last year’s presidential election results were questionable. Read more from the Star at this link.
