AP) Only days ago, after asserting that “slavery was a necessary evil,” Tom Cotton was defending himself of against charges of being racist. Now, the Arkansas senator has found himself embroiled in yet another controversy after telling The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette that “the Holocaust was also a necessary evil.” Appearing earlier today on the Fox New Channel’s morning show Fox and Friends, Cotton justified his remarks, arguing that “absent the Holocaust, Israel would not be a country today.”
Claiming that the editors of the newspaper had “taken my words out of context,” Cotton pointed out that “Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East” and that were it not for Hitler and the murder of six million Jews, “the Chosen People would be scattered all over the world.”
After co-host Steve Doocy pushed back, pointing out that, “thanks to George W. Bush, Iraq is also a democracy,” co-host Brian Kilmeade reminded viewers that Cotton had served in the infantry in both Iraq and Afghanistan, which, Kilmeade said, is, technically, a democracy as well.
“Thank you for your service,” said third co-host Ainsley Earhardt, adding that the Arkansas senator had graduated from Harvard Law School.
Cotton went on to explain that, according to the book of Revelations, “it is absolutely necessary for the Jews to be in Israel” so that “the Beast can be destroyed at the Second Coming of Christ.”