Thread by @page88

The argument here is that Tom Cotton has emerged as a hero of democracy so the “left” should be ashamed of condemning his “Send in the Troops” op-ed in June of 2020. thedailybeast.com/how-tom-cotton…

But maybe the blowback that piece got had a salubrious effect.

It brought on the moral crisis at the NYT that led to the excellent reworking of the op-ed page, and it inspired the rise of so many righteous, well-capitalized voices who believe they are fighting illiberalism.

And maybe the “cancelation” of June, 2020, *didn’t* actually goad Cotton to more extreme positions (“don’t call them racists they’ll just get more racist!”) but made him rethink those positions.

Maybe he & the rest of us *learned* from a crisis where a sitting senator agitated for martial law in a major newspaper.

Maybe those who called the op-ed a bridge too far were right to flag it — and force everyone to stop dithering abt both sides & free speech & get serious.

This seems like the much-reviled “woke media” — and Bennett by resigning and saying Cotton’s extremism should not have been platformed without more rigor — doing its freaking job.