This is more or less a spur of the moment decision to change direction and share a couple of letters that I’ve sent to my senator, Sen. Joshua Hawley. I’m hoping that it will provide me some catharsis, because I am absolutely livid with that A-Hole.
It all began when I came across an article in the Washington Post where Hawley (turns out mendaciously) claims in a Tweet that “Antifa scumbags” came to his house in Vienna, VA to threaten his wife, screamed threats, vandalized and tried to pound open the door. (That house in Vienna is currently the only home he has. He used his sister’s address in the Ozarks to claim Missouri residence.)
Here’s Hawley’s lying Tweet:
Tonight while I was in Missouri, Antifa scumbags came to our place in DC and threatened my wife and newborn daughter, who can’t travel. They screamed threats, vandalized, and tried to pound open our door. Let me be clear: My family & I will not be intimidated by leftwing violence
— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) January 5, 2021
For those that can’t access Twitter:
Tonight while I was in Missouri, Antifa scumbags came to our place in DC and threatened my wife and newborn daughter, who can’t travel. They screamed threats, vandalized, and tried to pound open our door. Let me be clear: My family & I will not be intimidated by leftwing violence
But if you read the WaPo article, you’ll learn it was a peaceful vigil. In fact the group (with NO ties to Antifa) fortunately took a 50+ minute video of their visit:
They don’t arrive at Hawley’s house on Desale St. until around the 24:00 mark. As near as I can make out (the CC isn’t the best) their peaceful vigil consisted of lighting votive candles, chanting, singing, praying and leaving a copy of our Constitution on the front porch.
Most of their peaceful vigil was monitored by the local police. Officer Juan Vazquez told the Associated Press that when police arrived, they found that the “people were peaceful. Officers are only allowed to put in the report what they see,” Vazquez told The Washington Post. “We can’t get warrants on something we didn’t see.”
On Wednesday when Hawley continued to say he was going to object to the Pennsylvania Electoral College vote count – even after Trumpkin rioters had stormed and vandalized our Capitol – I had enough. I sat down and wrote him a “sternly worded letter”. And I followed up on Thursday with another after Hawley was roundly rebuked for his actions – even by fellow Republicans.
(It took a couple times to FAX the letters to his DC office because it kept getting a busy signal – but mine eventually made it through. And I included CCs to his Kansas City office. Those went through easy-peasy.)
Here are my letters – the first on Wednesday evening (although I’m compressing the formatting for space considerations):
Wednesday, January 6, 2021
Senator Joshua David Hawley
United States Senator for Missouri
212 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
RE: SHAME ON YOU! SHAME ON YOU! SHAME ON YOU!
Sen. Joshua David Hawley:
Unlike your recent entirely mendacious claim that:
“Antifa scumbags came to our place in DC and threatened my wife and newborn daughter, who can’t travel. They screamed threats, vandalized, and tried to pound open our door. Let me be clear: My family & I will not be intimidated by leftwing violence” …
Today your compatriots – Proud Boys, White Supremacists, Boogaloo Bois, Neo-Nazis and other radical right-wing terrorists – actually did commit violence against the People’s House – our nation’s Capitol.
Fortunately, as former FBI Director James Comey said: “Lordy, I hope there are tapes” – there ARE tapes documenting the peaceful vigil at your Vienna, VA home. The peaceful vigil consisted of a small group who lit votive candles, sang songs, chanted, prayed and left a copy of our Constitution on your doorstep. All actions protected by our First Amendment rights!
Unlike your Proud Boys, White Supremacists, Boogaloo Bois, Neo-Nazis and other radical right-wing terrorist cohorts who quite literally, to use your very own words: “Screamed threats, vandalized, and tried to pound open the door” of our nation’s Capitol.
To use your very own words again: Let me be clear, true American Patriots will NOT be intimidated by right-wing violence.
This sad and frightening display of Trumpkin scumbags was the product of Trump’s four-years of hate-mongering efforts to create chaos, divide our nation and incite violence. (Again, let me be clear: LORDY, THERE ARE PLENTY of TAPES DOCUMENTING Trump DOING JUST THAT!)
And yet you, in hopes of hitching your wagon to these Trumpkin scumbags in an effort to promote your own hope of launching a presidential bid, have openly announced your intention to contest the results of our free, fair, secure election administered according to the United States Constitution.
