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Erin Hawley seemed sweet and friendly back at Yale Law. I was surprised when she married @HawleyMO. I respond in @VolokhC to her @FoxNews op-ed calling--the week of Trump’s impeachment trial--for civil discourse after the 1/4 protest at her home. 1/ https://reason.com/volokh/2021/02/18/standing-up-for-civil-discourse/
. @HawleyMO apparently at one point promised his wife not to run for politics but then did anyway. Not a surprise to many of us. Her playing along and now distracting from his actions is, however. 2/ https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/erin-hawley-assault-home-attacks-family-civil-discourse
Erin was understandably frightened when protesters came to her home on January 4, yelled, and banged on the door, though the cops dispersed the small crowd (~20 people) easily. And they dispute @HawleyMO’s later description of the incident. 3/ https://www.kansascity.com/article248281190.html
If Erin is upset about lack of civil discourse, she should be livid about the insurrection on January 6. What more unruly protesting has there been--incited by @HawleyMO--which resulted in deaths, suicides, brain damage, heart attacks, and missing finger tips and eyes? 4/
While Erin isn’t responsible for @HawleyMO’s actions, she chooses her message in op-eds in the national media. She tried focusing our attention on her suffering rather than that which her husband caused, both through his promotion of the Big Lie and his acquittal of Trump. 5/
Erin is no Ginni Thomas (yet). But by positioning herself as the key victim of unruly protests in the U.S. during the impeachment trial, Erin plays a political role: distracting America from @HawleyMO’s role in the insurrection. I and others who knew her expected better. end/
