WASHINGTON — The day after Josh Hawley turned the primary Republican senator to say he would indulge President Trump’s demand that lawmakers attempt to overturn the election, a reporter requested if he thought the gambit would make him unpopular along with his colleagues.
“Greater than I already am?” he retorted.
Even earlier than Mr. Hawley lodged what was sure to be a futile objection to Congress’s certification of the outcomes, the 41-year-old senator — considered a rising Republican star who may at some point run for president — was removed from the chamber’s hottest lawmaker.
His insistence on urgent the problem after a violent mob egged on by Mr. Trump stormed the Capitol to protest President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s victory, endangering your entire Congress and the vice chairman in a day of terror that left not less than 5 folks useless, has earned him pariah standing in Washington.
However whereas Mr. Hawley’s position within the riot might have left him shunned — not less than for now — in official circles, it could solely have improved his inventory along with his get together’s base in his dwelling state, which stays deeply loyal to Mr. Trump.
His fellow Republicans within the Senate lined as much as blame Mr. Hawley for the riot. The editorial boards of main newspapers in Missouri accused him of getting “blood on his fingers” and referred to as on him to resign. His writer canceled his ebook deal and his erstwhile mentor referred to as his efforts to get Mr. Hawley elected to the Senate “the most important mistake I’ve ever made.”
“However for him, it wouldn’t have occurred,” former Senator John C. Danforth of Missouri, the Republican elder statesman, informed The Kansas Metropolis Star of his former protégé’s position within the riot.
Mr. Hawley has remained defiant, arguing Wednesday night that the electoral depend in Congress was the correct venue to debate his considerations about fraud within the balloting, although he by no means made a selected cost of wrongdoing.
“I’ll by no means apologize for giving voice to the hundreds of thousands of Missourians and Individuals who’ve considerations concerning the integrity of our elections,” Mr. Hawley mentioned in an announcement. “That’s my job, and I’ll hold doing it.”
However many Republicans dismissed his effort as grandstanding supposed to additional his personal political ambitions. Some Democratic senators demanded his resignation. And on Friday, Mr. Biden mentioned that Mr. Hawley and Senator Ted Cruz, Republican of Texas, had been a part of “the large lie” that had animated Mr. Trump’s refusal to concede, invoking Joseph Goebbels, Nazi Germany’s minister of propaganda.
Mr. Hawley lashed out at Mr. Biden, accusing him of “undignified, immature, and intemperate conduct” and calling on him to “retract these sick feedback.”
Hours after the mob was cleared from the Capitol on Wednesday, Mr. Hawley refused to drop his problem to the election outcomes, objecting to Pennsylvania’s slate of electors and forcing each chambers right into a two-hour debate on his name to throw out hundreds of thousands of the state’s votes.
A picture of Senator Mitt Romney, Republican of Utah, sitting behind Mr. Hawley and obtrusive because the Missourian gazed into tv cameras and made his case from the Senate flooring turned an instantaneous meme. Mr. Hawley’s problem was rejected by broad bipartisan margins, with solely six Republican senators becoming a member of him in supporting it.
By Thursday, the fallout reached past the scorn of his colleagues. The writer Simon & Schuster mentioned it was canceling publication of his ebook “The Tyranny of Large Tech,” citing “his position in what turned a harmful menace.” Mr. Hawley responded with an indignant assertion that referred to as his former writer a “woke mob” and described their determination as “a direct assault on the First Modification.”
The Presidential Transition
“This might not be extra Orwellian,” Mr. Hawley mentioned. “That is the left making an attempt to cancel everybody they don’t approve of.”
But a number of the harshest criticism got here from his personal get together. His bid was in direct defiance of Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican chief, who had implored his members to not problem the election outcomes and drive a divisive vote when there was no probability of fixing the end result. Searing blowback got here from different Republicans who’re additionally thought of 2024 presidential contenders and will discover themselves operating in opposition to Mr. Hawley in a crowded major.
“Senator Hawley was doing one thing that was actually dumbass,” Senator Ben Sasse, Republican of Nebraska, informed NPR. “This was a stunt. It was a horrible, horrible thought. And also you don’t misinform the American folks. And that’s what’s been happening.”
Senator Tom Cotton, Republican of Arkansas, additionally lashed out at Mr. Hawley in a Fox Information interview on Thursday — although he didn’t name him out by title — for indulging the hassle to overturn the election.
“You will have some senators who, for political benefit, had been giving false hope to their supporters, deceptive them into pondering that someway yesterday’s actions in Congress may reverse the outcomes of the election,” Mr. Cotton mentioned in a clip circulated by his workplace. “That was by no means going to occur, but these senators, as insurrectionists actually stormed the Capitol, had been sending out fund-raising emails. That shouldn’t have occurred, and it’s bought to cease now.”
Scott Jennings, a Republican strategist and former aide to Mr. McConnell, mentioned in an interview that he believed Mr. Hawley’s determination to lift his objection to Pennsylvania’s electors hours after the mob stormed the Capitol was a “disqualifying” show of judgment.
“As soon as the Capitol had been actually occupied, how will you give quarter to the point of view that brought on the occupation?” Mr. Jennings mentioned. “What wouldn’t it have taken for Josh Hawley to withdraw his objection? How do you come again from that?”
Some Democrats mentioned Mr. Hawley by no means may. Senators Patty Murray of Washington, the No. three Democrat, and Chris Coons of Delaware, one in all Mr. Biden’s closest allies within the chamber, demanded that Mr. Hawley resign. Senator Tim Kaine, Democrat of Virginia, argued that the Senate ought to censure him.
“Any senator who stands up and helps the ability of drive over the ability of democracy has damaged their oath of workplace,” Ms. Murray mentioned in an announcement.
Nonetheless, as Republicans struggled to get well from an episode that has uncovered deep rifts of their ranks, there was proof that Mr. Hawley’s actions on Wednesday had boosted his standing with influential parts of his get together.
The Senate Conservatives Fund, a political motion committee based by former Senator Jim DeMint, defended Mr. Hawley and urged its members to donate to his marketing campaign.
“The junior senator from Missouri’s determination to object to the election outcomes confirmed large braveness,” the fund-raising pitch, signed by Mary Vought, the fund’s government director, mentioned. “Conservatives ought to stand shoulder to shoulder with him in defending our cherished values.”
Christian Morgan, a St. Louis-based strategist and former prime aide to Consultant Ann Wagner, Republican of Missouri, additionally defended Mr. Hawley.
“Bernie Sanders didn’t trigger the tried mass assassination of Republican Members of Congress, James Hodgkinson did,” Mr. Morgan wrote on Twitter, referring to a liberal activist who opened fireplace on Republican lawmakers throughout a softball apply in 2017. “Josh Hawley & Ted Cruz didn’t trigger an indignant mob to invade the Capitol and homicide a Capitol Police.”
Leaders of the Missouri Republican Get together didn’t reply to interview requests on Friday. However their most up-to-date Fb put up — celebrating Nationwide Missouri Day and written earlier than the chaos on Wednesday — began drawing feedback suggesting that get together leaders start looking for a candidate to mount a major problem to Roy Blunt, Missouri’s senior Republican senator, who voted to certify the election outcomes.
The previous head of Missouri’s Republican Get together, Jean Evans, mentioned that she resigned from the place earlier than the occasions on Wednesday in response to receiving calls from individuals who had been demanding that the get together bus folks to protest in Washington and calling for violent conduct.
“I used to be involved and alarmed by what I used to be listening to from sure parts throughout the get together calling for a coup,” Ms. Evans informed an area tv station.