In a scathing editorial released immediately after insurrectionist Trump supporters stormed the United States Capitol, the Kansas City Star lambasted Missouri’s junior Republican Senator for enraging and supporting the rioters.
“No one other than President Donald Trump himself is more responsible for Wednesday’s coup attempt at the U.S. Capitol than one Joshua David Hawley, the 41-year-old junior senator from Missouri, who put out a fundraising appeal while the siege was underway,” the editorial states.
“This, Sen. Hawley, is what law-breaking and destruction look like. This is what mobs do. This is not a protest, but a riot. One woman was shot and has died, The Washington Post reported, while lawmakers were sheltering in place.”
Hawley was photographed leaving the rally before it became violent, raising a fist to show unity with the insurgents. He was the first US Senator to state that he would object to the votes of swing states in the Electoral College.