During Thursday night’s Jan. 6 House select committee hearing, committee members took a few moments to give us all the gift of humiliating Josh Hawley, just straight-up annihilating him into inept dust.
Josh Hawley played no small role in driving the events of January 6. He led the charge to refuse to certify Joe Biden’s electoral votes, giving congressional legitimacy to the baseless claims that the election had been “rigged.” And, of course, on the morning of the riot, he gave an infamous fist pump to protesters—some of whom would then go on to violently storm the Capitol.
Hawley never showed any regret or remorse for encouraging the rioters. In fact, he was so proud of that moment, he used it to fundraise and even went on to put the image on merch, stealing the work of the photographer who took the now infamously iconic picture in the process. He’s also tepidly condemned violence (which Republicans have consistently downplayed) while praising the January 6 protesters, even going so far as to claim the word “rioter,” as applied to this group, is a “slur.”
Well, Thursday night, the committee proved that Hawley wasn’t always so supportive of these demonstrators. A clip from security footage shows Hawley running away—fleeing—as his beloved “demonstrators” breach the Capitol.
Missouri Senator Josh Hawley shown pumping fist, then fleeing Capitol in Jan. 6 congressional hearing pic.twitter.com/WnxmUaWh8t
— The Kansas City Star (@KCStar) July 22, 2022
There was reportedly “an eruption of laughter” inside the chamber when the footage was shown and the internet is, of course, having a field day.
Me sowing: Haha fuck yeah!!! Yes!!
— Matthew Gertz (@MattGertz) July 22, 2022
Me reaping: Well this fucking sucks. What the fuck. pic.twitter.com/K6NTbvufvC
Josh Hawley to white supremacists breaking into the capitol vs. Josh Hawley after white supremacists break into the capitol pic.twitter.com/mzCREniAYN
— Mike Drucker (@MikeDrucker) July 22, 2022
Josh Hawley running away to a variety of soundtracks.
— Mallory Nees (@The_Mal_Gallery) July 22, 2022
Pt. 2: Benny Hill Theme pic.twitter.com/3cl6otJxiJ
Josh Hawley watching TV right now pic.twitter.com/AAc3gHKHlf
— Aaron.givesmart (@BobbyBigWheel) July 22, 2022
Maybe you can try to argue that Hawley really didn’t expect the protesters he cheered to go on to threaten his safety with their violent rioting. But remember, Hawley felt he was in serious enough danger to flee, and then after that, he came back and still voted not to certify the election. And after that, he made merch celebrating his encouragement of the riot.
something that shouldn’t get lost in all the dunks on Josh Hawley is that he voted to reject the election results *AFTER* he hightailed it out of the Capitol under duress
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 22, 2022
Remember: Even after running for his life, Sen. Hawley chose to fundraise off his encouraging and fist-pumping the violent mob, and even sold merchandise of himself doing so from then through *this year* – even after Politico, who later acquired the image, sent a cease and desist https://t.co/eNU8iIqbxl
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) July 22, 2022
We’ve always known Josh Hawley doesn’t actually have any convictions and that he doesn’t believe in the things he says and does, but it’s nice to have video confirmation.
(image: Al Drago-Pool/Getty Images)
