Hawley doesn’t seem content to just turn the guns on tech, however. At Washington’s Ritz on Tuesday night, Hawley laid out what New York Times columnist Ross Douthat called a genuine ‘policy brief,’ not just ‘a blast of resentment’. Douthat notes that Hawley argued for ‘a wage subsidy, a higher ed reform that places schools on the hook for student loans, a prescription drug price control plan’ and he has ‘been the leading GOP critic of monopoly power,’ including tech.
Such an ambitious, national manifesto leaves many with little doubt that Hawley will enter the ranks of Republican presidential candidates the cycle after this one, joining perhaps the flamethrowing Cruz and Tucker Carlson in challenging the careful administration trio of Mike Pence, Mike Pompeo and Nikki Haley in 2024.
Critics complain that Hawley is playing with fire. Hawley on Tuesday night attacked an oblivious, ‘cosmopolitan’ elite. His critique drew condemnation from some quarters – his words were said to be an allusion to a Jewish power elite. Conference organizer Yoram Hazony, an Orthodox Jew, dismissed the charge against Hawley as nonsense. Good for Hazony.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member