Sen. Josh Hawley: The Face of New American Fascism?

[Judi Lynn]

JANUARY 13, 2021

BY DAVID ROSEN

“No one other than President Donald Trump himself is more responsible for Wednesday’s [January 6th] 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.”

So opens the Kansas City Star’s coverage of January 6th storming of the Capitol in support of Trump’s effort to disrupting the congressional approval of the 2020 Electoral College results awarding Joe Biden the presidency.

On December 30, 2020, Hawley was the first senator to announce his plan to oppose the certification of Biden’s Electoral College win. He declared:

I cannot vote to certify the electoral college results on January 6 without raising the fact that some states, particularly Pennsylvania, failed to follow their own state election laws. And I cannot vote to certify without pointing out the unprecedented effort of mega corporations, including Facebook and Twitter, to interfere in this election, in support of Joe Biden. At the very least, Congress should investigate allegations of voter fraud and adopt measures to secure the integrity of our elections. But Congress has so far failed to act.

According to the Kansas City Star, Hawley’s action was “motivated by ambition,” to get a jump start over other members of what is known as the “Sedition Caucus,” Republican senators who Democrats accused of backing Trump’s dubious objections to the election results and for “standing with the mob.” His action led other Republican presidential aspirants, notably Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), to announce plans to challenge the Electoral College vote.

More:
https://www.counterpunch.org/2021/01/13/sen-josh-hawley-the-face-of-new-american-fascism/

[Sugarmaggie]

1. Nail on the head

Fascism (/ˈfæʃɪzəm/) is a form of far-right, authoritarian ultranationalism characterized by dictatorial power, forcible suppression of opposition and strong regimentation of society and of the economy which came to prominence in early 20th-century Europe.

[malthaussen]

2. Will the media now give a platform to another extremist crackpot?

There are 100 Senators in Congress, and I bet the average American could only name a handful. The rest are deservedly obscure. MUST the media raise a slimeball like Mr Hawley from the obscurity he deserves to be a household name? Do we really want his agenda to be legitimized table-talk for the masses?

-- Mal

[Hortensis]

3. Hawley crusaded against social media as addictive and harmful,

a destructive parasite on society, suggesting perhaps FB and others should be done away with. The subject of fascism brought this to mind because, of course, fascists believe education and communication must be strongly restricted and otherwise controlled. This while this uber ambitious extremist was busily addicting a very large following himself.

Hawley's maiden speech on the house apparently contained a pack of white nationalist dog whistles because it caught the approving attention of Stormfront and other neonazi types on the SPLC radar.

Btw, both strong authoritarians, which Hawley unquestionably is, and their archconservative fascist versions, are inherently not only racist but misogynistic, with subjugation of women always a major goal. Most MSM make almost no attempt to educate their audiences about this little reality, strange NOT, given RW influence within MSM and that women are now an empowered half of all voters.

What might not be accomplished under the white nationalist flag alone, his record shows he intends to waving the swords of his far-right evangelical religion, i.e., legislative and judicial weapons.