Rush Limbaugh lauds Hawley: ‘This guy is the real deal’

Influential conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh hailed Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) as “the real deal” for his questioning of tech CEOs, potentially increasing Hawley’s cachet as a 2024 presidential contender.

“I tell you, our new senator from Missouri, Josh Hawley? This guy is the real deal,” Limbaugh, a Missouri native, said Tuesday, saying he remembered introducing the then-candidate at a 2018 rally in Cape Girardeau.

“He’s got a hell of a voice. Those of us in the voice business, we say, ‘He’s got a really, really great set of pipes,’ ” Limbaugh added. “But Josh Hawley, he is all over these tech guys. And there is testimony going on today, [Facebook CEO Mark] Zuckerberg and what’s his name, the Rasputin-looking guy, Jack Dorsey from Twitter. And they’re all up there testifying. And it’s all such a joke.”

The betting site Bovada gives Hawley decent odds to be the 2024 GOP presidential nominee.

President Trump and Vice President Pence remain the top contenders for the nomination, tied with 4 to 1 odds.

When the president’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., blasted 2024 hopefuls for failing to back up Trump’s evidence-free claims of widespread election fraud, he praised Hawley for weighing in before his tweet.

Hawley has joined Trump and most of his allies in the Senate in refusing to acknowledge Joe Biden as president-elect, tweeting earlier this month: “The media do not get to determine who the president is. The people do. When all lawful votes have been counted, recounts finished, and allegations of fraud addressed, we will know who the winner is.”

Hawley has been a vocal critic of the tech sector since taking office, accusing Dorsey and Zuckerberg of in-kind contributions to Biden’s campaign after Twitter and Facebook restricted sharing of a New York Post article featuring salacious allegations about Biden’s son Hunter.