Like President Trump, Sen. Hawley defines a new conservative approach to governing

Much of what President Donald Trump gets criticized for publicly is his style. His opponents dislike the tweets and his counter-punch approach to politics.

Does he make politically incorrect or even ill-advised comments? Sure. But it shouldn't be a surprise to anyone. Voters knew this before they elected him.

But looking purely at the substance of the Trump presidency, it's been transformational in a number of areas.

During his first three years in office, 187 Trump judicial nominees have been confirmed by the U.S. Senate.

"This year, I believe it will be a one-year record for the number of judges that we have confirmed out of the United States Senate Judiciary Committee. A one-year record in American history, that is," U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) told me a few days before Christmas. "It's a great achievement by the president, and the Senate has been doing its part."

Hawley added the Senate Judiciary Committee, of which he is a member, has successfully blocked a couple nominees who, he said, did not share his or the president's "commitment, to defending the Constitution, our religious liberty rights, Second Amendment rights."

The transformation of the courts, the senator said, will be one of the president's longest legacies.

Hawley, who I've interviewed three times in the last two years, is one of the president's top defenders but with a much different demeanor than Trump. The constitutional-law attorney who turns 40 on New Year's Eve is the youngest member of the U.S. Senate. And like the president, he's changing, or at least better communicating, what it means to be a Republican.

The president campaigned on the importance of representing the interests of forgotten men and women. He spoke about why new trade deals were needed and campaigned on issues such as lower taxes, better wages, judicial appointments and health care. But he did it from an America-first approach instead of a wonky conservative intellectualism. It's part of the reason he rubs some NeverTrumpers the wrong way.

Although Hawley comes with an Ivy League background, he, too, champions the small town-, middle America-way of life calling these individuals the "backbone of our state."

These folks, he argues, have been ignored by "the political class of both parties" over the years.

"Right now, we're facing a real crisis of the working class and the middle class in our country and a collapse of the middle class way of life," he told me. "I've said over and over and over again this year in the Senate that is what Washington ought to be focused on. Not what these Big Tech lobbyists want. Not what these Big Pharma lobbyists want."

Speaking of Big Tech, it's an issue the senator has championed quite a bit during his first year in office. Some conservatives might disagree with his idea Big Tech should be reeled in, including on issues such as endless scrolling and auto-play videos. But Hawley said his conservatism lines up with the issue.

"I don't know why it is that Big Tech ought to raise our kids and not parents," he said, adding it's increasingly difficult for parents to have control over their children's online experience and the data collected.

He said it's also about personal property rights.

"Our data is our personal info [and it] is a piece of personal property. And right now, these Big Tech companies take our data without even telling us; they sell it without our permission; they compromise our privacy and our security; and we can't stop it," Hawley said.

Even turning off location services on a mobile devices does not stop companies from collecting data, he added.

"We just learned with Facebook, even if on Facebook you say, 'I don't want you to track me,' Facebook still does, still uses it, still makes gobs of money, and off of all of your information. And no individual can stop it. My view is, the way a free market flourishes is you give parents and individuals control over their own information, their own decisions," he said.

He said a bipartisan coalition is developing around this issue, including support from the White House.

"The president has endorsed several pieces of my legislation, and so I hope the Senate will take it up. I think it's an area we're making significant progress," he said.

While the Trump presidency will have another five years at the most, his policies and governing philosophy could continue even after his time in the White House is finished. That's especially so if more people like Josh Hawley take up the mantle.

Lucas Presson is assistant publisher of the Southeast Missourian.