Josh Hawley

[freepcrusher]

anyone here find this guy to be dangerous? I mean I can accept him being a senate lifer. But I'm worried his ideas catch on and of him being president. He seems like someone who wants a theocracy but is hiding it behind some sort of disingenuous economic populism. If conservative treehouse or the federalist are correct in there assertion that the Obama people were wiretapping the Trump campaign - the next dem administration needs to keep a close eye on this guy.

[TML]

Yes, I agree with this assessment. I think he has the potential to be a more competent version of Trump - i.e. he could move the country in a more authoritarian direction without turning as many people off as Trump does.

[brucejoel99]

Yes, I agree with this assessment. I think he has the potential to be a more competent version of Trump - i.e. he could move the country in a more authoritarian direction without turning as many people off as Trump does.

Yup, he's all of the evil that Trumpism represents but in a more competent & presentable package.

[UncleSam]

He’s angling to take a run at 2028 I think. I doubt he will want to run in 2024 and potentially give up his senate seat, plus Pence etc will probably be running anyway and odds are Republicans will be underdogs to an incumbent Biden at that point. In 2028 however the eight-year itch will be coming around and he can run for president without risking his senate seat.

I know next to nothing about him other than that he seems like a generic mainstream R senator with some legal experience. I kinda doubt his presidential ambitions will go anywhere if I’m being honest.

I still think Rubio and Haley are the most dangerous Rs for Democrats to worry about through the 2020s.

[SnowLabrador]

I could definitely see him being a "Trump after Trump" if you will. I agree that he's highly dangerous and will probably run for President in the future. We also have to worry about Tom Cotton.

[Dr Oz Lost Party!]

He could be a more competent version of Trump, but I doubt he has what it takes to win in a primary that's going to include Pence and Don Jr.

[TiltsAreUnderrated]

Yes, I agree with this assessment. I think he has the potential to be a more competent version of Trump - i.e. he could move the country in a more authoritarian direction without turning as many people off as Trump does.

Yup, he's all of the evil that Trumpism represents

Citation needed. He appears to be at least somewhat dishonest about his principles but, beyond the standard pitfalls of conservative populism, the naked corruption and dictatorial tendencies aren't so clear (they could be there, but I'd say the evidence isn't in plain sight). He is much less of an obvious villain than Tom Cotton, Ted Cruz or most of the other plausible future GOP nominees. He seems less committed to the sort of corrosive corporatism that defines most of them, at least.

but in a more competent & presentable package.

He's certainly an electoral storm cloud for Democrats.

[morgieb]

While I agree the package is appealing, I just don't see Hawley being an effective messenger for it. He is still young though and I can see his brand of politics appealing more in 10+ years time when it becomes very difficult for Republicans to win with their current coalition.

[Hope For A New Era]

Very dangerous. Luckily, he will likely flop in the primary after being overhyped for months prior to that point.

[Roll Roons]

Yes, I agree with this assessment. I think he has the potential to be a more competent version of Trump - i.e. he could move the country in a more authoritarian direction without turning as many people off as Trump does.

Yup, he's all of the evil that Trumpism represents

Citation needed. He appears to be at least somewhat dishonest about his principles but, beyond the standard pitfalls of conservative populism, the naked corruption and dictatorial tendencies aren't so clear (they could be there, but I'd say the evidence isn't in plain sight). He is much less of an obvious villain than Tom Cotton, Ted Cruz or most of the other plausible future GOP nominees. He seems less committed to the sort of corrosive corporatism that defines most of them, at least.

but in a more competent & presentable package.

He's certainly an electoral storm cloud for Democrats.

Hawley might be a different story, but I honestly don't think Cotton would even make it that far in a primary. Trump, for all of his awfulness, is charismatic in his own perverse way. Cotton is kind of robotic and not someone who can work up a crowd in the same way.

[freepcrusher]

the one thing that sort of contradicts what I'm thinking is that maybe Hawley sort of has the causal arrows wrong. The economic populism stuff is not something you intellectualize. It's more gut instinct. Trump has sort of a Camacho "I totally kickass" vibe to him of which economic populism is just one component. Hawley clearly is not like that.

[HAnnA MArin County]

Horrible Hawley is extremely overrated. He's a grifter and like Trump, exists only to troll on divisive cultural issues. I agree with the aforementioned comparisons to Little Marco. He's nice to look at, but that's all he has going for him.

