Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) was bashed by his home state newspaper after an Independence Day Twitter post that promoted a fake Founding Father quote that promotes Christian nationalism.
Hawley sang the praises of what he said was abolitionist Patrick Henry's words: "It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions, but on the Gospel of Jesus Christ," Hawley quoted.
In fact, Henry did not say it. The quote was falsely attributed to him in a 1956 article from The Virginian, an anti-Semitic and white nationalist magazine,
The Kansas City Star, in an editorial Wednesday, cited some of the Twitter users who responded to Hawley's tweet and told the Senator that "Google" is his friend in situations like these.
"If you type in a quote from a Founding Father you’re thinking of tweeting out, in a matter of seconds, you can quite easily discover if it’s for real or not," said historian Seth Cotlar of Willamette University.
The Star noted that this is becoming a pattern in Hawley's office, which also posted a fake quote to "celebrate" the Christianity of America with lies about slavery on Juneteenth.
The editorial board said: “The senator could have celebrated that accomplishment with millions of other Americans, including many of his own constituents. Instead, he had to make it about his thing — a chance to own the libs.”
They also pointed out that it's becoming embarrassing for someone who claims to be an honors history major from Stanford University.
"The problem, we suspect, is that in both cases, Hawley was less interested in truly celebrating freedom — the ostensible reason we celebrate Juneteenth and Independence Day in the first case — and instead wanted to make a spectacle of himself with right-wing tweets he knew would attract attention," said The Star editorial board. "He was peacocking."
Still, Hawley continues to do it over and over. It makes it obvious, the editorial said, to see Hawley as "a politician who craves attention" so much that he's happy to accept even "bad attention." Perhaps he believes that "it will bring him the power he craves," the board said.
