Sen. Josh Hawley, Missouri, on Friday asked his Republican colleagues to support the separation of Big Tech “oligarchs” who censor political views, as well as large companies that “sold us to China”
Hawley called for a “new nationalism” that recovers the mantra of destroying the confidence of the Teddy Roosevelt-era Republican Party to fight big business and Democrats, who, he said, jointly spread a false message that the United States is “systemically racist” “e” founded on lies and evil. “
“We will not be told what to do for these modern oligarchs. What we need is a new nationalism, a new agenda to make the government of the people real in this country, ”said Hawley in a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Orlando, Florida.
“I would start by breaking up Big Tech corporations. Just separate them. Divide them in the name of the people’s government, for the good of the American people and for our freedom. We need to divide these companies and reduce them to size. “
Hawley cited censorship of conservatives on social media, including former President Donald Trump after the January 6 riot on Capitol Hill.
“People like Google, Facebook, have you heard of them? Twitter, these companies have more power than any company in American history and are aligned with the radical left to try to impose their agenda on this country, ”he said.
“They want to govern this country. And if we don’t do something, they will. And we have a word for that. It’s called an oligarchy. And that is what we are facing in America now. “
Hawley said the Republican Party, although long seen as the business party, also has a history of dishonesty – recalling the charge led by Roosevelt against large companies that helped separate the party in 1912 between factions led by Roosevelt and his successor as president, William Howard Taft.
“The Republican Party, we were once the party of trusted hunters, you know. I mean, we invented the concept, basically. It is time to recover that legacy, ”said Hawley.
“It is time to recover that legacy and not just for Big Tech, but for all the big multinational corporations that sold us to China, who sold our workers who sold our jobs. They need to be separated. And we need to have free and fair competition in this country again. “
Hawley said he was unfairly attacked for opposing the certification of Pennsylvania President Biden’s voters in an attempt to force a national review of electoral fraud allegations.
“If we can’t have a free and open debate in this country, we won’t have a country anymore,” said Hawley.
“If we cannot have a free and open debate, according to the laws of the United States Senate, what is the use of the United States Senate? Why do you send someone to Washington after all? I thought it was an important position to take. That’s why the left came after me. They tried to silence me. They canceled a book – a book I was writing called ‘The Tyranny of Big Tech’. These people have no sense of irony, it will still be published, in fact, it will be out soon. “
Hawley is a leader among post-Trump conservative populists in Washington. In December, he partnered with Socialist Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont to push for $ 2,000 stimulus checks that were resisted by Republican Party Senate leaders, and on Friday he called for the adoption of an hourly minimum wage of US $ 15 for companies with revenues above US $ 1 billion.