“Hawley was the first GOP senator to say he would back the attempts by Donald Trump to overthrow Joe Biden’s victory, after the president’s claims that the election was marred by fraud were rejected by numerous courts.“

Senator Josh Hawley has lately been very much in the news. And not in a good way.  His speedy climb up the ladder of popular attention is reminiscent of Adolf Hitler; namely, a disaffected orator from nowhere with world ambition. Already students at his former law school are championing his removal from office for having incited criminal activity.

“A native of small town Lexington, Missouri in rural Lafayette County, Senator Hawley graduated from Rockhurst High School in Kansas City.“

My interest in this peculiar nut case is that he has blatantly sought to follow upon and echo the cocktail of evil propounded by President Donald J. Trump.  Both are undisturbed in their overwhelming conviction to themselves at the cost of others. Both are mistakenly prompted by an erstwhile fortuity which for Trump at least has proven to be unsustainable. I predict the same evolution for Senator Hawley.

Hawley’s blatant refusal last night to withdraw objection to Senate approval of the electoral vote for the 2020 presidential election – even after a stinging speech from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell – convinces me of Hawley’s reckless ambition. Sitting behind Hawley at the Senate last night was Rep. Mitt Romney who pointedly said without equivocation that the American people need only be told the truth of the voting regularity in the last presidential election.

“Assault on democracy: Sen. Josh Hawley has blood on his hands in Capitol coup attempt“

“The Frankenstein just tore down the doors to the palace,” U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, a Democrat from Missouri, told The Star. Which happened because, as he said, “One-third of the nation has bought into a bald-faced lie, and they are living in a fact-free America.“

For abstract viewers such as myself the images of yesterday’s invasion of the Capitol building represent the thin veneer which presently covers the United States of America.

“The Trump era ripped back the veil, to reveal the ugliness within the US itself, one that America can no longer ignore, but has always existed. The truth is embodied in the killings of black Americans, in police brutality and the systemic racism; it’s shown in the reaction to the Black Lives Matter movement, MeToo, the rise of white supremacy. And those who oppose that ugliness are fighting for what they believe is the very soul of their nation.“

“Senator Josh Hawley is just as disingenuous and twice as dangerous as Trump.“

“Media in Hawley and Bush’s home state have also taken a dim view of his actions. A stinging op-ed in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch by columnist Tony Messenger called him a “pandering, contradictory clown,” who had “set fire to the U.S. Constitution” and “damaged the delicate balance of power that holds together the United States.“

Following is a collection of information gathered from the web about Hawley. Some of the details are astounding; some, predictable; others, frightening.

“Born in Springdale, Arkansas to a banker and a teacher, Hawley graduated from Stanford University in 2002 and Yale Law School in 2006. He worked as a law clerk for Tenth Circuit Judge Michael W. McConnell and Chief Justice John Roberts and then worked as a lawyer, first in private practice from 2008 to 2011 and then for The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty from 2011 to 2015. Before becoming Missouri Attorney General, he was also a teacher at St Paul’s School in London, an associate professor at the University of Missouri School of Law, and a faculty member of the conservative Blackstone Legal Fellowship.“

“During the Hong Kong protests in October 2019, Hawley and Senator Ted Cruz visited Hong Kong and spoke in favor of the protests. Hawley called the Chinese Communist Party a “police state.” Chief Executive of Hong Kong Carrie Lam said Hawley’s assertion was “irresponsible and unfounded.“

“On January 4, 2021, Hawley tweeted that his home in Washington, D.C. had been vandalized and his family had been threatened by “Antifa scumbags” in an act of “leftwing violence.” Hawley said he was in Missouri at the time. ShutDownDC, the group that staged the event, said it was a peaceful candlelight vigil and claimed they did not vandalize Hawley’s house or knock on the door. A video of the event shared by the group showed that some protesters wrote on the sidewalk in chalk, chanted through a megaphone, and left a copy of the United States Constitution at Hawley’s door. Vienna, Virginia police said the protesters were peaceful with “no issues, no arrests” necessary; police spokesman Juan Vazquez said the police “didn’t think it was that big of a deal.“

“On January 6, 2021, when Congress met to count the electoral votes for the 2020 presidential election, the counting was interrupted by a pro-Trump riot at the Capitol in which at least four people died. The editorial board of The Kansas City Star published an editorial arguing “Sen. Josh Hawley has blood on his hands in Capitol coup attempt”. “No one other than President Donald Trump himself is more responsible for Wednesday’s coup attempt at the U.S. Capitol than one Joshua David Hawley, the 41-year-old junior senator from Missouri, who put out a fundraising appeal while the siege was underway,” they wrote.”

“Hawley received a 93% rating from the National Rifle Association (NRA) for 2018 and an 86% rating for 2016.“

“Hawley has said that human trafficking is the result of the American sexual revolution in the 1960s due to the social encouragement of premarital sexand the use of contraception. After being criticized for these statements, he said that Hollywood culture was a major cause of human trafficking.”

“In December 2015, Hawley supported exemptions for Missouri “businesses and religions groups from participating in same-sex … marriage ceremonies”. In June 2020, after the Supreme Court ruled that federal law prohibits workplace discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity, Hawley harshly criticized the decision, saying it “represents the end of the conservative legal movement.“

“Hawley has been characterized as a Trump loyalist. Hawley voted to acquit Trump during his Senate impeachment trial. He accused Democrats of having abused the Constitution by starting an impeachment inquiry into Trump, declaring that it was “the first purely partisan impeachment in our history”. The day after the Republican-held Senate acquitted Trump, Trump praised Hawley as having played a key role in his acquittal.“

“Hawley’s first commercial in the 2018 Senate campaign focused on Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court, which he supported. After Kavanaugh was accused of sexual assault, Hawley staunchly defended him and said that Democrats had staged an “ambush.“

“Hawley was raised Methodist, but he and his family now attend an Evangelical Presbyterian Church, and he identifies as an Evangelical.“

What triggered my initial curiosity of Senator Josh Hawley was his astounding use last night in the Senate of the word “irregardless“.  Granted it is by most accounts a trifling matter; and certainly not one by which to judge the character of a man.  But in light of his pretence to education and intellectual achievement it is a stunning blow. It is but an undercurrent which nonetheless speaks volumes.

“Treasonous Republican Josh Hawley graduated from Stanford University and Yale Law School and still uses the incorrect word “irregardless.“