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Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) may have broken a Guinness World Record on Thursday, if there is one, for starring in the most movies and music videos in a single night.
There was “Chariots of Fire,” with Hawley running in slow motion to the film’s iconic piano-scored theme music.
Then came the jaunty tune from “The Benny Hill Show,” followed by entrances from the soundtracks of “Rocky,” “Titanic” and “Curb Your Enthusiasm.”
Hawley hit the music scene next, appearing on Bruce Springsteen’s “Born to Run,” Van Halen’s “Runnin’ With the Devil” and Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill,” the 1985 song recently resurrected and rose to the top of the charts thanks. to his starring role in the Netflix show “Stranger Things.”
But Hawley’s footage was the same: two clips that aired in prime time during the House committee’s final hearing on January 6, 2021., attack on the US Capitol. Both showed Hawley fleeing rioters as they poured into the building, the committee said.
While the videos brought laughter to the audience of the audience in real time, the Internet was just beginning. Within minutes and then for hours, people grilled Hawley mercilessly.
Some set the videos to music, especially songs with lyrics about running. Others dabbled in puns by coining a new term to describe what Missouri’s junior senator was doing: Hawlin’. Most memes just posted: of Forrest Gump sprinting across the country at the start of his run; of the Road Runner zooming down the road with a “Meep meep”; of “Seinfeld” character George Costanza pushing an elderly woman and several children to escape a fire at a children’s birthday party.
“I’ll be drinking from the well of Josh Hawley content for the rest of the week,” one Twitter user wrote.
Hawley’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Washington Post Thursday afternoon.
Aside from the brief burst of laughter, things remained somber at Thursday’s hearing. Rep. Elaine Luria (D-Va.) introduced Hawley as the senator who, as he passed protesters while walking on the east side of the Capitol on Jan. 6, raised his fist in solidarity with them before entering the building
A U.S. Capitol Police officer guarding the building told the committee that Hawley’s gesture “irritated the crowd,” Luria said, with a giant version of the handbomb photo projected behind she The officer told the committee that Hawley’s behavior “very upset her” because he agitated the protesters from “a safe space,” protected by barricades and police between him and any mob that might form. Then he went into the Capitol, leaving officers on the front lines to deal with the fallout, he said.
But that safe space didn’t last, Luria said. “Later that day, Senator Hawley went on the run after those protesters he helped rouse stormed the Capitol.”
“See for yourself,” added Luria.
The videos played. A three-second clip showed Hawley walking through the halls of the Capitol, past several officers, which Luria said the senator did to escape the riots flooding into the building. The committee replayed the footage in slow motion for good measure. Then came a six-second clip showing Hawley walking down the stairs with the others.
Hawley has defended fist-pumping the Jan. 6 protesters before contesting the certification of President-elect Joe Biden’s election victory over President Donald Trump. The senator assured that, like him, many of them came to protest peacefully and called lumping those people together with the rioters “an insult to the thousands and thousands, tens of thousands of people who came to the Capitol that day to demonstrate peacefully.”
Hawley has continued to make political hay—and money—with the fist pump image. Hawley slapped a rendition of the image on several pieces of merchandise, along with the tagline “SHOW ME STRONG!” — a reference to Missouri’s nickname, “the Show-Me State” — and began selling the items in February, the Missouri Independent reported in March.
Internet users took Luria’s juxtaposition of the fist photo and ongoing videos to take aim at Hawley. Using a popular meme, one user categorized the photo of Hawley’s fist pump as a mess and a still image of him running away as “discovering.”
Some Twitter users stuck to the classic one-liner format when taking a dig at Hawley. There was the paper of a freelance writer and editor in California: “From now on, if political reporters ask Josh Hawley if he plans to run, he’ll have to ask them to clarify.”
A TV and film producer: “Missouri Dems should host an annual Josh Hawley 5K as a fundraiser.”
And a political adviser, who took the opportunity to try to increase voter turnout: “You’d better go vote like Josh Hawley ran from the insurgency.”
Others drew on more of the internet’s language to roast Hawley. In a tweet that had racked up 13 million views by Friday morning, another TV producer posted a four-second GIF of a boy sprinting with the text: “How Josh Hawley fled the Capitol on 6 January”.
Legendary TV reporter Dan Rather continued, keeping it simple: “Run Hawley Run.” One Twitter user chimed in with the assist, responding to Rather’s allusion to “Forrest Gump” with the GIF of the character played by Tom Hanks running.
Political commentator Charlie Sykes immediately saw the Internet value of Hawley’s videos. Moments after the clips were shown publicly, I was ready to call him.
“Executing Josh Hawley,” he wrote, “is a meme for the ages.”