After NBC News reporter Manuel Quinones’ “Photo shows GOP Sen. Hawley, who led effort to contest vote, greeting protesters” went viral on Wednesday,
From our Francis Chung, Sen. Josh Hawley greeting protesters in the east side of the Capitol before riots began. pic.twitter.com/I8DjBCDuoP
— Manuel Quinones (@ManuelQ) January 6, 2021
Sen. Hawley’s home state newspaper the Kansas City Star editorialized, Assault on democracy: 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.
This, Sen. Hawley, is what law-breaking and destruction look like. This is not a protest, but a riot. One woman who was apparently part of the pro-Trump mob was fatally shot by Capitol Police as lawmakers took cover. Some of those whose actions Trump encouraged and later condoned brought along their Confederate flags.
And no longer can it be asked, as George Will did recently of Hawley, “Has there ever been such a high ratio of ambition to accomplishment?” Hawley’s actions in the last week had such impact that he deserves an impressive share of the blame for the blood that’s been shed.
Hawley was first to say that he would oppose the certification of Joe Biden’s Electoral College win. That action, motivated by ambition, set off much that followed — the rush of his fellow presidential aspirant Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and other members of the Sedition Caucus to put a show of loyalty to the president above all else.
After mayhem broke out, Hawley put out this uncharacteristically brief statement: “Thank you to the brave law enforcement officials who have put their lives on the line. The violence must end, those who attacked police and broke the law must be prosecuted, and Congress must get back to work and finish its job.” So modest, Senator, failing to note your key role in inspiring one of the most heartbreaking days in modern American history. We lost something precious on Wednesday, as condolence notes to our democracy from our friends around the world recognize.
Among those Hawley got to emulate him was Kansas Sen. Roger Marshall, whose very first act as a member of the world’s greatest deliberative body was to sell out his country by attempting to overturn the outcome of a legitimate election.
This revolt is the result, and if you didn’t know this is where we’ve been headed from the start, it’s because you didn’t want to know.
“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.”
“I’m currently safe and sheltering in place while we wait to receive further instruction from Capitol Police,” tweeted U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids, a Democrat from Kansas. “Today is a dark day for our country. It’s unacceptable that we have a President who has repeatedly condoned and even encouraged this despicable behavior. It must stop.”
We’ll say again what Davids is too polite to say: Trump did not manage this madness on his own. Far from it.
Then there is House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), leader of the Sedition Party in the House, the majority of whom voted for sedition on Wednesday. The Washington Post reported in 2017 that Republicans were always well aware of the threat of Donald Trump:
[I]n a private conversation on Capitol Hill with his fellow GOP leaders, [McCarthy asserted] that Trump could be the beneficiary of payments from Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“There’s two people I think Putin pays: Rohrabacher and Trump,” McCarthy (R-Calif.) said, according to a recording of the June 15, 2016, exchange, which was listened to and verified by The Washington Post. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher is a Californian Republican known in Congress as a fervent defender of Putin and Russia.
House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) immediately interjected, stopping the conversation from further exploring McCarthy’s assertion, and swore the Republicans present to secrecy.
Ryan instructed his Republican lieutenants to keep the conversation private, saying: “No leaks. . . . This is how we know we’re a real family here.”
The Sacramento Bee has a message for the morally bankrupt Kevin McCarthy and his Sedition Party in this editorial opinion, The coup failed, but Republicans must face prosecution for seditious U.S. Capitol attack:
The crime of sedition is a felony punishable by up to 20 years in prison. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines sedition as “incitement of resistance to or insurrection against lawful authority.”
The American public got a good illustration of sedition in action today when hundreds of angry Trump supporters rioted at the United States Capitol, smashing windows and invading the building in an attempt to overthrow our democracy. Outraged because they lost a fair and free election, Trump’s supporters derailed the congressional ceremony to finalize President-elect Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory in the 2020 election.
Their violent attack on the heart of our government forced our elected leaders to evacuate the U.S. Capitol as police struggled to regain control of the situation. Anyone who took part in this astonishing attempt to subvert the will of the American voters should be arrested, charged and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. People should go to prison for this — and for a very long time.
Of course, the ringleaders of this coup attempt weren’t the people crashing through the Capitol’s windows. Many of them are sitting members of Congress who were in the building giving anti-democracy speeches as their supporters launched a treasonous insurrection. The main ringleader of this seditious and treasonous conspiracy — President Donald Trump — was sitting in the White House.
