Senator Tom Cotton 7-30-26

The U.S. Soccer Podcast. These players are battered and exhausted, but you don't hurt like this if you don't care about this team, about this country, about this game. You can feel the intensity, the goals, the energy that, wow, look at us. Here in the U.S., I have got some news for you. There's so much more to come. My name is Megan Klingberg, and we're just getting started. The U.S. Soccer Podcast, presented by Henkel. Follow and listen on your favorite platform. And welcome back, everyone. It is my great pleasure to welcome Senator Tom Cotton to First News. Senator, welcome to the show. Hey, Steve, it's good to be back on with you this time in the morning. Yeah, this is our first morning interview instead of doing it in the afternoons. Well, I know both of us have time constraints. First news is a little different, so let's get into the meet. And then I got a special thing to tell you afterwards, Senator. I don't know if Hannah told you or not, but we'll see. So first of all, let's start off with some good news. We have some more jobs coming to Arkansas down in Camden. I know that you worked very hard with Congressman Westerman and Senator Bozeman, but Lockheed Martin is going to bring us some more jobs. Steve, Arkansas is the defense leader in America, and I think the world is taking notice. Many of the very weapons that we're using to take the fight to revolutionary fanatics in Iran or defend our troops in the Middle East are being made in Camden. And just yesterday, the Pentagon announced that Lockheed Martin is going to be adding even more jobs. down in South Arkansas as part of an overall $58 billion contract for more missile defense interceptors. You're going to see a lot more production in Camden. We're forecasting 50% increase in new jobs in South Arkansas. Those are good, high-paying jobs with great benefits. So I'm very pleased with the Pentagon made this announcement, pleased for what it means for our state. And Arkansasans can continue to proudly provide the tools that our brave men and women are using on the front lines of freedom all around the world. That is awesome. Any updates on the Pine Bluff Arsenal? Well, as you know, Steve, last year it was a bit of a rocky spell early in the Trump administration when there was some consideration of closing the arsenal. But Senator Bozeman and Congressman Western and I fought hard on that. We convinced the Army leadership that so far from being a liability, the Pine Bluff Arsenal was a massive asset. So we didn't just save the arsenal, but we've expanded production there. They're going to have more investment and more jobs.

And that's just the beginning. I think you can expect more good news to be coming soon about time bluff. That is awesome. Now, I know, Senator, I can assure you 100%, even my liberal listeners that text in, are all in favor of the SAVE Act, as is 85% according to the polls of Americans. Any updates on progress that way? with that legislation? See, that's in part because Arkansas already has very strict voter ID rules. It works well. It's still easy to vote, but it's hard to cheat. I support President Trump and almost every other Republican senator in trying to pass a safe act, kind of sponsor of the Save Act. I think it's outrageous that the Democrats continue to block the Save America Act. I'm supportive of having another vote on it, see if we can convince them to come to their census. If they can't, then I think we need to take the fight from the Senate chamber under the campaign trail, because the ultimate solution here is to try to get more Republicans elected to the United States Congress so we can pass even better legislation. I know we might slightly disagree on this, but I'm in favor of killing the cloture rule. If they want to do it, let them do it like Mr. Smith goes to Washington and hold the floor. But I appreciate that. Now, also, I've seen some of your tweets on X, but Anthony Fauci appeared before the Senate committee yesterday. Quite contentious. Senator, is he ever going to be held accountable? Well, unfortunately, he can't be held accountable for anything that happened through the end of 2024 because Joe Biden gave him an appalling pardon for any potential crimes that he may have committed. And isn't it curious, Steve, that a man with a blanket pardon is still pleading the Fifth Amendment? What is he worried about? He could confess to any crime that he might have committed. And there's nothing that the Department of Justice could do. So did he just come in and plan to lie from the very beginning? You know, the easy way to avoid any legal liability, if you've got a blanket pardon for all your past sins, is to tell the truth. Yeah. And he refused to testify over 100 times yesterday at the hearing. And I think as contemptible as it was, though, Steve, I think the important thing to remember is that it's not in the past. What Anthony Fauci and the Liberals did during the pandemic is exactly what they would do again. if they got power. If they were to win control of the Congress, if they were win the White House in 28, they would go right back to trying to control and dictate your life down to the smallest details, like telling kindergartners they have to wear masks. So although what he did is contemptible, both during the pandemic and yesterday, I think maybe the more important thing to remember is we can't give power back to the Democrats and let people like that run our lives again.

