Key facts
- Hawley claimed Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson had a “pattern” of going easy on child pornography offenders. PolitiFact found he cherry-picked the record.
- Her sentences were in line with national practice, and Hawley had voted to confirm Trump judges who handed down similar sentences.
- After January 6, when Simon & Schuster dropped his book deal, he called it an attack on the First Amendment.
The Ketanji Brown Jackson smear
During Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s Supreme Court confirmation, Hawley claimed she had a “pattern” of going easy on child pornography offenders. PolitiFact found he had cherry-picked the record. Her sentences were in line with national practice, and Hawley had himself voted to confirm Trump judges who handed down similar sentences.
The “censorship” act
And when Simon & Schuster dropped his book deal after January 6, America’s toughest man whined that it was an attack on the First Amendment. It wasn’t: the First Amendment restricts the government, not publishers. He published the book elsewhere anyway. (A later book was titled Manhood. Written by the guy in the running video.)
“We’re hosting you here”
Promoting his big-tech book at a Washington Post event, he told the room, “Don’t try to censor, cancel and silence me here.” The moderator answered, “Senator, we’re hosting you here.”
The smear playbook showed up again in 2024, when he falsely accused a Marine veteran of “stolen valor”. And the book deal he lost came after his role on January 6.