December 11, 2023

Tom Cotton just tried to speak for MLK and it backfired spectacularly

In a truly breathtaking show of historical whitesplaining, Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR) took to Twitter today to “honor” Martin Luther King and offer empty lip service to vague notions of “equality” while having spent his entire career in service of the things that Reverend King despised the most.

Martin Luther King excoriated the “the giant triplets of racism, economic exploitation and militarism,” all three of which form central tenets of Cotton’s extremist ideology.

Tom Cotton began his career by carrying a gun and personally waging war upon people of color in Iraq and Afganistan.

One of the most gung-ho war hawks in Washington and a sycophantic shill for the defense industry, Cotton’s defining moment was when he led a group of other Republicans in the drafting of a letter to the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran, going behind the back of the State Department to directly interfere with the elected President of the United States’ negotiations with another foreign power – and meeting with defense contractors the very next day. 

He is relentless in his efforts to provoke war with Iran and to funnel as much of our tax revenue as possible into the hands of the military.

Domestically, he works tirelessly to destroy our social safety net and to exacerbate the income inequality that is devastating the American middle class.

But the most galling part of Cotton’s pretend reverence for the Reverend is the way he behaved towards our nation’s first black President, as pointed out so thoughtfully by beloved Twitter user “Zedd.”

This man was so consumed with hate for President Obama that he specifically filibustered the appointment of Cassandra Butts to the uncontroversial ambassadorship of the Bahamas for 820 days. He did this solely because he knew she was dying of leukemia and that the move would cause the President personal pain.

So Cotton can keep his empty words, since he’s inevitably just going to back to enabling our openly racist and dangerously unfit President.

 

 

Colin Taylor

Managing Editor

Colin Taylor is the managing editor of the Washington Press. He graduated from Bennington College with a Bachelor's degree in history and political science. He now focuses on advancing the cause of social justice, equality, and universal health care in America.