Hawley emerges from a heave-ho to a high-five

Hawley (pictured), a first-term senator from the Show-Me State, made a name for himself when he became the first senator to announce he would challenge the presidential election results from several states on January 6. But he was among those blamed for the violence at the U.S. Capitol that day, prompting publisher Simon & Schuster – the very next day – to cancel the publication of his book "The Tyranny of Big Tech."

"We take seriously our larger public responsibility as citizens, and cannot support Senator Hawley after his role in what became a dangerous threat to our democracy and freedom," the company said, referring to what it described as a "disturbing, deadly insurrection."

Reacting to that announcement, Senator Hawley described the publisher's decision as "Orwellian" and an example of "the Left looking to cancel everyone they don't approve of."

Fortunately for Hawley, conversative publisher Regnery announced on Monday it would publish the book, saying "Regnery is proud to stand in the breach with him. And the warning in his book about censorship obviously couldn't be more urgent."

Dr. Charles Dunn is professor emeritus of government at Clemson University. He has high praise for the 41-year-old senator.

"This fellow is articulate [and] he's a fighter. He has come on the scene and demonstrated that … on this issue of a stolen election he has been willing to stand up and be a leader in addressing that – even when there are members of his party who speak ill of him," he adds.

According to Dunn, the fact that Hawley hails from Missouri will help him connect with mainstream Republican voters.

"That's the Midwest. Harry Truman came out of Missouri," he points out. "It's a state that has potential to produce some good candidates."

And potentially, Dunn concludes, Hawley could bring together an "interesting, diverse group of folks" that maybe nobody else in the party could bring together.

Regnery plans to release Hawley's book in early May.