Don't Count Josh Hawley Out Yet

 January 12, 2021

 

A lot of people think that Josh Hawley should resign from the Senate, after having helped incite a riot at the Capitol last week. Citizens are demonstrating, and major corporations are pulling their support.

Although some of his colleagues are annoyed with Hawley, he really has no incentive to step down. Why not?

• Because senators have tolerated the President’s excesses for four years. They’re not going to suddenly become conscientious about their duties of protecting the country from bad leadership, no matter how much they protest right now.
• Because the “Stop the Steal” mentality isn’t limited to the rioters. Lots of solid citizens—voters—feel the same way, and the Republicans don’t want to alienate them. So they’re not going to go after Hawley, no matter how egregious his conduct is. The only thing that will make them act is if they feel that Hawley’s actions will somehow negatively affect their own careers. Period.
• Because people’s memories are short. He may be denied a committee seat for a while, but otherwise, Hawley can wait for this to blow over. And it will. And he may very well run for president.

And nobody will stand in his way. He just has to wait it out.