“We love you, you’re very special,” said Trump in a video message in which he once again made false claims about the election.
These leaders must also be held accountable for their shameful efforts to overthrow our government and install a Trump dictatorship. These elected officials, Republicans all, have repeatedly betrayed their oaths of office and demonstrated an utter lack of loyalty to this nation and its people. Their seditious and treasonous behavior, which directly resulted in an attempt to violently overthrow the American government on Jan. 6, 2021, must never be forgotten.
Especially guilty of fomenting sedition are several prominent California congressmen. Chief among them: House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Bakersfield, a soulless anti-democracy conspirator who would be glad to see this nation fall so that his political ambitions might live. He is joined by the following traitors to democracy who engaged in direct attempts to overthrow the results of the 2020 election:
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- Doug LaMalfa, R-Richvale
- Tom McClintock, R-Elk Grove
- Ken Calvert, R-Corona
- Mike Garcia, R-Santa Clarita
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McCarthy, LaMalfa, McClintock and Calvert all supported a Texas lawsuit to overturn Biden’s victory. Garcia announced plans to vote against the certification of Biden’s victory. All of their actions were designed to create the violent coup attempt that unfolded at the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday.
Their attempt to overthrow our democracy will fail — this time. But this is only the beginning of a new movement to overthrow the legitimacy of our political system and install an authoritarian government. If the despicable actions of these leaders and their violent shock troops go unpunished, they will try again. And next time they might succeed at destroying democracy and the rule of law.
Regardless of whether you are a Democrat or a Republican, a liberal or a conservative, we must all agree on one thing: the results of our elections are sacred and essential to the freedom we hold dear as Americans. Trump lost a fair and free election, even losing in Republican states like Arizona and Georgia. Voters across the nation, and in traditionally conservative states, have handed Trump’s Republican Party a stinging repudiation.
In this country, losing political parties must win arguments and win elections to win power. The Republican Party is clearly losing its ability to win by the rules, and some of its leaders have made it clear that they are open to winning through violence and overthrow.
President Biden, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and soon-to-be Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer must recognize the seriousness of the threat and resist any attempt to move forward and pretend this didn’t happen. The Republican Party launched an attack “on the citadel of liberty,” said Biden on Wednesday.
These Republican leaders failed in their coup attempt. Now they and their supporters must be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law.
As Thomas Friedman wrote the other day, Never Forget the Names of These Republicans Attempting a Coup:
If I were the editor of this newspaper, I’d print all of their pictures on a full page, under the headline: “Never Forget These Faces: These Lawmakers Had a Choice Between Loyalty to Our Constitution and to Trump, and They Chose Trump.”
The New York Times made an effort to follow Friedman’s advice with this piece, The 147 Republicans Who Voted To Overturn Election Results:
You will note that all four Arizona Republican members of Congress participated in this seditious act: Reps. Andy Biggs, Paul Gosar, Debbie Lesko and David Schweikert (top row). All four should face expulsion from Congress and disqualification from ever serving in political office ever again. Invoke the 14th Amendment, Section 3.
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The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, the largest paper in Wisconsin, is calling for the expulsion of Senator Ron Johnson (Russia’s useful idiot in the Senate), along with two other members of the state’s Congressional delegation. “Editorial: Ron Johnson, Scott Fitzgerald and Tom Tiffany should resign or be expelled for siding with Trump against our republic”, https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/solutions/2021/01/07/ron-johnson-scott-fitzgerald-tom-tiffany-must-resign-expelled/6585447002/
It was one of Scott Fitzgerald’s first votes in Congress — and he voted to give aid and comfort to an insurrection.
This is what putting Donald Trump ahead of democracy, the Constitution and the will of the citizens has wrought.
Fitzgerald was joined by fellow Wisconsin Congressman Tom Tiffany in voting with those who wanted to reject Electoral College votes in Arizona and Pennsylvania, just hours after a band of rioters roused by Trump stormed the Capitol.
They would have voted to reject the will of voters in Wisconsin as well, they said later, but they weren’t given the chance.
Members of Congress who supported this effort have been dubbed the Sedition Caucus for their role in inciting violence against our government in order to overturn the results of the presidential election that Joe Biden won by more than 7 million votes.
