2021’s Senator Tom Cotton must be really upset with 2020 Senator Tom Cotton.
For days now, the Republican from Arkansas has been whining to anyone who will listen about “how crazy some of the Democratic ideas” made it into the Covid-19 relief package. Specifically, Cotton has taken issue with the possibility that some prisoners, who’ve recently filed taxes, might actually receive a check.
But what Cotton is leaving out in his complaint is his utter hypocrisy. The senator didn’t just vote for stimulus checks for prisoners once, he did so twice while Trump was in office.
Under Trump Sen. Cotton Voted Twice for Relief Checks for Prisoners. Now Blasts Practice As "Crazy Democrat Idea" https://t.co/nyOxML37b5 pic.twitter.com/s2paTji2Ho — Peter Wade (@brooklynmutt) March 8, 2021
According to CNN’s fact-checker Daniel Dale, “Neither the bill Trump signed with Cotton’s support in March nor the bill Trump signed with Cotton’s support in December contained any language prohibiting prisoners from getting relief funding.”
But Cotton didn’t let the facts stand in his way during Monday’s visit on Fox News.
“Look how crazy some of the Democratic ideas are. I mean, they had a chance on Saturday morning to stop checks from going to prisoners, from going to the Boston bomber, for instance. And on that vote, they declined,” Cotton said. “Every single Democrat wanted to continue the practice of sending checks to prisoners… just goes to show how radical their ideas are.”
Cotton also used social media to try to make hay of the non-issue. On Saturday, he tweeted twice about infamous prisoners, without knowing if either criminal will actually receive a check.
“Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the Boston Bomber, murdered three people and terrorized a city. He’ll be getting a $1,400 stimulus check as part of the Democrats’ ‘COVID relief’ bill,” Cotton wrote.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the Boston Bomber, murdered three people and terrorized a city. He'll be getting a $1,400 stimulus check as part of the Democrats' "COVID relief" bill. — Tom Cotton (@TomCottonAR) March 6, 2021
“Dylann Roof murdered nine people. He’s on federal death row. He’ll be getting a $1,400 stimulus check as part of the Democrats’ ‘COVID relief’ bill,” Cotton tweeted.
Dylann Roof murdered nine people. He's on federal death row. He'll be getting a $1,400 stimulus check as part of the Democrats' "COVID relief" bill. — Tom Cotton (@TomCottonAR) March 6, 2021
And although Fox News’ web article on Cotton’s complaint points out that he supported and voted for checks going to prisoners twice, none of the three hosts mentioned Cotton’s hypocrisy during his appearance on the network.
But even after the fact-check and being called out by others for being disingenuous, it appears that Cotton, who is a possible 2024 presidential candidate, will continue to harp on what he sees as a winning issue for Republicans to focus on.
“I suspect you’ll be hearing more about that next year on the campaign trail,” Cotton said.
TheDude415 on March 8th, 2021 at 23:54 UTC »
That's because Tom Cotton is a sociopath who has no core ideology beyond what helps him.
thatsnotwait on March 8th, 2021 at 23:53 UTC »
In his defense, he probably didn't read those bills either.
pomonamike on March 8th, 2021 at 23:52 UTC »
Because nothing matters to them. There is no truth, no values, just “fight the other side.”