Yesterday on KMOX’s Total Information AM, Charlie Brennan observed that Senator Claire McCaskill is “very real” while he “can’t quite say the same thing about Josh Hawley. He seems a little fabricated.” St. Louis conservative radio host Mark Reardon agreed, adding that Hawley has a problem with many Trump voters who “don’t like [Hawley’s] ladder-climbing at all.”

From KMOX’s Total Information AM:

CHARLIE BRENNAN: …I’m not too surprised that it’s tight. I think that [Claire] runs a difficult battle because it’s kind of Trump territory. But she also is appealing in many ways. She seems to be very real and I can’t quite say the same thing about Josh Hawley. He seems a little fabricated. He just got into office 2 years ago, running that he wasn’t going to seek higher office and then, as soon as he got in, he changed his mind…

[…]

MARK REARDON: Well, I like Claire. I genuinely like her personally. We bond on black and gold. We disagree on a lot of issues. I don’t disagree with Charlie when – I think Hawley’s a little bit too, maybe a little bit too scripted at times. I think the issue for him – and this is serious – there are people who voted for Donald Trump – I’ve heard from many of them, by no means is this scientific – they don’t like the ladder-climbing at all. They think that that’s going back on a promise. So that’s going to be an issue for him.

This weekend, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch asked Josh Hawley for his positions on 10 major votes in the Senate, ranging from net neutrality and forced arbitration to bank regulations and the government shutdown. According to the article, “The Post-Dispatch asked Hawley to say how he would have voted on all 10. He declined.”

Here are the votes Hawley refused to give the Post-Dispatch a position on:

• Defunding Planned Parenthood
• Restoring net neutrality
• Rolling back regulations on small and medium-sized banks
• Ending the government shutdown in January
• llowing Americans to file class-action suits against banks instead of being forced into private arbitration
• Repealing the Affordable Care Act
• Preventing the mentally ill from buying guns
• Denying gun sales to people on terrorism watch lists
• The nomination of Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch
• The GOP tax plan

Hawley’s refusal to tell Missourians where he stands on consequential issues is nothing new. In July, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch Editorial Board called Hawley out for running a campaign that is free of substance. Hawley has repeatedly refused to answer key policy questions and failed to answer for his decisions as Attorney General. At every turn, Hawley has deflected on issues, instead choosing only to make wild and misguided attacks on his opponent.

“Apparently Josh Hawley is betting that his dark money donors will pour so much money into buying him this election that he will never have to come clean to Missourians about how he would vote in the Senate,” said Missouri Democratic Party Deputy Communications Director Brooke Goren. “It’s no surprise Hawley doesn’t want to be honest — the truth is, on every issue, he will always choose what’s best for himself and his ambitions over the interests of Missouri families.”

A new analysis from the University of Missouri’s Commercial Agriculture Program today found that the President’s trade war is already costing Missouri millions of dollars in economic activity. With nearly a third of Missouri’s annual soybean crop destined for the Chinese market, the President’s trade war has caused the state’s soy prices to drop nearly 20 percent this summer. According to the report, this drop represents “more than $212 million in lost earnings for workers and business owners, and 3,000 fewer jobs… and a $726.6 million reduction in economic activity.”

The Joplin Globe editorial board writes today that, nationwide, “Damage to farmers because of the tariffs and counter tariffs and the deepening trade war has been estimated at $11 billion, but the final tally is far from known.” Meanwhile, the the US Chamber of Commerce estimates that, overall, the tariffs are putting over 800,000 Missouri jobs and nearly $900 million in total state exports at risk.

Yet even as Missouri’s economy takes a hit and farmers worry about potential long-term impacts from the tariffs, Josh Hawley has repeatedly doubled down on his support for the President’s trade war.

“Josh Hawley is so determined to remain in lockstep with the President that he’s willing to sacrifice millions in earnings for hard-working Missourians,” said Missouri Democratic Party Deputy Communications Director Brooke Goren. “Will Hawley ever start standing up for Missourians, or will he just keep trying to advance his own ambitions at their expense?”

Josh Hawley is still facing questions about whether he’s “mailing it in,” and he doesn’t have a very good answer. This morning, Fox News’ Bill Hemmer asked Hawley about reports that he has not been working hard enough in his campaign for Senate. Instead of addressing the concerns — which were raised by Missouri Republicans — Hawley called the report “fake D.C. news.”

Josh Hawley apparently has a problem when it comes to being honest with Missourians. This month alone, Hawley has been caught launching false attacks against Claire McCaskill, lying about his motivations for running for Senate, and trying to distort his record on health care.

• This week, the Kansas City Star editorial board slammed Hawley for launching “nonsensical” and “desperate” attacks against Senator Claire McCaskill. The editorial board called Hawley out for campaigning on unvetted rumors, called his attacks “not credible,” and advised him to stick to the real issues.

