#Tom Cotton warns ‘chaos’ could spread as Jacob Blake protests continue

GOP Sen. Tom Cotton warned Americans that the unrest taking place in a number of cities could come to “your home town” unless lawmakers take immediate action to restore law and order.

“Now chaos continues in places like Portland, where one man was killed in a clash between Trump supporters and protesters this weekend, and is spreading to smaller towns like Kenosha. Months into this crisis, the lesson to any responsible leader is clear: take action quickly to maintain order, otherwise anarchists and insurrections will be emboldened to destroy your city and move on to the next one,” Cotton of Arkansas wrote in an opinion piece on the Fox News website on Monday.

“Next week, it could be your home town,” he continued.

Saying American streets have “exploded into battlegrounds,” Cotton declared that “the carnage will continue until mayors and governors get tough and allow the police to do their job.”

“A return to normalcy won’t come through weakness and passivity, but only by a decisive and overwhelming show of force that convinces these anarchists they can’t blackmail and burn America into submission,” Cotton added.

He pointed to the violence that erupted in Kenosha last week after the shooting death of Jacob Blake and said residents of the city were greeted the next day to “a hellscape of burned-out cars and looted stores.”

“They endured this anarchy with little support from the state’s Democratic politicians. To the contrary, these Democrats seemed afraid to upset the media and their party’s radical base, who downplay, excuse and even encourage violence when it serves their cause,” Cotton said.

He also referred to an op-ed he wrote in the New York Times in June that sparked outrage among the staff against the newspaper for publishing the piece.

Cotton called for the deployment of National Guard or federal troops to cities “where law and order had broken down” and, if not, “the forces of anarchy and destruction would be emboldened.”

“Liberal critics dismissed as dangerous or even fascistic my suggestion that a strong show of force could deter chaos. These critics confidently noted that the riots in New York City, St. Louis and elsewhere burned out after several days – partly because local leaders finally allowed law enforcement to do its job, partly because there was nothing left to loot or ransack. See? They crowed, the problem took care of itself,” he said in the Fox News opinion piece.

“But of course, they were wrong. The chaos and destruction spread to different towns like a wildfire,” Cotton said.