Make no mistake, Senator Tom Cotton is calling for killing protesters

It's another sign of the GOP's fascistic attack on free speech and its promotion of violence. We'd better be prepared.

This week Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas told Fox News that protesters—he called them “criminals”—who blocked traffic on the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, engaging in the long history in this country of civil disobedience, should have been thrown off the bridge by motorists.

He then doubled down on posts on X, one of which showed men getting out of their cars and violently grabbing protesters and hurling them to the side of the road. Cotton commented, “This is how it should be done.”

He reiterated his violent message again in an interview with NBC News, trying to couch it as an issue of urgency for people “trying to get to work or pick up their kids from school or take a sick kid to the doctor,” once again saying motorists should “get out of their cars” and forcibly “remove” people.

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There’s nothing vague, subtle, or sarcastic about Cotton’s comments. Cotton literally told Fox that citizens who were tied up in traffic should get out of their cars and engage in violence against other citizens by throwing them “in the water,” claiming “that’s the way we handle it in Arkansas,” and encouraging people everywhere to “take matters into their own hands.”

The last time I checked, that was attempted murder. And Cotton has no problem advocating it.

The protesters, speaking out against the war in Gaza, were part of demonstrations across the country on Monday in which traffic was blocked in several cities. Many have criticized the protesters, including some on the left on social media, for inconveniencing those who the critics claim are already on their side—using liberal San Francisco as an example.

As someone who’s engaged in lots of protest, particularly around AIDS activism, I think that argument is weak. Protest is about getting attention, which the demonstrators certainly did receive, and the public’s inconveniences pale in comparison to the death and suffering that need attention as the media often sidelines a story. AIDS activists disrupted Grand Central Station, engaged in “die-ins” at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, and blocked lots of traffic everywhere.

This followed in the footsteps of sit-ins organized during the civil rights movement—including all over then-racially segregated Arkansas—which offered the blueprint for non-violent civil disobedience. The police arrive, the protesters go limp, and they are arrested.

But whatever you think of the protests, there’s no question that Cotton’s statements are exceedingly dangerous and further confirm MAGA’s violent intent. Cotton, of course, is infamous for his “Send in the Troops” op-ed in The New York Times in June of 2020, which chillingly advocated “an overwhelming show of force” in using the military against Black Lives Matter protests:

One thing above all else will restore order to our streets: an overwhelming show of force to disperse, detain and ultimately deter lawbreakers.

Cotton is very selective, however, about the kinds of protesters he’d like to use brute force against. Cotton certainly didn’t speak out against the trucker convoys that headed to New York to “shut down the city” in protest of Donald Trump’s fraud trial:

“It could shut New York City down,” said Jennifer Hernandez, a trucker told News Nation. “If New York loses just 10% of the trucks that go in there, their prices are going to skyrocket on everything — from milk to eggs, to any type of goods that the consumer needs," she threatened.

That didn’t warrant Cotton’s concern about people who had to “pick up their kids from school or take a sick kid to the doctor.” He didn’t call the truckers “criminals,” nor did he have an issue with a convoy of armed far-right extremists who headed to the Texas border a few months ago and were calling for a new Civil War.

So, not only is a U.S. senator assaulting free speech, calling it “criminal” activity; he’s targeting particular groups in the authoritarian manner Trump does, promoting violence against them. Calling the Gaza protesters “pro-Hamas vigilantes,” he’s demonizing people and inviting attacks against them. This is what Trump does in his rally speeches, calling immigrants “criminals” and “animals” and attacking his opposition as “vermin.”

And it’s another example of the fascism embraced by Trump, his political supporters like Cotton, and the MAGA movement. The entire Republican Party now not only excuses the violent January 6th attack on the Capitol in which police officers were bludgeoned; they claim it was a protest—free speech. At the same time, they’re increasingly calling for violence against people expressing speech they believe needs to be chilled, and telling their followers to “take matters into their own hands” against them.

It’s very clear what is happening, and we’ll no doubt see further violence. Trump himself has talked about the “retribution” he’ll engage in if he becomes president again, trying to make Americans get used to the idea that he will punish his perceived enemies.

But Cotton’s call for citizens to rise up against those they see as opponents should be a warning to us that even if President Biden prevails in November, the MAGA movement is being re-educated to embrace and engage in violence. The government needs to be prepared for right-wing terrorism that will be encouraged by Trump and Republican politicians across the country