Josh Hawley, the Missouri senator who was on the run from the mob he mounted on Jan. 6, is “a laughing stock” who should fear what the Capitol’s assault committee might reveal next, a leading newspaper in his home state said. .
Hawley was widely criticized for raising a fist at protesters outside Congress on January 6, 2021, and after the mob sent by Donald Trump failed to stop the certification of Joe Biden’s election gains, she voted to object anyway. to make against the results.
The senator cast that vote, American voters now know, after he ran when rioters broke into Congress.
In an editorial, the Kansas City Star noted that Hawley will soon be publishing a book titled Manhood: The Masculine Virtues America Needs, but said people watching the hearing “didn’t see much male bravado as he ran away from the crowd.”
The Star began: “Josh Hawley is a laughing stock. During Thursday night’s televised hearings of the House committee investigating the January 6, 2021 coup… [Democratic] Representative Elaine Luria showed a video of Missouri’s junior senator that is sure to follow him for the rest of his life.
“In the clip, Hawley sprints down a hallway as he and his fellow senators are evacuated after insurgents break into the Capitol. When it played on the screen, the audience in the room with the committee burst out laughing.”
On Twitter, users split the video into songs like Born to Run, Running Up That Hill and the Benny Hill theme. Charlie Sykes, a conservative Trump critic, wrote, “Josh Hawley running is an all-time meme.”
But the Star also noted that “Hawley has become one of the defining figures of that day. A famous photograph of Francis Chung shows him raising a fist in solidarity with the mob that would soon break through doors, loot offices and attack law enforcement.”
The senator shows no sign of retiring. Speaking at a conservative conference in Florida on Friday, apparently without irony, he said, “I just want to say to all those liberals out there and the liberal media, in case you haven’t gotten the message yet, I don’t regret [voting to object to electoral results].
“And I don’t back down. I’m not going to apologize. I’m not gonna cringe. I’m not going to run away from you. I’m not going to bend my knee.”
He has also used the image to raise money, including by selling mugs that are said to be “the perfect way to enjoy coffee, tea, or liberal tears!”
Politico, owner of the statue, asked Hawley to stop using it. He refused. On Friday morning, he tweeted a link to a site that sells the mug.
In February, Hawley told the Huffington Post: “It’s not a pro riot cup. This was not me encouraging rioters… During the time we were there, people had gathered peacefully to protest, and they have a right to do so. They have no right to attack cops.”
However, as the Star noted, during Thursday’s hearing, Luria “quoted a Capitol police officer who was there and told the commission that Hawley’s gesture “shook up the crowd, and it disturbed her greatly because he was doing it in a safe space protected by the officers and the barriers’”.
Hawley was the first senator to say he would object on Jan. 6, when he was joined by 146 other Republicans. Hawley, said The Star, “went to the floor as the first-ever vote calling for the millions of votes Americans cast fairly and legally for the rightful presidential election winner.”
It continued: “As funny as the image was of the immediate withdrawal of the self-proclaimed male senator, there is absolutely nothing funny about January 6, 2021. A bipartisan Senate report concluded that seven people died as a result of the attack. Shortly afterwards, two more Metropolitan police officers committed suicide.
“About 150 members of law enforcement were injured and it is impossible to know how many others involved in the horrific event will bear scars for life, mind and body. We said that day that Hawley had blood on his hands for his role in perpetuating the lies that drove thousands of people to violence. That remains true.”
The editors rejected it with a warning. Noting the work of Liz Cheney, a Republican from Wyoming who is nevertheless vice chair of the Jan. 6 committee, he said, “Josh Hawley might not be afraid of a little ridicule for his hasty flight from Capitol looters.
But he may be right to be concerned about what emails or text messages a formerly loyal employee might consider turning over to the House committee.
“Keep up to date with the hearings.”