How did Josh Hawley transition from a privileged rich kid with an Ivy League education to a fist-pumping antidemocratic insurrectionist? The Washington Post traces the path of Hawley and how he betrayed and backstabbed his way to a senatorship.
From the article:
[Hawley] has expressed sympathy with some of the country's most far-right, anti-government extremists, demonstrating a willingness to see the world through their grievance-infused prism even after horrific attacks — from Oklahoma City in 1995, when he was 15, to the Capitol attack in 2021.
In the wake of Jan. 6, Hawley has made clear that he is committed to just one of those personas. It is the one that propelled him to promote Trump's baseless election claims and help inspire an insurrection — and it has made Hawley an instant star in today's far-right Republican Party.
Now, former friends and supporters — a middle school classmate, a law school professor, a conservative columnist who promoted him and the Republican stalwart who recruited him to run for the Senate — say they are shocked that he has become a different politician than they expected, describing themselves as victims of political deception and personal betrayal.
"I feel very responsible for Josh Hawley being in the Senate. I feel terrible about it," said former senator John C. Danforth (R-Mo.), who recently called his encouragement of Hawley's Senate run the "greatest mistake of my life." He added, "Josh Hawley played a central role in creating if not the darkest day in American history, one of the darkest days in American history."
Hawley's dream seems to be to transform the United States into a fascist theocracy in the style of The Republic Gilead as depicted in The Handmaid's Tale.
