Senator Tom Cotton, R-AR, joined me today to review the first three days of the war with Iran:
Transcript:
HH: United States Senator Tom Cotton represents the great state of Arkansas. He’s also chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, chairman of the Republican Conference. Senator, thank you for making time for me today. About an hour ago, U.S. Central Command posted some video and this statement: Two days ago, the Iranian regime had 11 ships in the Gulf of Oman. Today, they have zero. What do you think the Chinese think about this? And I want to tell the audience, you authored Seven Things You Can’t Say About China. I’ve got the book right here. What do you think our adversaries in China think about what they’ve seen in the last 72 hours?
TC: Well, Hugh, I think once again, the Chinese Communists can’t be pleased with another signal display of strength, confidence, and resolution by Donald Trump and the United States. More concretely and materially, one has to imagine that they’re fearful about the loss of black market oil coming from Iran that has been helping prop up the Ayatollah’s regime, and at the prospect of one of their chief and only allies in the Middle East falling and returning back into the American fold.
HH: Senator, I am very disappointed with one of our long-time allies, the United Kingdom, and wondering whether or not they ought to be in Five Eyes anymore, because they wouldn’t support us in this. And then Spain has absolutely disgraced itself. You know, I’m one of those Atlanticists in our party, but it makes it hard to argue with the isolationists when our allies stab us in the back and the front.
TC: Well, the actions of both nations are somewhat disappointing, Hugh. At least the Prime Minister, Starmer of Great Britain, has slightly modified his previous position, allowing us to use bases for what he calls defensive positions. I would point out, Hugh, that this moment is a perfect example of why we need total sovereignty over our military position in Greenland, both our current one and in our expanded one. This is why President Trump has taken it so seriously. We cannot allow, for instance, a future left-wing government in Denmark to limit what our military in Greenland needs to do in a moment of crisis.
HH: That brings me to the message to Cuba in all of this. And I’m jumping ahead here, because first Venezuela, now Iran is under great stress. What is the message to Cuba that they should be seeing?
TC: Well, Cuba is on the ropes, Hugh. You know, for almost 30 years, well, actually a little over 30 years, I guess, Soviet Russia propped up Cuba and the Castro regime. And then Cuba was on the ropes in the 90s until Chavez came along to prop up Cuba. And now, they don’t have Chavez. They don’t have anyone. And the Cuban government, really, the entire Cuban economy, is on the verge of seizing up like a machine without oil, because well, they don’t have any oil to fund their economy and the government there, and to use for energy. So that’s why the President has said that in conversations with Cuba, things are looking very positive. I bet many, many folks who are hanging onto the Castro regime are dreaming about a peaceful retirement alongside Bashara al-Assad in Moscow right now.
HH: Senator, is there any open source reporting on whether or not an American cyber campaign of any sort has taken place? I haven’t seen a word about cyberattacks in Iran, but that may be because we’re not reporting them.
TC: Hugh, I’m not aware of any specifics, but you did hear General Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs this morning say that Cyber Command and Space Command were both integral in the operations in Iran.
HH: Okay. So let me move then to the big question, which is the Defense budget for next year. President Trump has said on this program he’d like another half trillion dollars to the $900 billion that’s there. That’s a big lift. Senator Collins has said that. But if we’re going to do Golden Dome, and boy, do we need Golden Dome, and if we’re going to reload the munitions stockpile, boy, do we need it, a supplemental. Is that something that reconciliation could deal with?
TC: Well, you outlined two of the three possibilities. There’s a possibility of a supplemental, the possibility of reconciliation, and then the annual budget bill. But you’re right, where you’re going to have to have a significant Defense increase not just to confront the gathering threats we face around the world, but to continue to invest more and more into our Defense industry. We had Secretary Hegseth in South Arkansas on Friday on his Arsenal of Freedom tour. I’ve worked with these companies for a long time. They’ve improved a lot over the last few years in terms of their production rates, but they need to do better. And they know they need to do better. And the Pentagon needs to do better in cutting through red tape. And frankly, Congress needs to do better as well. We all need to do better for our troops in the front line, and the American people in producing missiles and missile defenses as fast as we possibly can.
HH: Now would a Defense appropriation fit within the rules for reconciliation requiring just simple majorities? Because I think you might actually get some Democrats to vote for that.
TC: Yeah, Hugh, if you recall, our bill last summer, the Working Families Tax Cut Act, had a lot more than just tax cuts. It has a significant investment of $150 billion dollars in our Defense industry, and much of that specifically was for additional munitions manufacturing and procurement.
HH: All right, Senator, last question. Could the weeks and months ahead prove as consequential to our position in the world as the fall of the Wall in 1989? If Iran crumbles and the Middle East board changes dramatically, could it be that consequential?
TC: It certainly has the prospect of that, Hugh. As Secretary Rubio said, there’s no simple answers about what happens in Iran if the government were to fall. We know certainly that the Supreme Leader was eliminating, getting his just desserts for 40 years of terror against his own people and against Americans and the civilized world. But let’s all hope that when the smoke has cleared and we’ve reduced Iran’s nuclear facilities to rubble and we have eliminated their missile arsenal, that also it’s a new day for the Iranian people, and that they have a pro-American government that becomes an anchor for peace and stability in the Middle East, not revolutionary violence as they have been for 47 years.
HH: Senator Tom Cotton, good to speak with you. Thank you for spending time on a very busy weekend.
TC: Thank you.
HH: Take care, Senator.
End of interview.
