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Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) is a bit of an enigma. He clearly has presidential aspirations and is styling himself as a populist. And, from time to time, he does things that would seem to make him a formidable candidate in a race in which voters are fed up with both parties. 

For example, he is known for (occasionally) grilling corporate executives, like Boeing’s CEO, whom he accused of putting profits over people, or the head of the Pharmaceutical Care Management Association, whom he blasted for “screwing” patients and making drugs more expensive for Americans.

Earlier this year, Hawley also introduced bipartisan, union-backed legislation with pro-labor reforms. It was the first time that a Republican spearheaded such an effort in decades. 

On the other hand, the senator, who is only 45 years old, is MAGA through and through. 

Hawley will forever be marred by the iconic image of him cheering on Donald Trump’s supporters on January 6 before then fleeing from them after they overran the Capitol.

And, generally, he toes the party line when his vote is needed… often after making a show of hemming and hawing. 

For example, before the Senate took up Trump’s mega bill last month, he penned an editorial for The New York Times in which he sounded like a principled populist. 

“Republicans need to open their eyes: Our voters support social insurance programs. More than that, our voters depend on those programs,” he wrote.

That’s certainly correct. When given a chance, even in deep-red states, Americans support the expansion of Medicaid, and Hawley appeared to realize that and drew the right conclusion.

“If Republicans want to be a working-class party — if we want to be a majority party — we must ignore calls to cut Medicaid and start delivering on America’s promise for America’s working people,” Hawley concluded. 

And then, after making it known that he would not vote for Medicaid cuts, he voted for Medicaid cuts.

That’s classic Hawley. He always wants to have it both ways. 

Perhaps the best example of that pattern came on Tuesday, when the senator introduced legislation to repeal many of the Medicaid-cutting provisions that he just voted for two weeks ago. 

“President Trump has always said we have to protect Medicaid for working people. Now is the time to prevent any future cuts to Medicaid from going into effect,” he said. “We should also increase our support for rural hospitals around the country. Under the recent reconciliation bill, Missouri will see an extra $1 billion for hospitals over the next four years. I want to see Medicaid reductions stopped and rural hospitals fully funded permanently.”

What???

If Hawley had really wanted to achieve any of that, he had all the leverage in the world to pressure his colleagues before the final vote. 

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), for example, sold her vote for a high price that will benefit Alaskans while, to use Hawley’s language, screwing the rest of America.

Instead, the Missouri senator backed the bill, which included several provisions he now wants to roll back. 

Specifically, the legislation he introduced Tuesday would repeal language in the new law that restricts the ability of states to employ strategies that allow them to receive more money from the federal government for their Medicaid programs.

It would also put an extra $50 billion in a fund to prevent rural hospitals from closing. 

Of course, it really doesn’t matter what’s in the bill since there is absolutely no chance that it will be passed. 

And that’s really the crux of the issue.

It’s easy to pretend to be the champion of the people when there is no chance that something will come of it. 

However, when he had the opportunity to put his money where his mouth is, Hawley didn’t put up a fight. 

In his Navigating the Insanity columns, Klaus Marre provides the kind of hard-hitting, thought-provoking, and often humorous analysis you won’t find anywhere else.