Fitzgerald and Tiffany were the only members of the House of Representatives from Wisconsin who joined in an insurrection built upon a foundation of ignorance and lies.
Sen. Ron Johnson decided to vote against both baseless challenges to certified votes only after our nation’s Capitol was sacked as Congress gathered to perform its simple constitutional duty to recognize the Electoral College vote.
But Johnson had been shilling for Trump and this moment for days, adding kindling to the megalomaniac’s fire, so his last-minute switch does nothing to absolve his role in stoking this shameful day in American history.
Johnson is a leading member of the Senate’s Sedition Caucus, which is shepherded by the odious Josh Hawley of Missouri. This group threatened to challenge the counting of Electoral College votes even though there was no evidence of fraud, even though dozens of lawsuits to overturn the election had failed for lack of evidence in both state and federal courts, and even though all votes had been certified by the states, some after recounts.
Hawley even had the audacity to send out a fundraising appeal Wednesday — as criminals were breaking through windows at the Capitol and streaming in.
After seeing the damage that their deceitful alliance with Trump has caused, Fitzgerald, Tiffany, Johnson and the rest of the plotters should resign their offices immediately.
All three deserve to be expelled when the new Congress is fully seated, just as 10 senators were expelled in 1861 for refusing to accept the will of the voters who elected Abraham Lincoln as our nation’s first Republican president.
What these legislators did, along with their would-be king, is as dangerous to American democracy as the actions of secessionist lawmakers 160 years ago.
Expel them now — every one of them. We would call for the same action if it was Democrats who were denying the results of a fair election and inciting supporters to violent revolt. People of good will in both political parties need to stand up and say enough is enough because government of the people, by the people and for the people is once more in peril.
Trump’s own former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis correctly identified the character of these “objectors” in Congress, including Johnson, Fitzgerald and Tiffany. He called them “pseudo political leaders whose names will live in infamy as profiles in cowardice.”
Johnson, Fitzgerald and Tiffany are cowardly, and they represent a virulent strain of politics that is an existential threat to democracy. In its early days, it was sometimes carried in the bloodstream of the Tea Party movement. But it found its truest expression in the rise and fall of Donald Trump.
Johnson had the delusional obstinance to claim he and Trump bore no responsibility for the mob attack on the Capitol and Congress, which was spurred by their repeated lies and false claims about the election.
They stoked an insurrection against our government and its free and fair elections with the goal of keeping Trump in power by illegitimate means. They violated their solemn oaths to support and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic. They incited an act of domestic terrorism.
After the shock of Wednesday, Americans will hold their breath as the final days of Trump’s presidency ends in disgrace.
The terms of Johnson, Fitzgerald and Tiffany should all end with his.
Note: Has anyone seen any Arizona newspaper editorialize with forceful language like this against the four Arizona Republican members of Congress who are part of the Sedition Caucus? The silence from Arizona’s media is deafening. The media should be calling for their expulsion from office.
The Kansas City Star follows up its editorial in the post above with a new editorial today calling on Sen. Josh Hawley to resign. “If Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley had a conscience, he’d resign. He’ll have to be removed”, https://www.kansascity.com/opinion/editorials/article248349315.html
(excerpt)
If Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley had shown any evidence that there’s a conscience in there somewhere, underneath the ambition and the artifice and the uncommon combo of striving and laziness that he’s somehow made work for him, then we wouldn’t be where we are right now.
We wouldn’t, that is, be wondering what to say to a man who, having so disgraced his office, and our state, must either resign or be removed from the U.S. Senate.
Having led the parade to the edge of a cliff, Hawley pretends to be astonished by what happened next. And unlike those Republicans who sobered up after seeing the U.S. Capitol trashed, he continues to pretend that the election was stolen from President Donald Trump, who claimed widespread voter fraud even when he really did win, in 2016.
Former Missouri Sen. John C. Danforth, an actual man of honor, told The Star that he blamed his former protégé for Wednesday’s riot. “But for him it wouldn’t have happened. But for him the approval of the Electoral College votes would have been simply a formality. He made it into something that it was a specific way to express the view that the election was stolen. He was responsible.”
We agree.
Danforth also said he blames himself for helping launch Hawley’s political career: “I thought he was special. And I did my best to encourage people to support him both for attorney general and later the U.S. Senate and it was the biggest mistake I’ve ever made in my life.”
