Republican Senator Tom Cotton took to Fox News on Thursday to denounce Antifa rioters who have been holding violent demonstrations in cities along the west coast.
"Just a few months ago I remember the media, the Democrats blaming all this Antifa violence on Donald Trump yet here we have Joe Biden in the White House and Antifa is still raging in the streets of Portland and Seattle and Denver," Cotton said.
"They have to be met with force, and force has to be used to deter that violence, and if it breaks out, to stop that violence," Cotton suggested. "That has to be the standard we apply no matter what slogan the mob is chanting."
Using force to handle Antifa riots is not a new idea proposed by Cotton. During the summer of 2020, Cotton had suggested that troops should be sent in to handle riots across major American cities in an article published in The New York Times. The opinion piece sparked heavy controversy for the left wing newspaper, going as far as to cause opinion page editor James Bennet to resign.
"These mobs that we see on the streets... that represent Antifa which I guess maybe is not 'just an idea,'" Cotton said referring to President Joe Biden's comments on the violent street group in a debate with then-President Donald Trump.
"Ultimately, what they want is to overthrow America," Cotton asserted. "They hate America, they are not rampaging in the streets because Joe Biden is President, they were not doing it last summer because Donald Trump was President, they are doing it because they hate America."
Riots have continued in Portland and Seattle, as well as Denver.
YouTube video
Loading this lets YouTube set cookies and collect data.