Every politician has some level of political ambition, which is why they should always be treated with a level of distrust. Some allow their ambitions to be tempered by principles, while others at least take the small step of letting them be governed by facts. Sens. Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz did neither.
The facts about the 2020 election results were clear: Joe Biden won. The conservative principles could not be questioned: Objecting to the certification of swing states that voted for Biden would violate their sovereignty. But Hawley and Cruz wanted to run for president in 2024, and they had to signal to President Trump’s base that they were MAGA-certified.
Of course, it spectacularly backfired. First, Republicans lost both Senate runoffs in Georgia, relegating Hawley, Cruz, and their Republican colleagues to the Senate minority, ushering in a unified Democratic government for the first time since 2010. Predictably, telling your own voters that an election was rigged from the start makes them less likely to show up to vote two months later.
Then came Wednesday’s disaster. A violent mob fueled by Trump’s sore loser routine stormed the U.S. Capitol building to prevent the certification of Biden’s victory and intimidate legislators. Minutes after Cruz launched the first objection of the evening, senators were forced to evacuate. Police officers were overwhelmed by the mob and assaulted. Four people died, including one shot and killed by law enforcement.
Hawley and Cruz pulled this stunt with their eyes on running for president in 2024. Both of them knew Trump had lost and that their stand was all for show. After the riots, it is clear that both of them are unfit to lead, and neither should be allowed near the levers of executive power. Hawley should draw a primary challenge in 2024. Cruz, a proponent of term limits that would see him leave the Senate in 2024, should fade into irrelevancy.
This is what happens when political ambitions become your top priority. Cruz twisted himself from being the last line of defense against Trump in the 2016 GOP primary to arguing the 2020 election should be stolen on Trump’s behalf. Hawley couldn’t even bring himself to force debate on his objection after the mob had been contained.
Both of them knew Trump lost, and yet they peddled Trump’s lies about a stolen election before and after the mob descended on Congress, all in service of running for president years from now. Hawley and Cruz placed their political ambition above all, and now, they must lie in the bed they have made.
