Left Invokes ‘QAnon’ After Josh Hawley Exposes Ketanji Brown Jackson’s Soft Record on Child Sex Offenders

Jordan Dixon-HamiltonMarch 21, 2022

Far-left media invoked the “QAnon” conspiracy theory after Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) exposed Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s “pattern of letting child porn offenders off the hook for their appalling crimes.”

“Judge Jackson has a pattern of letting child porn offenders off the hook for their appalling crimes, both as a judge and as a policymaker. She’s been advocating for it since law school,” Hawley tweeted last week. “This goes beyond “soft on crime.” I’m concerned that this a record that endangers our children.”

Judge Jackson has a pattern of letting child porn offenders off the hook for their appalling crimes, both as a judge and as a policymaker. She’s been advocating for it since law school. This goes beyond “soft on crime.” I’m concerned that this a record that endangers our children

— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) March 16, 2022

In an 18-tweet thread, Hawley laid out questionable rulings and comments from Jackson regarding child sex offenders.

However, despite Hawley’s valid concern as a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee where Jackson’s confirmation hearings will take place, corporate media has used Hawley’s concerns to liken him to “Qanon” and “Pizzagate.”

Vox’s Ian Millhiser described Hawley’s thread as “a stunningly inflammatory charge, reminiscent of conspiracy theories such as QAnon or Pizzagate, which posit that prominent liberals are part of a vast ring of pedophiles.”

Despite Millhiser’s attempt to link Hawley to QAnon, he later admits that Hawley’s criticism of Jackson’s soft sentencing of child sex offenders appears “to be literally true.”

In his thread, Hawley drew attention to seven instances where Judge Jackson gave lower sentencing to child sex offenders than federal guidelines suggested.

Millhiser again admitted that “Hawley is technically telling the truth when he says that Jackson ‘deviated from the federal sentencing guidelines.’”

MSNBC’s Joy Reid’s blog also attempted to link Hawley with Qanon because of his thread. The ReidOut Blog claimed Hawley’s allegations “hew closely to claims we’ve heard from QAnon conspiracy theorists.”

“Hawley didn’t mention the conspiracy by name Wednesday, but his allegations were tinged with the same hysteria,” the blog continued.

The Daily Dot’s Mike Rothschild added to the Qanon dogpile coming from leftist media.

Rothschild wrote:

But in attacking Judge Jackson’s record on issues related to such crimes, Hawley, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, signaled an intention to appeal during the hearing to the great mass of conspiracy theorists who obsess over “crimes against children” allegedly committed by Democrats. Naturally, that means QAnon.

Further, Media Matters accused Hawley of launching a “smear campaign” that “included attempts to connect her to the QAnon-adjacent “Pizzagate” conspiracy theory.”

Hawley’s thread did not mention “QAnon” or “Pizzagate.” Instead, Hawley called out Jackson for things like wondering if “there may be a type of ‘less-serious child pornography offender’ whose motivation is not sexual but ’is the challenge, or to use the technology.’”

Hawley also wrote:

In her time on the U.S. Sentencing Commission, Judge Jackson said she “mistakingly assumed that child pornography offenders are pedophiles” and she wanted “to understand this category of nonpedophiles who obtain child pornography.”

Most of these publications attacking Hawley did not attempt to address the Senator’s concerns about her soft record on child sex offenders, and the one that did admitted that Hawley’s findings are “literally true.”

“The Left has pivoted to calling legitimate opposition to real-world pedophilia and child porn “QAnon,” one Twitter user wrote.

The Left has pivoted to calling legitimate opposition to real-world pedophilia and child porn “QAnon.” https://t.co/39Rxu2eR7j

— Joel Berry (@JoelWBerry) March 18, 2022