Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., told Newsmax on Tuesday that American decline "is not by accident," but instead a choice the progressive left is choosing to put forward every day.
During an appearance on "Spicer & Co.," Cotton stressed the far left is "at least ambivalent" about the United States and often "openly hostile" to the sources of American power both domestically and abroad.
Cotton listed "a strong military, a free, prosperous economy, sovereign borders, and sovereign freedom of action in the world," and strong law enforcement as examples of the centers of U.S. strength targeted by progressives.
"These are the things that they actively try to undermine, and it's causing the problems that you see in America today, and it's going to cause their defeat next week at the election as well," he assured.
Meanwhile, the senator and recent author of "Only the Strong" pointed to Democrat administrations' tendency to "slash the defense budget" as contributing to American decline, arguing it has "only gotten worse over the years," including former President Barack Obama's administration and under President Joe Biden.
"It goes back to the pre-World War II era as well," Cotton continued. "Even with supposedly tough Democrats like Harry Truman, they cut defense to the bone. Second, Democrats just have a mistrustful relationship with the military and its personnel and its culture.
"You saw this in President Obama's first year in office, when he believed, egged on in no small part by then-Vice President Biden, that the military was trying to box him in on Afghanistan."
But Cotton said that same energy is also visible in the Senate.
"My colleagues would have you believe that the military is full of 'sexual predators' and 'racists' and 'extremists.' When in reality," Cotton concluded, "you're much safer in the military than you are on a college campus, and the military is one of the most meritocratic societies in our country."
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