If Hawley had more in common with Danforth, he’d be ashamed of himself for cheering on those waving Trump and Confederate flags who desecrated and ransacked what really is a sacred civic space.
But he doesn’t and he won’t.
This is someone who even after surveying the wreckage and the body count — four dead, among those in the MAGA mob who believed the lie that the election had been stolen — did not change course at all.
Instead, he praised the police, meekly tut-tutted at the violence and delivered more false remarks about nonexistent election fraud just as planned.
We can’t appeal to a sense of decency that doesn’t exist.
But we can say that Hawley, who gave a raised fist of encouragement to the likes of that proud lout who put his feet up on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s desk, cannot continue to be our man in Washington, and so will have to be expelled.
Those of you in the Senate who understand what he did, in full possession of the facts and the consequences of twisting them, must do more than censure his treasonous behavior.
He’ll still be the poster boy of the radical right, but if we’re going to keep our democracy, there has to be a penalty for being the ringleader of those encouraging overturning an election.
If Hawley had stepped to the microphone on Wednesday night and said even one true thing — that the election wasn’t stolen — it would have meant something. Because some among those millions who really have been convinced that Trump won in a landslide would have listened to him.
Now, as Republicans at least discuss invoking the 25th Amendment to remove the president from office, Josh Hawley has shown that he’ll be the last Trumper standing. In fact, he may finally have achieved his goal of out-Trumping Trump, since even the president finally conceded on Thursday and said the fight was over.
It will be up to those senators who’ve only recently remembered they do know the difference between facts and fiction to end Hawley’s short and shameful political career.
And ultimately, it will be up to Missouri Republicans to penalize his cynical bet that anything he did, as long as he kept quoting Abraham Lincoln and genuflecting before Donald J. Trump, would without fail be rewarded by you.
Hawley said in a statement that he would “never apologize for giving voice to the millions of Missourians and Americans who have concerns about the integrity of our elections. That’s my job, and I will keep doing it.”
They have concerns because you and others told them lies. That you think it’s your job to keep telling them the lies that have already gotten four of them killed is inexcusable. And it’s why you don’t deserve to stay on our payroll.
UPDATE: The St. Louis Post Dispatch editorializes that Sen. Josh Hawley should resign for his role in the sedition and insurrection. “Hawley should resign. Silent enablers must now publicly condemn Trumpism.”, https://www.stltoday.com/opinion/editorial/editorial-hawley-should-resign-silent-enablers-must-now-publicly-condemn-trumpism/article_beae190c-9c42-5c18-bb54-e3e3877192d7.html
(excerpt)
This newspaper has spent years prodding and urging these Republican leaders to summon their courage and stand against Trump’s most despotic tendencies. Yet they repeatedly opted for cowardly silence. That made them complicit in the deadly violence that occurred Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Sen. Josh Hawley had the gall to stand before the Senate Wednesday night and feign shock, shock at what happened — hours after he had fist-pumped and cheered the rioters as they arrived on Capitol Hill. Hawley’s tardy, cover-his-ass condemnation of the violence ranks at the top of his substantial list of phony, smarmy and politically expedient declarations.
Americans have had enough of Trumpism and the two-faced, lying, populist politicians who embraced it. Hawley’s presidential aspirations have been flushed down the toilet because of his role in instigating Wednesday’s assault on democracy. He should do Missourians and the rest of the country a big favor and resign now.
Trumpism must die before it morphs into Hitlerism. Defenders like Hawley deserve to be cast into political purgatory for having promoted it.
I misspoke when I said that Pence and McConnell spoke up because of the rioters.
Both had their texts prepared before the riots. happened.
Will Hawley and Cruz run for President?
I can’t think that far ahead.
We won in Georgia.
That’s a huge accomplishment. Hardly mentioned.
Should Breyer retire? Would Obama consider a Supreme Court nomination?
I’m glad the Trumpians stormed Congress. Finally, McConnell and Pence spoke up.
Pence was an empty suit to me. He was in tears when he spoke about how much he loved the Constitution.
McConnell also voiced his praise for Democracy… finally.
I don’t think we should throw Trump out. Too much discord. He must not attend the inaguration,, either or fly out on Air Force One.
He should be escorted out the back door..