Hawley's Star Plummets

by Pa Rock
Missouri Voter 

Missouri's junior United States senator, Joshua David Hawley, thought his political star was ascending.  In fact, until just a few days ago, the young senator seemed to believe that he was on a trajectory that would land him in the White House, and perhaps he still does.  But others are viewing the recent antics of Hawley in a more realistic light.

Senator Ben Sasse, for instance, of Missouri's neighboring state of Nebraska, didn't seem to have any qualms at all when he recently referred to Hawley as a "dumbass."

Josh Hawley, an Arkansas native who graduated from a private Catholic high school in Kansas City and went on to collect degrees at Stanford and Yale, was elected Attorney General of Missouri in 2016.  He was aided in his political ambitions by Jack Danforth, a Republican former Missouri Attorney General, US Senator, and scion of the Ralston-Purina family business empire.  Within the past few days, Danforth, too, has turned on Hawley saying that he regrets his mentorship of the young man and calling that association one of the worst mistakes he ever made.

Hawley, who when he ran for Missouri Attorney General, vowed that he would not use that office as a stepping stone - and that he would serve his full term if elected - quickly jettisoned that promise two years later when the Missouri GOP hierarchy and some national Republicans leaned on him to challenge Claire McCaskill for her Senate seat.  Hawley jumped at the bait, ran, and defeated McCaskill, becoming the youngest sitting United States senator.

Talk of a future Hawley presidential bid immediately began circulating, some of which undoubtedly started with Hawley himself.  He and his wife and their two young sons relocated to the Virginia suburbs of Washington DC, a move that was somewhat problematic because they bought an expensive home in Virginia (in excess of a million dollars) but had no physical residence in Missouri, the state that he was representing in the Senate.  The senator now claims his sister's home in Ozark, Missouri, as his voting residence - which is about a half-a-step above former Kansas Senator Pat Roberts who claimed a recliner at a friend's home in Dodge City as his Kansas residence.

If Hawley was going to run for President, he needed a national constituency - which meant that he had to keep his name in the news and appeal to a large group of people.  Hawley consciously chose to pursue Donald Trump's base as his own, and he tailored his politics to appeal to Trump's MAGA crowd - and to Trump himself.  It appears to have been Hawley who convinced Trump to demand an increase in the latest round of stimulus checks from $600 to $2,000, an effort that ultimately failed but was politically popular across a wide swath of America.

A couple of weeks ago Josh Hawley made a bold political move to ingratiate himself with Trump supporters.   Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was trying to insure that no Republican senators moved to challenge the Congressional electoral vote certification scheduled for January 6th - because if even one senator joined a rebellious effort in the House to challenge the election results, that would force every senator to take a public position on the matter - something that could be politically detrimental to senators who chose to operate within the realm of political reality.  

For awhile it looked like Mitch could keep his senators in line - but then Hawley bucked the leadership and said that he would challenge the results on January 6th.  The dam was broken and soon thirteen other senators rushed to also ingratiate themselves with Trump by joining Hawley's doomed challenge.

And for a couple of glorious days Senator Joshua David Hawley was a mighty big man in Washington, DC - but then January 6th arrived,  Donald Trump met with hundreds of angry MAGAts on the Ellipse and encouraged them to march on the Capitol, Josh Hawley was photographed with his fist in the air as he made his way to the Capitol, the protestors stormed the building, people were injured and some died, confusion and hysteria reigned - and that night when peace was finally restored, Josh Hawley joined with six other senators and still voted to not accept the electoral college vote count!

In the days that followed Senator Hawley was condemned by the major newspapers of Kansas City and St. Louis, some of his colleagues in the Senate began to distance themselves from the ambitious senate newcomer, corporate sponsors began backing away, and then . . . and then . . . the major publishing house of Simon and Schuster announced that they were cancelling a deal to publish a book by Hawley.   The ambitious politician was stung - and angry - and vowed that he would see his former publishers in court.

Good luck with that, Josh,  Meanwhile, you are still on the federal payroll as a United States Senator from Missouri.  Remember Missouri?   Maybe you could put your national aspirations on hold  and work for us folks back in Missouri - for a change - at least a little while.

You might even like honest work if you gave it a chance, Josh.  You'll never know if you don't try.