Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas), in an interview on ABC News’ “This Week” on Sunday, criticized Republicans who spoke at last week’s Democratic National Convention for falling victim to “Trump Derangement Syndrome.”
“My view of them is that they are real symptoms of Trump-madness,” Cotton said when asked what he thought of the Republican speakers, referring to the mythical “symptoms” that former President Trump frequently cites in his attacks by his harshest critics.
Several Republicans spoke at last week’s Democratic convention, including former Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.), who served on the committee investigating the Capitol attack, Stephanie Grisham, who served as White House press secretary under Trump, and Geoff Duncan, the former lieutenant governor of Georgia, who resisted President Trump’s attempts to overturn the state’s election results in 2020.
Asked about Democrats’ strategy to appeal to Republicans who are “uneasy” about Trump becoming leader of their party, Cotton dismissed the concerns.
“Well, in any election, sometimes members of one party will endorse candidates from the other party. That’s a very traditional aspect of American politics,” Cotton told ABC News host Jonathan Karl.
“Look at what’s happened this week. The Democratic Party under Kamala Harris has moved so far to the left that the Kennedys have become Republicans. It’s so astonishing that the Democratic Party has become so radicalized under Kamala Harris that a member of the Kennedy family has become Republican,” Cotton continued.
Former independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. ended his presidential campaign on Friday and endorsed President Trump.
Kennedy began his campaign challenging President Biden for the Democratic nomination, then ran as an independent. Throughout his campaign, he became more popular with right-wing voters than with left-wing voters.
Kennedy has often disagreed with his family on policy issues, and after the former 2024 presidential candidate endorsed Trump, his family blasted the decision, calling it a “betrayal of the values our father and family hold most dear.”
