Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) is no fan of Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY).

During an interview at Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest conference in late December, the first term Senator criticized several Republicans, including McConnell, for helping the Biden administration realize its progressive agenda. “Listen, if you look at the last just two years in the Senate: Cave to Big Pharma on insulin. Cave to Chuck Schumer on gun control. Cave to the radical left on the climate agenda. That’s the so-called infrastructure bill,” Hawley said.

According to Hawley, conservative voters were incensed after 18 Republicans in the United States Senate voted in favor of a $1.7 trillion omnibus bill that featured a cornucopia of liberal pet projects spanning from LGTBQ museums to $47 billion in military aid to Ukraine.

“That’s a terrible record. And then they wonder, Why didn’t we do better in the midterms? Gee, why, I don’t know,” said Hawley.

The Missouri Senator has been one of the more outspoken Republicans opposing McConnell’s efforts to stay in charge as Senate Minority Leader. Since Donald Trump was elected in 2016, there has been growing factionalism within the Republican Party, as various insurgent populist movements have thrown their hat in the ring to turn the GOP into a more nationalist party.

Following the 2022 midterms, in which Republicans considerably underperformed in the Senate, Hawley took the opportunity to declare that these elections were a “funeral” for the GOP. Said Hawley:

“Voters have made that clear, and in particular, the folks who did not vote for Republicans in this last election were independent voters, working-class, independent voters, folks who voted for President Obama, once upon a time, folks who then voted for President Trump but stayed home this time. We are not a majority party unless we can appeal to those voters.”

One of Hawley’s unique value propositions has been his skepticism towards foreign policy adventurism — a hallmark of the neoconservative wing of the Republican Party that dominated the party during the administration of George W. Bush. However, new political winds appear to be blowing the GOP in a more national populist direction.

“There are many folks in elected office who don’t really want to reckon with foreign policy failures and in some cases outright lies to the American people — that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, that turns out that was a lie,” Hawley said in an interview with Politico.

Against the backdrop of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine towards the end of last February, Hawley stood out as one of the more vocal opponents of sending military aid to Ukraine and even extending NATO membership to countries such as Finland and Sweden.

Hawley’s statements represent the growing discontent that has been building up over the past few decades among conservative voters. For all its faults, the Republican Party has generally served as the default option for grassroots conservatives for the simple fact that it has occasionally allowed for genuine conservative reformers to enter the mix and stir the pot. However, these conservative firebrands have not been able to fully capture the party and decisively move the party’s platform in a genuinely grassroots direction. After being elected in 2018, Hawley appears to be a part of the next generation of leaders who will attempt to change the party and align its policy priorities with those of grassroots voters.

Whether Hawley will be successful in this endeavor to make the GOP a national populist party remains to be seen.