The violent protests taking place overnight in Portland and Seattle after President Joe Biden's inauguration are proof that "force has to be used" to deter political violence, no matter which side of the fence the protesters are on, Sen. Tom Cotton said Thursday.
"I remember the media and Democrats blaming all this antifa violence on Donald Trump, yet here we have Joe Biden in the White House and antifa rampaging in the street of Seattle and Portland and Denver," the Arkansas Republican said on Fox News' "Fox and Friends." "It proves a point I made two weeks ago when you have a mob using violence for political ends it doesn't matter what slogan or flag they are waving. They have to be met with force."
The anti-government protesters in Portland vandalized a Democratic Party of Oregon office and other buildings and fought with police Wednesday night in a violent response to Biden's inauguration, with similar violence reported in the other cities.
"The mobs that we see on the streets of Seattle and Portland and Denver represent antifa, which I guess maybe is not just an idea as some Democrats have said," Cotton added. "Ultimately what they want is to overthrow America. They hate America. They are not rampaging the streets because Joe Biden was elected president. They weren't doing it last summer because Donald Trump was president. They are doing it because they hate America."
Cotton also criticized Biden for speaking about unity in his inaugural address, but returning to the White House and implementing far-left policies.
"Look what he did on the immigration front," said Cotton. "He ended construction of the border wall and he ended the remain in Mexico policy ... now we are saying foreigners can show up again on our border and come into the county and wait for months if not years to show up for a hearing, which they may never show up for."
Meanwhile, "will have illegal aliens taking jobs from Americans at a time when we still have 10 million Americans out of work," said Cotton. "That is a radical far-left policy that the American people don't want."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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