Sen. Tom Cotton said Wednesday that renewed Antifa riots in Portland and Seattle – following the inauguration of President Joe Biden – prove the point he made over the summer that force is needed to maintain law and order.
Cotton, R-Ark., said he remembers the media and Democrats blaming former President Donald Trump for Antifa violence in Democrat-run cities just a few months ago.
Speaking on “Fox & Friends,” he said that no matter what side a violent mob is on, they must be put down with force, whether it’s Antifa or the pro-Trump rioters who stormed the U.S. Capitol on January 6.
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SEN. TOM COTTON: 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 is still rampaging in the streets of Seattle and Portland and Denver. It proves a point I made two months ago, two weeks ago. When you have a mob using violence for a political end, it doesn’t matter what slogan they’re chanting or flag they are waving. They have to be met with force. And force has to be used to deter that violence and if it breaks out, to stop that violence. That has to be the standard that we apply no matter what slogan a mob is chanting.
[…]
These mobs that we see on the streets of Seattle and Portland and Denver that represent Antifa – which I guess maybe is not just an idea as some Democrats have said – ultimately what they want is to overthrow America. They hate America, they are not rampaging the streets because Joe Biden is president. They weren’t doing it last summer because Donald Trump was president. They are doing it because they hate America.
Antifa protesters in Portland clashed with authorities Wednesday as they gathered to voice dissatisfaction with President Biden, forcing officers to retreat and taking at least one police bicycle, authorities said.
A crowd of up to 150 people gathered at Revolution Hall around 2 p.m. local time and marched to the headquarters of the Democratic Party of Oregon, Portland police Sgt. Kevin Allen said. The so-called J20 protest was a demonstration against Biden and law enforcement.
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In total, eight adults were arrested for crimes ranging from rioting and possession of a destructive device to reckless burning.