Starring Josh Hawley, as the Sad Joke
The January 6 House Select Committee concluded its eighth hearing last night after giving the world a nearly three hour presentation of the excruciating details of the 187 minutes in which then-President Donald Trump purposely refused to act. The committee was precise: Trump finished his speech at the Ellipse, told his supporters to march to the Capitol, was back in the Oval Office within minutes, and he knew every excruciating detail of the siege and the ongoing violence almost immediately. The only thing Donald Trump did was watch the television coverage with glee and tweet incendiary comments about Mike Pence.
New evidence was presented on Thursday night and live testimony was taken from two former Trump aides who resigned on Jan. 7, 2021, over the attacks. More video depositions of Pat Cipollone and General Mark Milley and other Trump aides were played to show that everyone was advising against Trump’s refusal to stop the violence. Just like the other seven hearings, the format was methodical, compelling and at times, heart wrenching.
The most poignant moment came when audio testimony was played that described the communications by Secret Service agents during the worst part of the attack. Many were making personal requests to tell their families they loved them and these harrowing words only emphasized the truth of that day: many political leaders and their security details thought they were going to die.
The testimony was again riveting, and I would encourage you to watch the entire hearing and review my Twitter feed from last night, that highlights all of the important details. Bottom line: this hearing provided evidentiary support, suitable in a court of law, to prove what we already knew — Donald Trump wanted to stay in office at any price, even if it meant murdering his own Vice President.
My favorite moment of these hearings so far, came last night, when Committee Member Rep. Elaine Luria (D-VA) showed the world what a coward Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) truly was during the insurrection. For reference, Hawley was instrumental in fueling Trump supporters on the days leading up to the insurrection and for telling crowds to fight by raising his fist in the air in front of the US Capitol Building. At this point, you will want to refresh your recollection with Hawley’s insidious behaviors to induce and prolong the idea of a federal coup, by reading my article, We Are Still Asking What Role Hawley and Cruz Played in Jan. 6.
Make no mistake, Josh Hawley played a starring role in the threat to overthrow our Democracy, and has remained unscathed thus far in the courts of law and public option — until last night. Last night, the Special Committee stood in solidarity with the rest of America, who has been begging for some kind of retribution against Hawley and others (we see you, Ted Cruz), for his role in the Jan. 6 insurrection. The panel provided us all with a much needed laugh that in fact reminds us that while justice should be swift in theory, it is often slow in actuality. Congress has not forgotten about Josh Hawley, America — and last night proved it.
The hearing was televised live, but the feed was blocking out the external sounds that were being made in the room. This was likely done for many reasons, but journalists who attended the hearing live last night were able to capture the true reaction in the hearing room when Rep. Luria played the footage of Josh Hawley running for his life from the Capitol when the attack started.
Watch the video of this version embedded in the tweet below first. This is what we all saw on television as we were watching the hearing live:
My first reaction to seeing this version was that it was a searing rebuke to a man who had played a role in stoking the violence, only to flee at the first moment of alarm. This video was made even more powerful with the knowledge that the woman presenting it, a former Navy Commander Elaine Luria, was trapped in the Capitol building and thought she might be killed by the intruders that Hawley worked so hard to fire up.
I thought about the fear and the anger that everyone who was trapped in the Capitol on that day must have felt and are still feeling. I thought about how what kept them all going was their dedication to finishing the people’s work and trying to appear courageous to give the rest of us strength. As much anger and fury as we all have for the actions of Josh Hawley, that have so far gone un-checked, the level of vitriol among his colleagues must be astronomical.
Here is the version of the event that is filmed from the Committee Hearing Room last night, where the laughing is audible. You can watch the video embedded in the tweet below:
After playing this several times, over and over, I realized that the simultaneously funny and infuriating feeling I was experiencing must be ten-fold for everyone else in Congress that still has to serve with people like Hawley, and Cruz, and Taylor-Green, and Boebert. Congress has had this footage since Jan 7, 2021 and I can’t even imagine the jokes that have been circulating in those hallowed halls. Twitter is good, but savvy political colleagues who have been personally screwed over, are better.
I did my duty for America last night. I created the best meme of the Hawley footage that I could think of (see below). It does not compare to whomever created the hashtag #HawlingAss — that should win some kind of award. But today, when I think more about this footage and I hear the sound of the laughter like a permanent, cruel laugh track in my head, I am not satisfied or relieved.
While the footage was a great, and a much needed moment of levity last night, it was merely a distraction from the much bigger feelings that have settled in today. Josh Hawley is the representation of America for many people in Conservative States. He appears to be clean-cut, and educated, and passionate, and righteous. We know, of course that Hawley is none of those things — he is merely a sad and desperate outdated ideology.
That image of Hawley with his fist in the air, juxtaposed beside the image of him running like a coward is the perfect representation of the Republican Party. Nothing so far, not the degradation of Donald Trump, not an attempted coup on the traditional staples they claim to love so much…nothing has changed them.
What hit me hardest about last night was my waning hope for half of our country and their refusal to course-correct their malignant policies. The Republican Party of today does not love America and I fear many may have never loved America — they only love trying to destroy it.
Here are some other SHERO articles that will help provide more background on last night’s hearing and compliment this article:
We Are Still Asking What Role Hawley and Cruz Played in Jan. 6
Tuberville and RAGA Now Directly Implicated in Trump's Coup
Was QAnon Congress A Part of the Coup? (Part 2)
Amee Vanderpool writes the SHERO Newsletter and is an attorney, published author, contributor to newspapers and magazines, and analyst for BBC radio. She can be reached at avanderpool@gmail.com or follow her on Twitter @girlsreallyrule.
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The Missouri Democratic Party may be hosting a Hawlin’ Hawley 5K. They posted to FB.
US seem to be descending into fascist, terrorist, criminal jogger jokes, which are funny, of course, but the laughter is getting somewhat strained. Take all citizen rights from every gop, as a matter of critical national security.