Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) speaks during a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing. (Andrew Harnik / Getty Images)
Sen. Tom Cotton, whose controversial op-ed led to the resignation of the New York Times opinion editor who didn’t even read it before publishing, branded interim editor Katie Kingsbury as a “far-left radical” on Monday.
Appearing on “Fox & Friends,” Cotton described Kingsbury is “a far-left radical who will throw in with, not stand up to, the woke mob of children at the New York Times who get triggered any time they hear a conservative opinion.”
In contrast, Times publisher A.G. Sulzberger praised Kingsbury extensively Sunday, saying, “Katie has been instrumental in reimagining Opinion since she joined The Times from The Boston Globe, where she served as managing editor for digital and won a Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing. I look forward to working with her as she steps into this role at this important moment.”
Cotton also told Fox News’ Brian Kilmeade the saga that started with his op-ed and ended with Kingsbury’s interim promotion was “amazing.”
The previous opinion editor, James Bennet, resigned Sunday after a week of brutal criticism — and an open staff revolt — over the publication of a column by Cotton, a conservative Arkansas senator, which called for the military to crush the George Floyd protests.
Dozens of Times staffers broke the company’s unevenly applied social media policies to publicly denounce the piece, tweeting, “This puts Black @nytimes staff in danger,” and they were joined by some of the paper’s most high-profile contributors. The New York Times Guild also condemned the paper’s decision, calling it “a clear threat to the health and safety of journalists we represent.”
“Last week we saw a significant breakdown in our editing processes, not the first we’ve experienced in recent years,” Sulzberger said of Bennet’s resignation.”James and I agreed that it would take a new team to lead the department through a period of considerable change.”
Watch Cotton’s interview below:
Watch Steve Doocy sagely nod his head after Tom Cotton denounces interim NYT opinion editor Katie Kingsbury as "a far-left radical who will throw in with, not stand up to, the woke mob of children at the New York Times who get triggered any time they hear a conservative opinion." pic.twitter.com/eXY7BgR0Mf
9 Times New York Times Editorial Made Everyone Freak Out
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Bret Stephens' "A Defense, of Sorts, for Harvey Weinstein"
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David Brooks Urges "Respect to Gun Owners" After Parkland, Florida Massacre
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Quinn "Been Friends with Various Neo-Nazis" Norton
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Bari Weiss Attacks Aziz Ansari Accuser: 'I'll Get Crushed for This'
Weiss risked more wrath on the set of "Morning Joe" in January after blasting a woman who accused comedian Aziz Ansari of sexual misconduct. "It's called bad sex," she told Joe and Mika. "I'll get crushed for saying this."
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Bari Weiss Quotes Hamilton: 'Immigrants: We Get the Job Done"
Anti-Weiss Internet mobs were set ablaze after she tweeted out "Immigrants: we get the job done," in response to Olympian Mirai Nagasu's triple axel. Nagasu was born in California to immigrant parents and Twitter furiously dragged her for not paying sufficient deference to the decision.
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James Bennet Diversifies the Times Opinion Pages
Editorial Page Editor James Bennet has said his mission is to broaden editorial diversity on the Times newsroom. The initiative has often been rocky and the paper has been beset by online criticism of hiring choices, and targeted leaks by Times employees unhappy with his changes.
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David Brooks Sandwich-Shames Less Educated Friend
Perhaps most egregious of all in the mind of Internet warriors was Brooks' confession in a July, 2017 column that he once took a friend "with only a high school degree" into a gourmet sandwich shop but decided to pull a quick switch for Mexican food after, so he said, she appeared overwhelmed by words like Soppressata and Capicollo.
Creative Commons
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Most of the recent fire and fury comes from the paper’s editorial pages
Bari Weiss: We're All Fascists Now
The New York Times opinion editor set the Internet ablaze after going after college students who she said were trying to shut down free speech. Critics pointed to Weiss mistakenly linking two fake ANTIFA Twitter accounts