Josh Hawley Running

About

Josh Hawley Running is a viral video of Missouri U.S. Senator and politician Josh Hawley running away from protestors and rioters at the January 6th Storming of the United States Capitol moments after raising a fist to show them support. After the video of him running through the Capitol Building was shown in July 2022 during the January 6th Committee Hearings, it surfaced on Twitter, among other social media platforms, where discussion and memes ensued en masse.

Origin

Josh Hawley Fist Raised Photo

On January 6th, 2021, Missouri Senator Josh Hawley was photographed outside the U.S. Capitol Building gesturing toward a crowd of Trump supporters that were protesting the certification of then President-elect Joe Biden’s electoral-college victory. Hawley was the first senator to declare that he would object to the certification of Biden’s win.^[1] The photograph was taken by photographer Francis Chung and uploaded to his Instagram ^[1] on the same day. Additionally, Twitter user, news anchor and colleague of Chung, Manuel Quinones, tweeted^[2] the photo on January 6th, earning roughly 28,400 likes in a year and a half (shown below, right).

Hawley defended the photo and his stance on Twitter^[3] the next day despite many senators and politicians on both sides of the political aisle calling for his resignation.^[4] The photograph was also photoshopped and used in many memes shortly after, like one posted by Twitter^[5] user SaysSheToday on January 7th that layered Nazi symbolism on Hawley, earning 13,200 likes.

Additionally, on May 4th, 2021, Hawley stated in an interview with the Washington Post,^[6] "I waved to them, gave them the thumbs-up, pumped my fist to them and thanked them for being there, and they had every right to do that."

Josh Hawley Running Away Video

On July 21st, 2022, Twitter user and journalist Dan Przygoda (@dprzygoda) tweeted^[7] a video that he took during the January 6th Committee Hearings of an evidence slideshow that played for an audience of press and politicians in Washington. The video showed the photo of Hawley raising his fist appearing on the screen. Then, a video of him running away from protestors in the Capitol Building played next, alluding to him being scared or nervous. As it played, the audience gasped and murmured. In less than a day, the tweet received roughly 48,300 likes, and the video earned over 3 million views (shown below).

The video was then given to press and news outlets and included within segments like on CNN, among others, and uploaded to YouTube (example shown below).

Spread

On the evening of July 21st, 2022, memes surfaced on Twitter that replaced the audio of Hawley's running video with songs and sounds related to running away. The first-known meme creator to do this was the Twitter^[8] page of The Lincoln Project that replaced the audio with the song "Track Star" by Mooski ("She's a runner. She's a track star. She's gonna run away when it gets hard"). The tweet received roughly 30,400 likes and the video earned over 739,000 views in less than a day (shown below).

.@HawleyMO's legacy will forever be fleeing from the same mob he helped incite. pic.twitter.com/a3eOv84faA

— The Lincoln Project (@ProjectLincoln) July 22, 2022

Other Twitter pages posted similar videos on July 21st. For instance, minutes after The Lincoln Project's video, the Twitter^[9] account for MeidasTouch.com replaced the audio with the Benny Hill theme song, earning roughly 503,500 views and 17,200 likes in less than a day (shown below).

Run, Hawley, run! pic.twitter.com/EtqvRRXrVI

— MeidasTouch.com (@MeidasTouch) July 22, 2022

Other memetic reactions centered on the concept of Hawley running. For instance, on July 21st, Twitter^[10] user middleageriot tweeted an image macro of a chicken running, captioning it, "I’m going to tell my grandchildren this was Josh Hawley," and earned roughly 3,900 likes in less than a day (shown below, left). On July 22nd, Twitter^[11] user and contributor for Vanity Fair Franklin Leonard tweeted, "The Missouri Dems should host an annual Josh Hawley 5K as a fundraiser," earning roughly 36,600 likes in less than a day (shown below, right).

Various Examples

Josh Hawley running away to a variety of soundtracks. Pt. 8: Born to Run pic.twitter.com/yu8di0bG0J

— Mallory Nees (@The_Mal_Gallery) July 22, 2022

Josh Hawley running away to a variety of soundtracks. Pt. 5: Obligatory Kate Bush pic.twitter.com/GQzDnbJb1r

— Mallory Nees (@The_Mal_Gallery) July 22, 2022

Search Interest

External References