NBC’s Michael Beschloss Likens Sen. Josh Hawley to Joseph McCarthy for ‘Menacing’ Gesture
NBC News’ Michael Beschloss compared Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) to the late Sen. Joseph McCarthy (R-WI) for a “menacing” gesture at a Senate hearing.
“What U.S. Senator in history pointed menacingly at witnesses like this?” Beschloss wrote on Twitter, over a photo of Hawley in which he appeared to be holding his thumb and index finger together while speaking to a Senate witness. Beschloss, who appears on NBC as a presidential historian, posted a picture of McCarthy below the photo of Hawley. McCarthy, who served in the Senate from 1947 until his death in 1957, became infamous for crusading against communists in the United States government.
Users replied with a panoply of photos, including Newsbusters’ Curtis Houck, who shared a photograph of Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) waving both of his hands at a witness, and National Review’s Dan McLaughlin, who shared photos of elected officials including President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) utilizing their index fingers in different settings.
Cool story bro pic.twitter.com/TSMAFQ50Q3
— Dan McLaughlin (@baseballcrank) February 22, 2021
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) February 22, 2021
All of them, Mike. The answer is ALL of them. pic.twitter.com/efkVihSyyB
— Matt Whitlock (@mattdizwhitlock) February 22, 2021
Beschloss, the author of 10 books, has been outspoken in criticizing Republicans including former President Donald Trump. He said in December that Trump was “responsible for deaths of hundreds of thousands of Americans,” and last month called for memorializing the date of Trump-related unrest in Washington, D.C. in a manner analogous to 9/11.
