Eric Schmitt vs. Josh Hawley: Is the GOP's future here in Missouri? | Opinion
If I had to bet which Missouri senator is more likely to end up in the White House 10 years from now, I’d take Eric Schmitt over Josh Hawley.
It’s a pretty easy pick, actually.
On paper, the two men each check off all the necessary boxes to lead the GOP into the next generation. Both are relatively young. (Schmitt is 50, Hawley 45.) Both are enthusiastic Trumpists. Both are regulars on Fox News prime time. And both are ambitious.
Hawley is sloppier. Schmitt is craftier, more disciplined.
That’s my takeaway, anyway, from Schmitt’s 100-plus minute appearance this week on Tucker Carlson’s interview show on X, the social media platform.
Carlson was fired from Fox News nearly two years ago, but he remains — despite dabbling in weirdo antisemitic conspiracy theorizing — a powerful force in President Donald Trump’s GOP. He was a featured speaker at last year’s Republican National Convention, after all.
And he still has a sizable audience. By noon Thursday, the X post featuring Carlson’s interview with Schmitt had been viewed 2.1 million times.
Schmitt didn’t say much new or particularly provocative during the interview, which was ostensibly about his new book on “how to beat the left in court.” He praised Trump. He criticized the now-out-of-power Biden administration for supposedly censoring conservatives. He praised Trump some more.
“I think President Trump, I think one of his great contributions to the Republican Party is that it has given people the confidence to fight,” Schmitt told Carlson. “I think that’s a good thing.”
That’s when it crystallized for me.
Hawley is betting his future on Trumpism, the idea. Schmitt? He’s sticking with Trump, the man.
‘Idea guy’ versus ‘relationship guy’
Here’s what I mean: Hawley has made plain that he sees Trump’s project as reorienting the GOP toward working class concerns and acted accordingly.
That’s why he made a splash earlier this year with his New York Times op-ed warning Republicans not to cut Medicaid. It’s why he was the first senator to jump on the idea of sending a tariff “rebate” to American taxpayers. And it’s why he’s taken on the task of trying to outlaw stock ownership by federally elected officials.
Some of these ideas are actually good. The political problem with Hawley’s approach, though, is that he gets ahead of where Trump is actually going or wants to go. It’s not always clear that Trump himself is interested in Trumpist ideas.
Which is why Hawley had to humiliatingly back down on his Medicaid commitment when it became clear that Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill was going to cut the program no matter what. And it’s why Trump was moved to call Hawley a “second-tier senator” over the stock ownership bill.
That was probably a misunderstanding, but the damage was done. Oops.
It is difficult to believe that Schmitt would ever allow that kind of daylight between himself and Trump’s desires. He has fashioned himself into the president’s senatorial attack dog — golfing with Trump, flying on his campaign plane during the final days of the 2024 election, leading the rescissions bill that killed off federal funding for NPR and getting himself dubbed the “White House whisperer” by Politico.
“It’s a fun time to be a Republican right now in Washington. For me, specifically, just having those relationships, and even with President Trump, I mean, getting to play (golf) with President Trump,” Schmitt told the publication.
He added: “President Trump is a very good golfer.”
Sure.
But this isn’t a matter of who can flatter Trump more outrageously or obsequiously. Both Hawley and Schmitt excel at that.
The difference is this: Hawley is an idea guy. Schmitt is more a relationship guy. And in today’s GOP, Schmitt has the advantage in cultivating the only relationship that matters: the one with Donald Trump.
Joel Mathis is a regular Kansas City Star and Wichita Eagle Opinion correspondent. He lives in Lawrence.
This story was originally published August 15, 2025 at 5:06 AM.