[brucejoel99]

Yes, I agree with this assessment. I think he has the potential to be a more competent version of Trump - i.e. he could move the country in a more authoritarian direction without turning as many people off as Trump does.

Yup, he's all of the evil that Trumpism represents

Citation needed. He appears to be at least somewhat dishonest about his principles but, beyond the standard pitfalls of conservative populism, the naked corruption and dictatorial tendencies aren't so clear (they could be there, but I'd say the evidence isn't in plain sight). He is much less of an obvious villain than Tom Cotton, Ted Cruz or most of the other plausible future GOP nominees. He seems less committed to the sort of corrosive corporatism that defines most of them, at least.

but in a more competent & presentable package.

He's certainly an electoral storm cloud for Democrats.

Hawley (like Cotton) has seemingly more-than-demonstrated that he's one of the biggest supporters possible of Trump's populist-authoritarian tendencies & denigration of the rule of law. As far as I'm concerned, that's more than enough to prove to me that he'd be a competent Trump if presented with the opportunity.

[GP270watch]

Hawley, Cotton, and Pompeo are the worst Republicans to me. Trump is basically just a grifter and in service of Trump but these other dudes represent the total all around crapfest of recent Republican orthodoxy(corporatism,fantasy economics,environmental degradation) combined with the backwardness of Trump's xenophobic and isolationist domestic policy.

[Kyle Rittenhouse is a Political Prisoner]

God willing.

[BigSerg]

i love Hawley

[Yellowhammer]

Our future President

[Badger]

Yes, I agree with this assessment. I think he has the potential to be a more competent version of Trump - i.e. he could move the country in a more authoritarian direction without turning as many people off as Trump does.

Yup, he's all of the evil that Trumpism represents but in a more competent & presentable package.

Literally 90% of Republican Presidential aspirants are just as evil As Trump, but far more dangerous because they have even a modicum of ability to cover up their incompetence and Evil

[HAnnA MArin County]

Hawley, Cotton, and Pompeo are the worst Republicans to me. Trump is basically just a grifter and in service of Trump but these other dudes represent the total all around crapfest of recent Republican orthodoxy(corporatism,fantasy economics,environmental degradation) combined with the backwardness of Trump's xenophobic and isolationist domestic policy.

This is what I think too. While Republicans have basically always exploited the small-mindedness and prejudices (I'm sorry, "economic anxieties") of their base of poor working whites in the rural areas, Trump is simply in this for Trump and I think he knows that the GOP is a circus full of clowns (they'd have to be to want him to be King Bozo); meanwhile, the other fascist deplorables (Hawley, Cruz, Cotton, etc.) are far, far worse because they actually believe their own hype. I know it's cliche, but Trump is just a symptom and conservatism is essentially the disease.

[Bleach Blonde Bad Built Butch Bodies for Biden]

Depending on how 2024 shapes up, Hawley could be a more competent version of Trump, or he could be a Huckabee-ite candidate whose brand of emphasis on religious issues is no longer trendy as it was in the 80s-mid aughts.

I would even say at this point that Cotton stands a better chance of winning the nomination, but if he lets his foreign policy hawkishness define his campaign then that could be his own undoing.

America's moved away from religious social conservatism and neocon warmongering. They both might appear formidable, but someone along the lines of Ron DeSantis would be better messenger for Trumpism. And even then, his COVID response has been atrocious and that is what will make or break every incumbent executive at this time.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

Yes, I agree with this assessment. I think he has the potential to be a more competent version of Trump - i.e. he could move the country in a more authoritarian direction without turning as many people off as Trump does.

Yup, he's all of the evil that Trumpism represents but in a more competent & presentable package.

We'll of course get something like that since Democrats attacked Trump's personality and acted like he's some huge exception in American politics rather than a symptom. For some reason, Arnold got a pass on being at least as misogynist as Trump.

[RINO Tom]

I think people on this site focus on him WAY more than ... well, anywhere else.  Mostly because he's a poster child for some grand and total realignment that about 40% of the site fantasizes about daily.

[Person Man]

I think people on this site focus on him WAY more than ... well, anywhere else.  Mostly because he's a poster child for some grand and total realignment that about 40% of the site fantasizes about daily.

He will probably run and will at least place in the next contested GOP primary. He has about as equal chance of leaving federal/gubernatorial politics in the next 10 years as he does becoming president.

[Senator Incitatus]

an great heroe!

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

an great heroe!

I'm dating myself by saying this, but I wish Hawley would become an hero.

(too soon?)