Given that there was no irregularity or evidence of election fraud that would justify such an action, it becomes clear that you are simply pandering to the republican party’s right-wing base, which has obviously lost touch with reality and fealty to our Constitution.
Your engagement in the attempted literal subversion of our democracy – whether called sedition, coup, anti-democratic putsch or something else – simply because you did not like the results clearly violates your oath of office. You should, at the minimum, face ethics charges and expulsion.
Our national elections of 2020 have occurred. The people have spoken. Multiple recounts and audits of recounts have been conducted. Legal challenges have been addressed by the courts. Trump et al have lost at least 60 of those lawsuits. And in those legal challenges over 90 judges – appointed by both Democrats and republicans – have ruled against Trump’s unfounded lawsuits. Governors have certified the results. And the Electoral College has voted.
The time for questioning the results has passed; the time for the formal counting of the Electoral College votes, as prescribed in the Constitution and statute, has arrived.
It was a free, fair, secure election administered according to the United States Constitution. It’s well past time for you to do your constitutional duty and standdown.
In Deep Sorrow for Our Country, Aided & Abetted by Your Shameful Actions,
[Real Name]
Actual Missouri Citizen
PS: If you wonder why my salutation is not formatted, as I usually do for other Senators, as:
“The Honorable …”
It’s simply because I find NONE of your actions in this matter to be “Honorable”.
Here’s my second letter sent on Thursday after Hawley is widely chastised for his actions:
Thursday, January 7, 2021
Senator Joshua David Hawley
United States Senator for Missouri
212 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
RE: Your Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad, Rotten Day
Sen. Joshua David Hawley:
Josh (I hope you don’t mind me calling you by your Christian name – I like to call ALL my employees by their given first name) sorry to learn you have had such a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad, rotten day. (Not that you haven’t earned it – you surely have!)
The dilemma is where to start listing all the events of the day that your seditious actions have produced.
Let’s begin with Missouri’s former Senator, John C. Danforth, assessment of you:
“Supporting Josh and trying so hard to get him elected to the Senate was the worst mistake I ever made in my life.”
(WOW – from your mentor! That’s gonna leave a mark, isn’t it Josh?)
Then there was the Lincoln Project video (comprised of your fellow Republicans) who accused you of Sedition:
Abe sees you @HawleyMO. #SeditionHasConsequences pic.twitter.com/EZI9vhRDVY
— The Lincoln Project (@ProjectLincoln) January 6, 2021
It’s clear you backed the wrong horse given that Trump’s lawyer for the Pennsylvania Electoral College vote case (Attorney Jerome M. Marcus for the state of Pennsylvania, the same one YOU used to object to the Electoral College certification) resigned today with these words:
“The undersigned respectfully requests leave of this court to withdraw as counsel … inasmuch as the client has used the lawyer’s services to perpetrate a crime and the client insists upon taking action that the lawyer considers repugnant and with which the lawyer has a fundamental disagreement.”
https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.paed.577781/gov.uscourts.paed.577781.9.0.pdf
Could it possibly get worse for you, Josh?
Sadly for you, HELL YES, it can get worse!
We learned today that the publisher Simon & Schuster, based on your seditious actions, has cancelled your lucrative book deal:
“We did not come to this decision lightly. As a publisher it will always be our mission to amplify a variety of voices and viewpoints: at the same time we take seriously our larger public responsibility as citizens, and cannot support Senator Hawley after his role in what became a dangerous threat to our democracy and freedom.”
Why even your old Rockhurst High School debate partner calls you the:
“WORST PERSON HE’S EVER MET”
my husband was briefly Josh Hawley’s debate partner in high school and has long, since Hawley first ran for Missouri AG, described him as the worst person he’s ever met.
— laura olin (@lauraolin) January 7, 2021
Fortunately for you I was able to find a bright spot to help you out.
Turns out that Tony, Emmy, Grammy and Pulitzer Prize winner Lin-Manuel Miranda has written a song that is just perfect for you!
“Never Gonna Be President Now”
Josh, I’m (mildly) sorry you’ve had such a Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad, Rotten Day. Then again – you earned it!
With All Due Respect That You Deserve,
[REAL NAME]
Actual Missouri Resident
