01 hawley DEC2020
CNN  — 

It’s been two weeks since a violent mob – egged on by ex-President Donald Trump and a complicit Republican Party – stormed the US Capitol amid formal counting of the Electoral College vote to confirm Joe Biden had won the White House.

And Josh Hawley still isn’t sorry.

Hawley, a freshman Republican senator from Missouri, was the leading voice inside the Senate to formally object to the Electoral College results in several states, including Arizona and Pennsylvania – despite zero evidence in either state of any sort of wrongdoing or malfeasance related to the votes. (Hawley’s support for the objections ensured that there would be a debate over each state’s electoral votes and a vote on each.)

While Trump was quite clearly the spark that lit the fire that led to January 6, Hawley was one of the main gatherers of the tinder that turned it into a raging inferno.

There have been a series of consequences as a result of Hawley’s aiding and abetting of the false idea that the election was somehow stolen.

His book – “The Tyranny of Big Tech” – was dropped by Simon & Schuster, who cited “[Hawley’s] s role in what became a dangerous threat to our democracy and freedom” as the reason.

Senate Democrats have moved against Hawley and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, filing an ethics complaint on Thursday against both men aimed at prompting an investigation into their roles in the incitement and encouragement of the January 6 riot.

The Missouri senator’s response to all of the blowback? Bring it on!

Hawley called the Simon & Schuster decision “Orwellian” and promised to “fight this cancel culture with everything I have.” Of the ethics complaint, Hawley accused his Senate Democratic colleagues of “brazenly trying to silence dissent.”

In an appearance on Tucker Carlson’s show on Fox News Thursday night, Hawley dismissed Biden’s talk of unity in his inauguration speech.

“We hear a lot of talk now about unity, but sadly, I think they don’t want unity, they want control and they want you to have the same opinions, voice the same opinions, toe the party line, and if you don’t, then they’re willing to use every power at their disposal to shut you down,” Hawley told Carlson.

And, it’s not just his words. It’s his actions, too.

Hawley was one of only two votes against the confirmation of Lloyd Austin as defense secretary on Friday. (Utah Republican Sen. Mike Lee was the other.) And earlier this week, Hawley blocked speedy consideration of Alejandro Mayorkas as Biden’s choice to lead the Department of Homeland Security over concerns about how the southern border will be policed by the new administration. (Biden issued an executive order shortly after taking over as president that halts construction of the border wall, a Trump pet project.)

If you’ve paid any attention at all to Republican politics over (at least) the last four years, none of this should surprise you. At the core of Donald Trump’s life (and political) philosophy is the idea that you should never, ever apologize because it shows weakness to your enemies. Instead, you should double down on any perceived mistakes you’ve committed and insist to anyone willing to listen that you were either a) right all along or b) will be proved right in the long run.

Hawley, who would love to be the heir to the Trump coalition come 2024, has clearly taken that lesson to heart. Rather than apologizing for his role in convincing the GOP base that the election was fraudulent, he’s turned the entire debacle into a fight against, in Hawley’s own words, the “woke mob.”

That may well be good politics for him in a Republican Party whose base still pledges near-total fealty to Trump. But it’s something well short of what actual leadership looks like.