Hawley's moves toward 2028 bid annoy White House
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Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo) at a Senate hearing last September. Photo: Kent Nishimura/Getty Images
Josh Hawley once was a key ally of President Trump's in the U.S. Senate.
- But Trump and his allies have been increasingly angry with Hawley recently, miffed by some moves the Missouri Republican has made in laying the groundwork for a possible 2028 bid for president.
Why it matters: Like few other Republicans, Hawley has begun to show a willingness to break with the White House on issues ranging from abortion to presidential war powers.
- It's a stunning turnabout for the senator, who objected to certifying Trump's 2020 election defeat and was famously pictured raising his fist in solidarity with Jan. 6 rioters before they launched their assault on the U.S. Capitol.
- "Hawley has turned out to be a major disappointment as of late," said Alex Bruesewitz, a prominent pro-Trump social media influencer.
Zoom in: Hawley has split with Trump repeatedly during the president's second term — including earlier this month, when he (briefly) joined Democrats in supporting a resolution to limit Trump's military authority in Venezuela.
- The senator later reversed his position after Trump attacked him and four other GOP senators who voted to advance the measure.
But Trump allies who've been closely monitoring Hawley's moves point to more than a half-dozen other episodes in which he's broken with the president's positions.
- Hawley has criticized several of Trump's nominees, including Mehmet Oz to lead the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
- In objecting to Energy Secretary Chris Wright's support for a clean energy power line that would run through Missouri and several other Midwest states, Hawley attacked Wright for "taking Missouri farmers' land and using your tax dollars to do it."
- He wrote a New York Times op-ed criticizing Trump's "big, beautiful bill" for imposing cuts to Medicaid.
Hawley championed legislation that would ban the president, vice president and members of Congress from trading stocks.
- He's pushed for the full release of the files from the Justice Department's investigation of the late pedophile Jeffrey Epstein despite the White House's resistance.
- He also opposed Trump's efforts to ban state-level regulation of AI.
Perhaps most jarring to Trump aides: Hawley has taken to social media several times to divulge private conversations he's had with the president.
The intrigue: It's all left Trump fuming, sources tell Axios — even as Hawley has supported the White House on other issues such as Trump's mass deportations.
- The president is "somewhere between frustrated and confounded as to the reason for all of this," one Trump confidante said.
- Particularly galling to Trump lieutenants is that the president aggressively supported Hawley in his two Senate campaigns.
Trump's now swinging back. He posted on social media that Hawley and other Republican senators who supported the measure to limit the president's war powers "should never be elected to office again." Trump last year called Hawley a "second-tier senator" after the senator backed a proposed stock-trading ban for lawmakers.
Behind the scenes: White House officials are increasingly convinced Hawley is prepping for a 2028 campaign. One sign they point to: Hawley's decision to launch an antiabortion political group, which could help raise his national profile.
- Trump advisers who view abortion as a losing issue for Republicans— and want to downplay it ahead of the midterms — slammed Hawley over the move.
- Hawley has "awful political instincts. If this is an attempt to set himself up for success in 2028, it's a foolish one," one Trump ally said.
The other side: Sources familiar with Hawley's thinking say if he wants to challenge Vice President Vance for the nomination, he'll have to highlight areas of disagreement with the White House.
- They point to recent polling showing that Hawley's positions — even those that run counter to Trump's agenda — are popular in conservative Missouri.
- "There's some consternation in the administration about Josh and he's gonna have to manage that," a Republican operative familiar with the situation tells Axios.
- "But if Josh's goal is to put some daylight between him and Vice President Vance for his own branding, or for future political purposes, you have to say he's doing an effective job."
Two other prospective Republican presidential candidates also have moved to distinguish themselves from the administration.
- Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) has been aggressively going after conservative podcaster Tucker Carlson, a friend of Vance.
- Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) has targeted Trump over everything from his use of military force, to his big tax and spending bill, to Trump's tariffs.
What they're saying: Spokespeople for the White House and Hawley declined to comment.
