Democrats 'want a one-party state': Hawley
The Missouri senator blasted Dems' attempt to keep conservatives off ballots
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., claimed Democrats "want a one-party state" on Thursday during an interview on "Fox News Primetime."
Fox host Lawrence Jones began the interview highlighting a tweet from former Hillary Clinton campaign lawyer Marc Elias, wherein he predicted a "serious discussion" about using an arcane Civil War-era law to disqualify Republicans from running in this year's midterm elections.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"My prediction for 2022: Before the midterm election, we will have a serious discussion about whether individual Republican House Members are disqualified by Section 3 of the 14th Amendment from serving in Congress," Elias tweeted in December.
Jones asked Hawley to react to Elias' comments.
"You talk about an assault on democracy for this Democrat[ic] Party to try and tell the American people that conservatives and Republicans cannot be on the ballot," Hawley told Jones. "It really does show what they want. They want a one-party state. That's what they want, and they want to silence anybody who disagrees with them."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"But that's not America," he continued. "That's been tried before in our history. It hasn't succeeded, and it's not going to succeed now."
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Hawley knocked Democrats for weaponizing last year's Capitol riot "as an excuse to go after law-abiding citizens and shut down speech [they] don't like."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"That's just plain un-American, and that's what this administration is trying to do," he added.
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Hawley argued the FBI is harassing thousands of Americans who weren't involved in the riot, for merely exercising their First Amendment right to protest.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"It is a constitutional right to engage in peaceful political demonstrations," he said. "[As for] the … tens of thousands of people who came to Washington last January 6 and have now been harassed by the FBI, have had people knock on their doors and threaten them - that is crazy, and it is wrong. It is wrong to go after law-abiding citizens who are engaging in their constitutional rights."
Hawley noted that Americans are rejecting the Democrats' agenda, which they blame for the nationwide surge in crime, rising inflation, and out-of-control spending.
"They reject all of that," he said. "The Democrats know that. And come November, I think the American people are going to have their say."