I’m on the distribution list for Mark Halperin’s Wide World of News on Substack and accordingly received notice of Halperin’s interview of Senator Tom Cotton (video below) this past Wednesday evening. Halperin drew Senator Cotton out on subjects of current interest including the latest on the Hamas/Israel war and American support of Ukraine. Early on in the interview Senator Cotton expressed the (almost certainly vain) hope that Biden has delivered a warning to Iran of the kind “that Grey and Asquith never delivered to the Kaiser before World War I started.”

Several of his responses anticipated President Biden’s Oval Office speech last night. Senator Cotton observed, for example, that Biden’s promotion of humanitarian aid for Gazans “is a euphemism for resupplying Hamas.” Early on in the interview he expressed the (almost certainly vain) hope that Biden has delivered a warning to Iran of the kind “that Grey and Asquith never delivered to the Kaiser before World War I started.”

Senator Cotton enlisted in the Army following 9/11. He subsequently served in Iraq with the 101st Airborne Division and in Afghanistan with a Provincial Reconstruction Team. Between combat tours he served with the Army’s 3rd Infantry Regiment (“the Old Guard”), an experience that inspired him to write Sacred Duty: A Soldier’s Tour at Arlington National Cemetery. I first met him face to face during his service in the Old Guard.

Senator Cotton is also a student of American foreign policy and the author, most recently, of Only the Strong: Reversing the Left’s Plot to Sabotage American Power. There is no one in our public life whom I respect more greatly than Senator Cotton. I found this interview to be highly informative.