I would wholeheartedly agree with that. Now, I played the contrarian. I actually had Jeff Minasso from Fox News on earlier, and we got into this. And just playing the talk show host, I was running the different angles. And I wonder if the... The pardon because it was Autopen and not Biden that signed it, if they're concerned that that might be challenged. And the perfect way to me to do this is for the DOJ to charge it and let a judge decide. But that was just me playing the contrarian there. It's possible, Steve. I think that maybe the more straightforward answer is that he didn't want to have to tell the truth. He didn't want to tell America that he was saying one thing in his... extraordinary diaries that showed just an amazing degree of vanity and telling the American people something else. But that's who these liberal Democrats are. They always say one thing privately or have one set of rules from themselves and want us to live by a separate set of rules. Well, Senator, that segues into a perfect thing. When you talk about Democrats, that's one thing. But the Democrats are no longer the Democrats, for the most part. They're the Democrat communists. Like, for example, Zohran Mamdani, the Moron, Marxist, Zohran Mamdani up there in New York. And some of these other cuckoo for Cocoa Puff's people that have taken over their party. Any thoughts on that? Yeah, Steve, the radical left has taken over the Democratic Party. The Democratic socialists are in the saddle with the Democrats. That's not every Democrat, but that's where the Democratic Party gets its energy and it gets its animating force. And you mentioned Zoroaumdali, the mayor of New York. And a lot of our cans are going to think, well, I'm not going to New York. You know, they're not an issue for me. It goes far beyond Zohran Mamdani and Zohran Mamdani, though, Steve. And these Democratic socialists are now winning elections. And to come to Congress in New York City and New Jersey and Colorado, they're getting nominated statewide in places like Maine twice. You know, they may have picked the guy with a Nazi tattoo off the ballot. But his replacement is just as radical as he is. They're going to win primaries in places like Minnesota and Michigan. So it very much does matter to us in Arkansas that radical socialists are taking over the Democratic Party. And we have them in Arkansas too. People that want to defund ICE or say they don't care if illegal aliens have documents or not because they want to overrun the country with. unlimited migration from the third world. That's what these radical socialists stand for, and we can't just write it off as the mayor of a far-off city. Well, I've got to ask you a further question now. One of your colleagues again,

who I affectionately refer to, the lovely and sweet senator from Massachusetts is who I refer to. The president refers to her as Pocahontas, and of course I can't because Pocahontas was a woman of virtue. So I call her chief sitting bull sugar. All right, there. I did it, folks. All right, Senator, I'm going to let you in on the joke. I have, you know, I do have the pet names, and usually I don't use them in interviews. But your constituents and my listeners, I bumped into a group of veterans that recognized me Tuesday. And I had several listeners text in and say, when I said, I'm going to have Senator Cotton on and said, Steve, can you make Senator Cotton laugh for the third time interviewing him? And I said, and they all say that because they said, he's such a serious man and you get him to laugh. So I told Hannah what happened. And I said, I'm going to try to do it. And I got you to laugh at Chief Sitting Bull Sugar. So I'm three for three. And that's a very smart way to avoid any of the FCC fines. Absolutely. And we all know how sweet Elizabeth is. But anyway. I'm going to share one point, Steve, about that. I mean, a lot of what we do. in the Senate for the people of Arkansas is very serious business, no question. But, you know, we lost our good friend and great patriot, Lindsey Graham, and I think Lindsay said a good model for us all, whether you're a senator or a radio host or anything else. You can take your work very seriously, but you don't have to take yourself or your friends and your colleagues very seriously. And I think that would be one of many lessons we can learn from his life. Yes, I guess on the next interview, I will tell you my affectionate nickname for my favorite Democrat, your colleague from... Pennsylvania. But we'll see if I can make you laugh the third time with his nickname. But yeah, Chief Sitting Bull Sugar, she doubled down with the guy with the Nazi tattoo. Then she's out there in Michigan with the guy who Zayed, who's a radical. He and Zohran Mamdani are in the same boat. I just cannot believe on the 25th anniversary of 9-11 Senator that this is where we are. Yeah, and remember, all these Democrats rallied behind Graham Platner, the socialist in Maine with a Nazi tattoo and who abused women, and they continued to double down. They only abandoned him when he started losing in the polls, when he got down to Democratic primary and started losing to Senator Susan Collins. They're not offended by Nazi tattoos. In fact, the only thing they probably offended by is a Star David tattoo. The thing that they can't tolerate, though, is losing. And that's what Graham Platner is going to do in Maine. And frankly, that's what his replacement is going to do. That's Troy Johnson or Troy Jackson, right? Yeah, a longtime politician, career insider in the main capital. He may not have a Nazi tattoo. He may not abuse women, but he has the same radical views. And we can't allow people like Troy Jackson or Abdel Abdul El-Sayed to get elected to the Senate and make the laws under which Arkansas has to live. Yeah, I agree with you. Senator, I know we're going a little bit over, and I had to promise Hannah.

that I know you have a meeting you have to get to, but I sure do appreciate you coming on. Is there anything you want to close with? Yeah, see, that's fine. It's always good to be on with you, especially this time in the morning. The U.S. Soccer podcast. These players are battered and exhausted, but you don't hurt like this if you don't care about this team, about this country, about this game. You can feel the intensity, the goals, the energy that, wow, look at us. Here in the U.S., I have got some news for you. There's so much more to come. My name is Megan Klingberg, and we're just getting started. The U.S. Soccer Podcast, presented by Henkel. Follow and listen on your favorite platform.