Who is Mike Lawler?

Since his election last November, I've been asking myself this question frequently. Who exactly is our congressman?

On the surface, he is seemingly one of the few rational Republicans in the House. He voted no on H.R. 5, the Parents Bill of Rights Act, one of only five Republicans to do so, so he is willing to vote against party lines. He has denounced George Santos (although he also voted to protect him), supports aid to Ukraine and voted to keep the government open. In short, he doesn't seem crazy, unlike so many others in Congress.

But the more I see him on Fox News or posting on Twitter, the more I realize that he is a politician at heart. His statements and sound bites are all carefully worded to sound rational. And frequently he says things that seem like he's putting party over country, like when he implies that the Department of Justice  and the FBI are political and weaponized. Those are the kind of words that can incite political violence, and that's irresponsible coming from someone who is supposed to be moderate.

In the early hours of this morning, he was posting his public outrage that Democrats didn't vote to keep McCarthy as speaker:

People over politics? Get real. You aligned yourself with Matt Gaetz to upend the institution and seek political gain in the process. You could have put the country first by refusing to partake in this fraud. https://t.co/ttRSXZAmFB

— Mike Lawler (@lawler4ny) October 4, 2023

If the script was flipped, I expect he would do the same. If Lawler was a true moderate, reach across the aisle kind of guy, wouldn't he have worked with Democrats to nogotiate a deal to keep McCarthy instead of trolling them on Twitter?

Looking at some of Lawler's older Twitter fodder, it's clear he was a Trump supporter. Now he's worked to distance himself from Trump, but always carefully worded. The only thing I can see for sure is that Lawler is a political animal through and through. I'm not even sure if he's had any job experience outside of politics. He seems ambitious and motivated, and will undoubtedly be a political force for years to come. But who is he really working for?