• Meanwhile, Hawley has been claiming since he launched his bid for Senate that he “never planned” on running. However, the Huffington Post reports that Hawley’s own emails show the “GOP’s top Senate recruit wrote about seeking office as far back as 2011.”

• Perhaps worst of all, Hawley has been trying to deceive Missourians when it comes to his position on health care. In February, Hawley filed a lawsuit that would end protections for the nearly 2.5 million Missourians with pre-existing conditions. As soon as Hawley realized that siding with insurance companies over sick Missourians could become a liability for his Senate campaign, he tried to distort his record by claiming he supports those very same protections. Sorry, Josh, but your actions speak louder than words.

“It is perfectly clear that everything Josh Hawley does is a political calculation to advance his own ambitions and serve his donors,” said Missouri Democratic Party Deputy Communications Director Brooke Goren. “The least he could do is be honest with Missourians about his true motivations.”

Instead of reversing its reckless trade policy, the Trump administration yesterday announced a $12 billion aid package for farmers who are losing their livelihoods to the President’s trade war. Farm-state Senators immediately railed against the administration for “replacing markets with handouts,” and continuing to risk the future of American agriculture. Meanwhile, Republican Senate candidate Josh Hawley stood by smiling as the President touted his tariffs in Kansas City. Hawley has offered his unwavering support for the President’s trade war for months despite its negative impact on Missouri farmers, ranchers and manufacturers.

“Since the Administration announced its first round of tariffs back in March, Josh Hawley has ignored Missourians’ concerns and backed the President’s reckless trade war,” said Missouri Democratic Deputy Communications Director Brooke Goren. “How many Missouri farmers and small manufacturers have to lose their jobs before Hawley stops putting this Administration first?”

Here’s what members of Hawley’s own party had to say about the President’s announcement yesterday:

Sen. Ben Sasse (R-NE): “This trade war is cutting the legs out from under farmers, and White House’s ‘plan’ is to spend $12 billion on gold crutches… This administration’s tariffs and bailouts aren’t going to make America great again; they’re just going to make it 1929 again.”

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI): “This is becoming more and more like a Soviet-type of economy here: Commissars deciding who’s going to be granted waivers, commissars in the administration figuring out how they’re going to sprinkle around benefits… I’m very exasperated. This is serious.”

Sen. John Thune (R-SD): “Taxpayers are going to be asked to initial checks to farmers in lieu of having a trade policy that actually opens and expands more markets. There isn’t anything about this that anybody should like.”

Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD): “What’s the strategy, what’s the end game here, at what point do we start seeing things move out of the chaotic state they are in now and to where we actually see new trade agreements.”

Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ): “This is what we feared all along, that these markets would be replaced by handouts… You lose some of these markets, you lose them for good or a long time.”

Sen. Bob Corker: (R-TN): “You put people in the poorhouse and provide them aid. What you need to do is not put them in the poorhouse… They put in place a policy that requires farmers to go on welfare.”

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY): “Tariffs are taxes that punish American consumers and producers. If tariffs punish farmers, the answer is not welfare for farmers — the answer is remove the tariffs.”

Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-TX): “My hope is we’ll start to see some of these issues off of the table, like NAFTA… It would be good to not add more uncertainty and reduce the uncertainty by taking care of some of these trade disputes.”

Yesterday, Vox reported that while the Republican tax plan has “been a major windfall for corporations and the wealthy,” new data shows it has done nothing to boost wages for workers. A new chart from Bloomberg shows that “between the first and second quarters of 2018 — after the tax cuts were enacted — real wages fell by 1.8 percent.”

​From Vox:

When Republicans delivered $1.5 trillion in tax cuts last December and slashed the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 21 percent, they said it would come with a big wage boost for American workers. Except it hasn’t.

Over the weekend, this chart from Bloomberg showing private data from PayScale’s wage index swept across Twitter. It shows a drop in wages in the second quarter of the year.

…And between the first and second quarters of 2018 — after the tax cuts were enacted — real wages fell by 1.8 percent.

…According to the BLS, wages and salaries increased by about 2.7 percent year over year in the first three months of 2018. That’s pretty much in line with inflation. And even as unemployment levels are historically low, worker pay isn’t rising.

It’s not that corporations don’t have more money — it’s that they have no particular reason to give that money to workers.

The Republican tax bill has been a major windfall for corporations and the wealthy.

…American corporations are showering their shareholders with stock buybacks, thanks in part to their tax savings, and have returned nearly $700 billion to investors this year.

…Some Republicans have even admitted that the tax cuts aren’t the boost to workers they promised. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) this spring said there is “no evidence whatsoever that money’s been massively poured back into the American worker.”

