Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) says, “Washington Republicanism lost big Tuesday night” in the midterm elections because the party’s agenda, set forth by leadership, consistently caved to Democrats.
Following Tuesday night’s midterm elections, where Republicans are looking to squeak out small majorities in the House and Senate, Hawley blasted the Republican establishment for their caving to Democrats as well as corporate special interests.
“Washington Republicanism lost big Tuesday night,” Hawley wrote on Twitter. “When your ‘agenda’ is cave to Big Pharma on insulin, cave to [Sen. Chuck] Schumer on gun control & Green New Deal (‘infrastructure’), and tease changes to Social Security and Medicare, you lose.”
Hawley called on House and Senate Republicans to put forth a fiercely economic populist agenda to help their working and lower-middle class base and vastly popular positions on crime and corruption.
“What are Republicans actually going to do for working people? How about, to start: tougher tariffs on China, reshore American jobs, open up American energy full throttle, 100k new cops on the street,” Hawley continued. “Unrig the system.”
What are Republicans actually going to do for working people? How about, to start: tougher tariffs on China, reshore American jobs, open up American energy full throttle, 100k new cops on the street. Unrig the system
— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) November 10, 2022
The remarks come as Hawley declared earlier this week that he would not support Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) for Senate Majority Leader if Republicans take back the Senate.
“I don’t imagine I will, no,” Hawley said when asked if he would support McConnell. “I’m not sure if any other senator will run or not. Nobody’s indicated they would. But my view is that we need new leadership in that position.”
Hawley reportedly listed a number of reasons he is likely to oppose McConnell to lead Republicans in the Senate, including Republicans’ insistence on voting with Democrats, giving billions in American taxpayer money to Ukraine, backing President Joe Biden’s massive infrastructure package, and lack of support for anti-crime legislation.
In addition to McConnell’s decision to cut funding from Republican Senate candidates in Arizona and New Hampshire, Hawley reportedly added, “I did not agree with the idea that you go out there and badmouth our own candidates in the middle of an election.”
Despite a smaller showing than expected, national populist candidates — backing policies that Hawley has endorsed in the Senate — won on Tuesday evening, such as Republican J.D. Vance in Ohio and Ron DeSantis in Florida.
In an extensive interview with Breitbart News, Vance indicated that the nation needs a new generation of political leaders and has suggested his opposition to U.S. funding for Ukraine’s war with Russia.
On public policy, Vance pledged to help America’s union workers take power back from their Democrat union bosses and has said that the U.S. needs a “committed national policy of tariffs” to “rebuild the industrial heartland of America.”
In addition, Vance said a new Congress must reverse the H-1B visa program that continues to allow multinational corporations to replace American professionals and U.S. graduates, often in high-paying STEM jobs, with cheaper foreign visa workers.
Meanwhile, DeSantis has broken with old-guard Republicans to go after the Disney Corporation for their promotion of woke ideology on young Americans. In April, for instance, DeSantis signed into law a bill that dissolves the corporation’s special tax district in the state.
DeSantis has similarly assailed “corporatism” as a stain on free markets, urging Republicans not to defer and relinquish power to corporations and business executives.
“… corporatism is not the same as free enterprise,” DeSantis said in September.
“I think too many Republicans have used limited government to basically mean whatever is best for corporate America is how we want to do the economy,” DeSantis said. “… the United States is a nation that has an economy, not the other way around, and our economy should be geared towards helping our own people.”
