Senator Josh Hawley spoke at a Stronger Men’s Conference and told Fox News that American men lack purpose, which is why there are a record number, Hawley says, of American men suffering from depression, committing suicide, suffering from drug addition and other abundant afflictions.
America needs men of purpose – my message this weekend at @_strongermen_ @jamesriver pic.twitter.com/NCdqqzVdqs
— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) April 30, 2023
Sen. Hawley is trending on Twitter for his talk, wherein the Christian conservative constitutional lawyer and populist out of Stanford and Yale says the answer to the men’s crisis in America is Jesus. “You can’t be the man God calls you out to be,” Hawley says, “without the transformational power of Jesus.”
[Note: For context read William F. Buckley‘s God and Man at Yale, a book often said to have started the pre-MAGA “modern conservative movement.”]
Reaction ranged from grateful to perplexed, especially since Jesus means different things to different people. The James River Church said “Wow Senator @HawleyMO’s message today at @_strongermen_ Men’s Conference was POWERFUL.”
But another common reaction to Hawley’s speech rhetorically wonders which Jesus Hawley is referring to.
— @bluevoter1 #RedStateBlues #MissouriResisters (@bluevoter1) April 30, 2023
The comments overall tended toward cynicism. A Twitter account called Your Friendly Neighborhood Liberal tweeted, as one might expect, “Strong men and Josh Hawley have zero in common.”
Strong men and Josh hawley have zero in common.
— Your friendly neighborhood liberal (@saltyliberal74) April 30, 2023
That take — that Hawley and manliness aren’t such close associates — likely refers to Hawley’s raised fist pre-Capitol riot and running away during Capitol riot (video of which caused the Jan 6 committee to laugh out loud).
That “zero in common” take will also doubtless come as a surprise to his publisher: Hawley is about to drop a new book called Manhood: The Masculine Virtues America Needs. It’s out May 16.
Here is Hawley expounding on purpose at the Conference, where he says “there are few things that a man with purpose cannot do.”
.@_strongermen_ pic.twitter.com/rd0Zersixj
— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) April 30, 2023