…Further complicating the matter for the GOP: Trump’s trade war, which could wipe out the benefits of the tax bill altogether, including any potential boosts to wages. Former top Trump economic adviser Gary Cohn said in a June interview that the White House’s tariff battle could increase inflation and consumer debt and erase any positives from the tax cuts.

[…]

oday, the Kaiser Health Network (KHN) reported that Missourians are among those who would suffer most if a lawsuit filed by Josh Hawley and 19 other Republican Attorneys General is successful. While Missouri has one of the highest rates of adults with pre-existing conditions, Hawley’s lawsuit “calls on federal courts to find the health law’s protections for people with preexisting conditions unconstitutional.” Nearly 2.5 million Missourians could lose coverage due to the lawsuit. Georgetown University’s Center on Health Insurance Reforms professor Justin Giovannelli told KHN that plaintiffs like Hawley “are paying lip service to these critical protections for people, but they are in fact engaged in a strategy that would get rid of those protections.”

From Kaiser Health Network:

If the Affordable Care Act’s protections for people with preexisting medical conditions are struck down in court, residents of the Republican-led states that are challenging the law have the most to lose.

“These states have been opposed to the ACA from the beginning,” said Gerald Kominski, a senior fellow at the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research. “They’re hurting their most vulnerable citizens.”

…By extension, the suit calls on federal courts to find the health law’s protections for people with preexisting conditions unconstitutional — and Sessions agrees.

Nine of the 11 states with the highest rates of preexisting conditions among adults under 65 have signed onto the lawsuit to strike down the ACA, according to data from insurance companies and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

…Plaintiffs in the lawsuit “are paying lip service to these critical protections for people, but they are in fact engaged in a strategy that would get rid of those protections,” said Justin Giovannelli, an associate research professor at Georgetown University’s Center on Health Insurance Reforms. “Frankly, it’s hard to square what they’re saying on the one hand and what they’re arguing in the courts on the other.”

According to a poll released in June, also by the Kaiser Family Foundation, three-quarters of Americans say that maintaining protections for people with preexisting conditions is “very important.” This includes majorities of Democratic, Republican and independent voters.

Before the health law was adopted, insurance companies routinely denied coverage to millions of people with preexisting conditions who purchased insurance through the individual marketplace.

…The ACA ended those practices.

This morning, Politico published a detailed report exposing Josh Hawley’s top political consultant for years of skirting campaign finance laws to help funnel millions of dollars in funds from the National Rifle Association (NRA) into key battleground races. Politico reports that the firm run by Hawley’s primary campaign strategist and frequent campaign spokesman, Brad Todd, appears to have been using a shell organization called Starboard to illegally coordinate with the NRA on critical races. According to the report, “the NRA’s relationship with Starboard continues.” This is not the first time Hawley has been closely associated with questionable campaign finance dealings. During his 2016 run for Attorney General, Hawley was faced with an ethics complaint for using two non-profits he founded to benefit his campaign. The complaint alleged that Hawley had set up two dark money non-profits — Missouri Forward Foundation and the Missouri Liberty Project — to be nothing more than “political committees that don’t have to disclose their donors.” As Attorney General, Hawley has turned a blind eye to former Governor Eric Greitens’ use of a similarly structured non-profit — which is currently under investigation by the Missouri Ethic Commission. “Frankly it’s not surprising that, yet again, Josh Hawley’s campaign team is implicated in a campaign finance scandal,” said Missouri Democratic Party Deputy Communications Director Brooke Goren. “From day one, Josh Hawley has been a supporter of dark money who will do whatever it takes to make his donors and political allies happy. The question is: will Hawley continue to associate with and accept help from Brad Todd, when he knows Todd may be intentionally violating campaign finance laws to help Hawley win?” ###

This week, DC Republicans continued their efforts to sabotage health care for hardworking Missourians by severely cutting funding for grassroots programs that help individuals find health care. The Washington Post reports that the Administration has also been encouraging individuals and businesses to purchase plans that, “cover fewer services and bypass rules intended to protect people from previous practices in which insurers charged higher prices to women, older people and those with preexisting medical conditions.”

Health insurance coverage for Missourians with pre-existing conditions is already at risk thanks to a lawsuit filed by Attorney General Josh Hawley, which would end protections for those individuals. With one of the highest rates of adults with pre-existing conditions in the country, ending these protections would impact nearly 2.5 million Missourians.

“Josh Hawley is already part of a lawsuit that would strip health care protections from Missourians with pre-existing conditions,” said Missouri Democratic Party Deputy Communications Director Brooke Goren. “In the wake of this latest development, Hawley needs to come clean with Missourians: does he support the administration’s attempt to further sabotage Missourians’ health care?”