Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) was put on blast in a home-state paper this week for his role in fostering the violent riot at the Capitol in January. That riot unfolded under the explicit inspiration of lies that last year’s presidential election was somehow rigged for Joe Biden, and Hawley was a prominent proponent of those lies, including through his announcement that he would object to the certification of certain electoral votes when Congress met to certify the presidential election outcome in early January. In a new op-ed, The Kansas City Star mockingly observed that Hawley “never caved to reality, or ever tried to protect the republic instead of his Republican self.”
Hawley was the first Senator to announce that they’d be objecting to the certification of certain electoral votes, and sustaining such an objection and moving to a vote on the matter requires the support of at least one member of both chambers of Congress — so, since a member of the House had already announced their intention to object, Hawley’s announcement pushed the idea ahead. The Kansas City Star went after Hawley in the context of a discussion of his role in events around January 6 within Peril, a new book by journalists Bob Woodward and Robert Costa.
As the paper puts it:
‘But you know who never caved to reality, or ever tried to protect the republic instead of his Republican self? Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley, that’s who. Yes, we knew that, but “Peril” reminds any who might have forgotten that in putting his ambition ahead of all else, Hawley was a standout both before and during the attempted coup… In the traumatic hours after the attack on the Capitol, Hawley stood off to himself on the Senate floor, as The Star reported at the time… Hawley played a big role in the Big Lie. And since so many Missourians love him for it, he may be the rare national Republican who hopes his constituents will read this book, and see just how willing he was to distinguish himself.’
Hawley has never shown any contrition for his role in fostering the Capitol riot, even though the connection between his rhetoric about the election and the actions of the rioters is obvious. Certain prominent Republican members of Congress, like Rep. Matt Gaetz (Fla.), have continued up until very recently pushing the outright lie that Trump was the rightful winner of last year’s election. Read more from the Star at this link.
