Shortly after Josh Hawley said he would contest Joe Biden’s victory at the electoral college certification in Congress next Wednesday, the Republican senator had a bizarre exchange with Walmart.
A rogue employee at the giant retailer retorted on the company’s Twitter handle that Mr Hawley — and, by implication, Donald Trump — was a “sore loser”. The Missouri senator, whose planned stunt at most will delay Mr Biden’s certification by a few hours, replied: “Thanks @Walmart for your insulting condescension. Now that you’ve insulted 75 million Americans, will you at least apologise for using slave labour?”
Even a year ago it would have been hard to imagine any senior Republican other than Mr Trump talking so scathingly about one of America’s biggest employers — still less a global brand name owned by an avowedly conservative family. Now such declarations are almost routine.
Shortly after the presidential election in November, Mr Hawley said, “We are a…