As 2021 got underway, Sen. Josh Hawley did not find himself in a good position. After the Missouri Republican helped take the lead in trying to overturn President Joe Biden’s victory, Hawley was briefly seen as a political “pariah.”
As regular readers know, the GOP senator was denounced by former allies; prominent businesses distanced themselves from him; several independent media outlets called on Hawley to resign in disgrace; and several of his Senate colleagues filed an ethics complaint against him.
Even many Republicans balked. The Washington Post’s Michael Gerson, a former George W. Bush speechwriter, concluded, “The ambitions of this knowledgeable, talented young man are now a threat to the republic.” Republican Sen. Ben Sasse added, in reference to Hawley, “Adults don’t point a loaded gun at the heart of legitimate self-government.” Republican Sen. Pat Toomey said Hawley would be “haunted“ by his actions.
At this point, the start of 2022 isn’t quite as dramatic for the Missourian, but it’s only marginally better.
A couple of weeks ago, for example, Hawley denounced Biden’s commitment to appointing a Black woman to the Supreme Court. Asked why it was fine when Ronald Reagan made a similar vow, the senator said 1980 was “ancient history,” which didn’t make sense.
Around the same time, the GOP lawmaker noted that Biden opposed a far-right judicial nominee in 2005 who was also a Black woman. This was proof, he said, of … something. (Hawley also called on Biden to “unite the country” by nominating this same far-right jurist to the high court now. He didn’t appear to be kidding.)
One day later, the senator blamed the American president for Russia threatening Ukraine. When Hawley went on to suggest that the White House give Vladimir Putin the NATO commitments the Russian autocrat wants, Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger called Hawley “one of the worst human beings,” and a self-aggrandizing “con artist.”
Soon after, the editorial board of The St. Louis Post-Dispatch told readers that Hawley is “grossly unfit” for office.
This week, Hawley managed to infuriate those around him a bit more. Politico reported:
Frustrations with Sen. Josh Hawley’s monthslong slow-walking of Pentagon nominees boiled over on Thursday, as one top Democrat slammed the Missouri Republican for hamstringing the military as it responds to the threat of a Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Evidently, as part of an extended fit over the end of the U.S. war in Afghanistan, Hawley has taken procedural steps to slow-walk many of the White House’s Defense Department nominees. As a result, when Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen tried to approve three key Pentagon nominees yesterday, the Missourian refused.
Among the trio was Celeste Wallander, a Russia expert whom the president nominated to serve as the Pentagon’s top international security official. In other words, as Putin amasses troops along the Ukrainian border, Hawley is standing in the way of important and highly relevant nominees — not because he thinks they’re unqualified for the job, but because he’s not done throwing a tantrum over events in Afghanistan last summer. “What my colleague from Missouri is doing is making us less secure because he’s holding nominees,” Shaheen said following Hawley’s objection. “He’s complaining about the problems we have in Russia and Ukraine and he’s making it worse because he’s not willing to allow those nominees who can help with that problem to go forward. “He sits on the Armed Services Committee with me where he has access to the same information about our pressing national security challenges, and yet he’s holding up these nominees,” the New Hampshire senator added. “He’s disregarding the threats that we face because he’d rather grandstand on Afghanistan.” To be sure, Hawley is in the minority, and there are procedural limits on what Republicans can do to block executive-branch nominees. But by utilizing obstructionist tactics, while remaining indifferent to the consequences, the Republican lawmaker will force Democratic leaders to jump through a series of time-consuming hoops in order to confirm nominees who aren’t especially controversial, and who already have more than enough votes to be approved. If Hawley wants to prove wrong those who see him as “grossly unfit,” he’s going about it the wrong way.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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