Juan Williams: Lies for profit hurt us all

There is no way to say this politely.

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) is making money by telling lies.

So is Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.).

{mosads}Both are playing the grievance game by complaining that they are victims of “cancel culture,” and a “radical mob” seeking their “silence.”

Their lies work.

Last week, the senator announced he fooled enough people to get donations of $969,000 in January. That is more money than he has raised in any single month since coming to the Senate.

The total included about $300,000 pulled in for Hawley by the Senate Conservatives Fund, according to Axios, after the deadly attack on the Capitol.

Greene claims to have raised $325,000 in just two days last week, even as the House voted to take away her committee assignments.

So even as former President Trump is impeached for telling lies about a stolen election, Hawley and Greene are stuffing their campaign pockets by pushing more lies.

Both politicians are lying to prevent people from holding them accountable for lying about the November election being stolen from Trump.

“This is all retribution because they know I still question the results of the 2020 election and I filed my bill to impeach Joe Biden last month,” Greene said in asking for donations. “This is how the swamp treats people who stand up to them, because we work for YOU.”

Hawley is pushing the same lie.

“I will never apologize for giving voice to the millions of Missourians and Americans who have concerns about the integrity of our elections,” Hawley said after the violence.

The courts, the attorney general, state and federal officials have said there is no question about the integrity of the election.

Hawley also followed Greene’s strategy of telling potential donors that he is being silenced.

He complained that in the days after five people died in the Capitol riot, a publisher decided they didn’t want to release his book and The Kansas City Star said Hawley had “blood on his hands” for supporting the attack.

The other big paper in his home state, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, also held him accountable for his actions. They hesitated to call him a liar but said he has a “substantial list of phony, smarmy and politically expedient declarations.”

Both papers called on him to resign.

To avoid accountability, Hawley is portraying himself as a right-wing martyr, being silenced by the Washington power-brokers.

Again, the same strategy is being used by Greene.

“You see, this cancel culture is real,” said Greene in a recent townhall meeting with constituents, “And when you are not agreeing and saying what the left wants you to say, they scream ‘Twitter safety’ non-stop as if they are calling the police, and try to ruin your life. And now they are targeting conservatives all over the nation.”

These bold lies prevent gullible populists from focusing on the truth that Greene and Hawley misled them about the election.

In the words of the Kansas City Star, Hawley wants people to forget that he “led the parade to the edge of a cliff,” and watched as the Capitol fell under siege.

Some on the right are not buying it.

Here is Isaac Schorr writing in the conservative outlet, National Review:

“The objective of Hawley’s statement [about being silenced] is obvious: to take this personal event, which has occurred as a direct result of his own behavior, and to make Republicans feel as if this was a personal attack on them and their beliefs. It was not.”

And Hawley is lying about being censored. His false charges won him front page coverage in one of the nation’s biggest papers, The New York Post.

Oh, and his book contract was picked up by another publisher.

Where is the silencing, senator?

Here’s the truth from President Biden:

“There is truth and there are lies,” Biden said in his inaugural address, tying lies on social media to the violence of Jan. 6.

{mossecondads}”Lies told for power and for profit. And each of us has a duty and responsibility, as citizens, as Americans, and especially as leaders — leaders who have pledged to honor our Constitution and protect our nation — to defend the truth and defeat the lies.”

Three weeks into the Biden presidency, it is becoming clear that the biggest impediment to unifying the country is the presence of “lies told for power and profit.”

Outrageous fake news — like the QAnon conspiracy foolishness about a Satanic, left-wing cult of political pedophiles — attracts eyeballs. So, do calls for violence, mocking the weak and hate speech.

Hawley, the son of a banker, went to Stanford and Yale Law School before clerking for U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts. He is lying to present himself as a populist hero ready to be the next Trump.

Ten years ago, I wrote a book called “Muzzled: the Assault on Honest Debate” about how political correctness was stifling freedom of speech and limiting our country’s ability to solve pressing national problems.

It pains me to see that the problem is now exponentially worse.

Lies now go viral so quickly and they are difficult to quash.

But all the money flowing into their campaigns can’t stop Hawley and Greene from being judged for what they are — liars.

Juan Williams is an author, and a political analyst for Fox News Channel.