A Walmart employee offered free hire by a fan on social media after using the company’s Twitter account to call Republican Senator Josh Hawley a ‘hurt loser’ because he promised Congress the election of pres. Joe Biden will officially ratify next week.
The employee used the Walmart account to respond to a Hawley tweet in which he announced he would object to Biden’s certification in support of President Donald Trump’s unfounded allegations of widespread election fraud. The unauthorized tweet angered Hawley and outraged Trump supporters who promised to boycott the company, but others wanted to financially reward the employee who made it.
“To the Walmart employee who bravely posted the #soreloser tweet on the @Walmart twitter, please contact me,” Don Winslow, a popular fiction writer and regular Trump critic, tweeted Wednesday night. “I want to pay your rent / mortgage payment next month. And yes, I’m serious.”
Additional Twitter users responded to Winslow’s tweet with similar money offers for the anonymous employee, and several suggested that a GoFundMe crowd funding campaign should also be launched.
The identity of the employee is still unknown, but Winslow tweeted that the worker would be able to provide proof of their service at Walmart and access to the company’s corporate social media account if disputed over the feasibility of the scheme. and added that ‘it is not. complicated and I have done it before. ‘
The tweet, which has since been removed, told Hawley to ‘go ahead’ and ‘have your 2 hour debate’, alongside the hashtag #soreloser. This was made in response to a tweet from Hawley in which he explained that he would object to Biden’s victory on January 6, because “millions of voters who are concerned about integrity in the election deserve to be heard.”
“Thank you @Walmart for your insulting condescension. Now that you have insulted 75 million Americans, would you at least apologize for using slave labor?” Hawley tweeted in response. “Or maybe you want to apologize for the pathetic wages you pay your workers when you chase mom and doll shops out of pocket.”
Casey Staheli, Walmart’s senior manager of national media relations, said Newsweek that the tweet “was posted incorrectly by a member of our social media team who intended to publish this comment in their personal account,” before apologizing to Hawley for ‘this error and any confusion about our position’ . Hawley has not yet publicly commented on Walmart’s apology.
Hawley’s commitment to challenge the certification and similar promises of several Republicans of the House means that Congress will debate the issue, but the challenges will not change the outcome of the election. For an objection to remain standing, both chambers of Congress must vote in favor.
It is highly unlikely that the Democratic-controlled House will vote in favor of any objection. The GOP-controlled Senate is also unlikely to be mandatory, as several Republican senators have congratulated Biden and called for Trump to stop promoting unverified theories about voter fraud.
Newsweek reached out to Hawley’s office for comment.
Anna Moneymaker-Pool / Getty