Joe.My.God. LGBT News
First, a reminder from Reason:
Five years ago last Tuesday, The New York Times, after considerable internal turmoil, published an op-ed by Sen. Tom Cotton (R–Ark.) advocating that the federal government unilaterally send military troops to quell the riots ripping through the country in the wake of the Minneapolis police killing of George Floyd.
The piece led directly to the firing of multiple Times editors, the resignation and eventual relaunch of Times controversialist Bari Weiss, and an appended 317-word editor’s note lamenting that “the essay fell short of our standards and should not have been published.”
It also, crucially, did not deliver its intended result: Cities continued to burn, some for months on end, and President Donald Trump never did impose military troops on any unwilling governor.
Cotton’s 2020 New York Times op-ed was titled “Send In The Troops.” Today he published a Wall Street Journal op-ed titled, “Send In The Troops, For Real.” It begins:
Violent insurrectionists turned areas of Los Angeles into lawless hellscapes over the weekend, with anarchists setting fire to vehicles, throwing scooters and debris at police, and looting businesses—all while waving foreign flags.
Despite the rising chaos, Gov. Gavin Newsom, whose office likened the riots to a Philadelphia Eagles playoff victory celebration, and Mayor Karen Bass, who refuses to support federal law enforcement, haven’t taken sufficient action to restore law and order.
Meanwhile, incredibly, Democrats and the liberal media have again called this outbreak of violence “mostly peaceful protests.”
The full piece is behind a paywall.
It may indeed be time to send in the troops. https://t.co/n6ISLyLySi
— Tom Cotton (@SenTomCotton) June 10, 2025