Josh Hawley is a United States senator, published author, and frequent guest on Fox News, the most-watched U.S. cable-news network. Despite this, he has complained for months now that he is one of the biggest victims of so-called “cancel culture” and has been “silenced” by the “woke” mob.
And, of course, most of the time he has delivered these complaints on large public platforms with large audiences, something one reporter threw back in his face on Tuesday after he accused her of trying to “censor” and “cancel” him during a chat.
The Missouri senator was invited onto The Washington Post’s live stream on Tuesday to discuss his latest book, The Tyranny of Big Tech. (The Republican lawmaker had already been mocked recently for urging his supporters to buy the anti-“Big Tech” book on Amazon via promotions on Twitter.)
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During their conversation, Washington Post reporter Cat Zakrzewski brought up his objection to President Joe Biden’s electoral victory over Donald Trump, asking whether the senator currently believes Biden is the “legitimately elected” president. (Insurrectionists, incited by Trump, stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 in an attempt to stop congressional certification of Biden’s win.)
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO): "Don't try to censor, cancel, and silence me here."@Cat_Zakrzewski: "Senator, we're hosting you here." pic.twitter.com/AJagRLNiyS
— The Recount (@therecount) May 4, 2021
“I do,” Hawley acknowledged before claiming that “the heart of [his] objection” to Biden’s electoral win was that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court didn’t hear the merits of a Trump-backed lawsuit seeking to throw out mail-in votes.
“Senator, I just want to step in here if you’re going to challenge this on saying they didn’t hear the merits of the case,” Zakrzewski responded. “Because there was an appeals court that ruled that the case lacked merit, so it’s difficult for a court to rule on the merits when they don’t exist.”
As Zakrzewski tried to steer the conversation back to whether Hawley accepted Biden as the duly elected president, the senator whined that the reporter “can’t have it both ways” and she was “wrong” about how the court case was dismissed.
And then—as is his shtick—he cried cancel culture.
“Listen, it’s an important point,” the senator exclaimed. “Don’t try to censor, cancel, and silence me here!”
Zakrzewski calmly retorted: “Senator, we’re hosting you here.”
Seemingly oblivious to the reporter’s authoritative reply, Hawley continued to loudly complain, telling Zakrzewski that she had to “listen to the truth.”
