Then got here the jaunty tune from “The Benny Hill Present,” adopted by soundtrack entries from “Rocky,” “Titanic” and “Curb Your Enthusiasm.”

Hawley hit the music scene subsequent, showing in Bruce Springsteen’s “Born to Run,” Van Halen’s “Runnin’ With the Satan” and Kate Bush’s “Working Up That Hill,” the 1985 track just lately resurrected and whipped to the high of the charts due to its prominence within the Netflix present “Stranger Issues.”

However the footage of Hawley was all the identical: two clips that aired in prime time throughout the latest listening to of the Home committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol. Each confirmed Hawley operating from rioters as they poured into the constructing, in keeping with the committee.

Whereas the movies drew laughter from the listening to’s viewers in actual time, the web was simply getting began. Inside minutes after which for hours, folks mercilessly roasted Hawley.

Some set the movies to music — largely songs with lyrics about operating. Others dabbled in wordplay by creating a brand new time period to explain what the junior senator from Missouri was doing: Hawlin’. Most simply posted memes — of Forrest Gump sprinting firstly of his run throughout the nation; of the Street Runner zooming down the street with a “Meep meep”; of “Seinfeld” character George Costanza shoving an aged lady and several other kids to flee a fireplace at a children’ party.

“I’ll drink from the nicely of Josh Hawley content material for the remainder of the week,” one Twitter consumer wrote.

Hawley’s workplace didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark from The Washington Put up late Thursday.

Except for the transient burst of laughter, issues remained somber at Thursday’s listening to. Rep. Elaine Luria (D-Va.) launched Hawley because the senator who, whereas passing protesters as he walked throughout the east aspect of the Capitol on Jan. 6, held up his fist in solidarity with them earlier than getting into the constructing.

A U.S. Capitol police officer defending the constructing reported to the committee that Hawley’s gesture “riled up the gang,” Luria mentioned, with a large model of the fist-pump photograph projected behind her. The officer informed the committee that Hawley’s habits “bothered her vastly” as a result of he agitated the protesters from “a protected area,” protected by the barricades and police between him and any mob which may kind. He then entered the Capitol, leaving officers on the entrance strains to cope with the fallout, she mentioned.

However that protected area didn’t final, Luria mentioned. “Later that day, Sen. Hawley fled after these protesters he helped to rile up stormed the Capitol.”

“See for your self,” Luria added.

The movies performed. A 3-second clip confirmed Hawley bounding down the halls of the Capitol, passing a number of officers, which Luria mentioned the senator did to flee rioters flooding into the constructing. The committee replayed the footage in slow-mo for good measure. Then got here a six-second clip exhibiting Hawley whisking his manner down a flight of stairs with others.

Hawley has defended saluting Jan. 6 protesters with a fist pump earlier than contesting the certification of President-elect Joe Biden’s electoral win over President Donald Trump. The senator asserted that, like him, a lot of them got here to peacefully protest and known as lumping these folks in with rioters “a slur on the hundreds and hundreds, tens of hundreds of people that got here to the Capitol that day to display peacefully.”

Hawley has continued to make political hay — and cash — out of the fist-pump image. Hawley slapped a rendition of the picture on a number of items of merchandise, together with the slogan “SHOW-ME STRONG!” — a reference to Missouri’s nickname, “the Present-Me State” — and commenced promoting the gadgets in February, the Missouri Unbiased reported in March.

Web customers keyed in on Luria’s juxtaposition of the fist-bump photograph and the operating movies to focus on Hawley. Utilizing a preferred meme, one consumer categorized Hawley’s fist-pump photograph as messing round and a nonetheless picture of him fleeing as “discovering out.”

Some Twitter customers caught to the basic one-liner format in taking a dig at Hawley. There was the zinger from a contract author and editor in California: “Any further, if political reporters ask Josh Hawley if he’s planning to run, he’s going to must ask them to make clear.”

A TV and movie producer: “The Missouri Dems ought to host an annual Josh Hawley 5K as a fundraiser.”

And a political adviser, who took the chance to attempt to bolster voter turnout: “Y’all higher run to the polls like Josh Hawley ran from the revolt.”

Others drew extra closely from the language of the web to roast Hawley. In a tweet that had racked up 13 million views by Friday morning, one other TV producer posted a four-second GIF of a man sprinting with the caption: “How Josh Hawley fled the Capitol on January sixth.”

Legendary TV journalist Dan Somewhat piled on, holding it easy: “Run Hawley Run.” A Twitter consumer got here in with the help, replying to Somewhat’s allusion to “Forrest Gump” with the GIF of the character performed by Tom Hanks sprinting.

Political commentator Charlie Sykes noticed the web worth of the Hawley movies instantly. Moments after the clips had been proven publicly, he was able to name it.

“Working Josh Hawley,” he wrote, “is a meme for the ages.”