Tom Cotton slams New York Times at CPAC on backlash to “send in the troops” op-ed

Tom Cotton slams New York Times at CPAC on backlash to “send in the troops” op-ed
Drew Angerer/Pool via AP
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Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton has become a leading voice in the culture war against wokeness. During a Friday speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), Cotton slammed the New York Times as “little social justice warriors” over their attempt to cancel him after he published an op-ed calling for law and order in the wake of the violent riots that swept through the nation last summer.  

Woke staffers at the New York Times attacked their own editorial team for agreeing to publish Cotton’s opinion, arguing that his call to end the violent riots that sparked following the death of George Floyd in police custody was fascistic in nature. The conflagration at the paper led to the removal of then-opinion editor, James Bennet.  

Speaking to CPAC, Cotton said that his op-ed had a simple common sense message grounded in “American history and law,” arguing that most Americans agreed with it. The Times’ staffers could not deal with it. 

"If the police cannot, or especially, if they are not allowed to restore order, then it is time to send in the troops," said Cotton, reiterating what he wrote in his op-ed.   

"What happened next? Total meltdown with the little social justice warriors at the New York Times. All these children, they’ve been marinated in the language of the campus seminar room. They said things like, ‘Your words put my life at risk,’" Cotton said. "As if typing on their phones, sitting on futons was as dangerous as being a cop trying to stop rioters in the streets." 

Staffers at the New York Times engaged in what insiders referred to as an “open revolt” against the editorial team over the op-ed. Numerous employees repeated over social media that Cotton’s opinions endangered the lives of black Times staffers.

In his speech to CPAC, Cotton took aim at Times employees who compared his words to violence. 

"I’m sorry kiddo, words are words. Violence is what your friends are doing out on the streets of America," Cotton said. "Of course the New York Times editors, they caved and rolled over and apologized. They said my work didn’t meet their standards. That’s one time I actually agree with the New York Times, my work did not meet their standards, it far exceeded their normally lousy standards." 

Cotton said that leftists demanded an apology from him, but he told the CPAC audience not to expect one.  

"I will never apologize for defending America," Cotton said. "The New York Times is a laughingstock, obviously. But this is no laughing matter."



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