Senator Josh Hawley suffers social media ridicule after his lone vote against the anti-Asian hate crimes bill

The Senate took an historic step today with the near-unanimous passage of the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act. a bill designed to address rising violence and discrimination against Asian Americans in the wake of former President Donald Trump’s attempt’s to blame China for his own failure to stem the widespread infection of the American populace with the deadly coronavirus that he insisted on labeling the “China virus” or the Wuhan flu.”

The bill will expedite the Justice Department’s review on hate crimes, designate a DOJ official to oversee those efforts, and beef up local resources to increase awareness of targeted violence against Asian-Americans.

While most legislation these days passes along strict party-line votes, the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act is the rare bill that got overwhelmingly bipartisan support from both Democrats and Republicans, with only that most seditious of GOP senators, Josh Hawley (R-MO) daring to display his lack of concern for the rising tide of bigotry against people of Asian descent.

Hawley dissembled wildly in his excuse for his lone vote in opposition to the bill, mischaracterizing the contents of the legislation when explaining why he took such a lonely stance.

“I’m just concerned the bill is hugely broad, hugely open-ended,” Hawley told journalists about his opinion of the law before its passage. “It’s just, you know, the ability and power to define crimes, to define incidents going forward, and collect all that data, it just seemed hugely, hugely over broad.”

With the bill containing no such provisions to define new crimes, it’s no wonder that every other GOP senator present today ignored Senator Hawley’s comments and voted to pass the legislation which now goes to the House of Representatives for its expected approval before heading to President Biden’s desk.

Hawley’s defiant “no” vote did not escape the notice of the senator’s critics on social media who piled on the derision in their posts slamming the Missouri Senator for his deplorable contrarian stance.

Add your name to demand Congress raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour!

https://twitter.com/swimmerbr78/status/1385316628435460106?s=20

https://twitter.com/labyrinthweaver/status/1385306087717412869?s=20

https://twitter.com/NotHoodlum/status/1385313810140049410?s=20

https://twitter.com/ImSpeaking13/status/1385303203235864576?s=20

https://twitter.com/ImSpeaking13/status/1385305379681177600?s=20

Perhaps everyone should chip in to pool their pennies to purchase a copy of “How To Win Friends and Influence People” for Senator Hawley.

It certainly seems like he needs some re-education as quickly as possible.

Hopefully, the response to his vote on this particular bill will inspire some soul searching by Senator Hawley because his soul currently seems to be missing in action.

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Vinnie Longobardo

is the Managing Editor of Washington Press and a 35-year veteran of the TV, mobile, & internet industries, specializing in start-ups and the international media business. His passions are politics, music, and art.