Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) has long alienated Americans outside of President Donald Trump’s coalition with his far right stands on issues like abortion rights, the war in Iran and the Jan. 6th insurrection. Now he is causing even his own colleagues to chuckle with his latest move — asking for a dramatic prayer session, complete with fasting, in response to the Republican Party’s recent setbacks in the 2026 midterm elections.
As The Daily Beast’s William Vaillancourt reported on Monday, “What happened last Tuesday was shocking and historic. It calls for a historic response,” Hawley, 46, wrote on X.”
He continued by quoting people on X who roasted the senator.
“‘A whole hour?’ former Obama administration National Security Council staffer Tommy Vietor replied,” according to Vaillancourt. “‘So… you’re fasting for an hour? What an incredible display of your Christian devotion,’ another user wrote sarcastically. ‘Christ fasted for 40 days and nights in the desert. Josh Hawley and MAGA will only give our nation an hour,’ added Christopher Hale, a Catholic and former Obama White House staffer. Another X account mocked the hour-long fest: ‘Translation: I’m not paying for lunch.’ ‘In solidarity, we will also wait until 1 PM to have lunch,’ a pro-Democratic group added.”
Hawley is not the only powerful Republican to respond in an unorthodox way to Republicans’ midterm losses. Trump himself has reportedly been in a state of denial about the midterm election results and what they mean for his political power and coalition.
“In the days since his defeat, he has sounded like a man in denial,” reported The New York Times’ Peter Baker on Sunday. “With his party still picking through the wreckage of a political earthquake, a seemingly oblivious President Trump signed a steel beam for his new White House ballroom and flew to Florida to give a speech on the space program. He seems flat these days, maybe a little dazed.”
“Unlike other presidents who suffered midterm defeats, Mr. Trump has largely not acknowledged the setback,” Baker wrote. “After Mr. Bush’s Republicans lost both houses in 2006, he admitted it was a “thumping.” After President Barack Obama’s Democrats lost the House in 2010, he admitted it was a “shellacking.” Mr. Trump, by contrast, has offered no expression of humility or much recognition of public discontent with him.”Baker added, “Like other presidents after midterm defeats, Mr. Trump now faces an inevitable erosion of influence. After President Bill Clinton’s Democrats were swamped in 1994, he was left to argue plaintively that “the Constitution gives me relevance.” There were echoes of that last week when the White House was reduced to posting an online message saying, “TRUMP IS STILL YOUR PRESIDENT.””