A heckler got laughed off the stage on Thursday while attempting to interrupt Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) — who was giving a speech at The Heritage Foundation at the time — after she shouted that China was not the United States’ true enemy.
During the speech, Hawley addressed what he believed to be the greatest threat to American national security — communist China — and argued that the nation’s top foreign policy priority should be “deterring China from seizing Taiwan.” And he argued that the best way to do that would be to stop sending assets blindly to Ukraine.
“I’m not in favor of blank checks to anybody. So I’m not here to tell you that I don’t favor blank checks to Ukraine, but I do favor them to Taiwan. No, quite the contrary,” Hawley explained. “My view is we have got to help the Taiwanese defend themselves. We should be arming and supporting the Taiwanese but on the condition that they spend on their own defense, that they embrace an asymmetric defense strategy, and that they go all in on the defense of their island and prepare to defend it from any potential Chinese invasion.”
But while the Missouri senator delivered his remarks, a woman walked onto the stage next to him. Unfolding a large poster that read, “People & Planet, not War & Aggression,” she began to shout over him — and she argued that China was not so dangerous an enemy as climate change.
WATCH:
Someone just ran on stage and interrupted Josh Hawley's speech at the Heritage Foundation.
"China is not our enemy! The climate crisis is!"
The crowd laughs at her and she's taken off the stage by security pic.twitter.com/X7J1bl2LpY
— Washington Free Beacon (@FreeBeacon) February 16, 2023
“We spend over $1 trillion every year, and the state — your state of Missouri — over half the people are in poverty,” she said as security approached her, took her by the arm, and began to escort her off the stage.
“China is not our enemy,” she insisted. “The climate crisis is! We need to be this serious about the climate crisis!”
The audience laughed as she was removed from the room, shouting over her shoulder the entire time about military spending and how she believed that money should be used to address climate change instead.
Hawley quickly picked up where he had left off, piggy-backing off the lone protester’s complaints to double down on his position — and take a swing at the Biden administration in the process.
WATCH:
A climate protester interrupts Sen. Josh Hawley’s (R-MO) Heritage Foundation speech on China and Ukraine.
Hawley: “This administration wants to use the climate crisis as a justification for its agenda in Ukraine and elsewhere. Maybe they oughta visit with that gal.” pic.twitter.com/QcL3dTCzqn
— The Recount (@therecount) February 16, 2023
“This administration wants to use the climate crisis as a justification for its agenda in Ukraine and elsewhere. Maybe they oughta visit with that gal,” he quipped.
