More From Rotten Cotten

The Senate held a hearing this week on child safety in social media. Executives from Meta, X (formerly Twitter), TikTok, Discord, and other sites took questions from senators about what their sites were doing to protect children from scams, predators, and exposure to material intended for adults.

But when Republican Sen. Tom Cotton got his opportunity to ask questions, he totally forgot about the part where this hearing was supposed to be about vulnerable children. Instead, he went straight after TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew with a series of odd questions about Chew’s personal connections to “the Chinese Communist Party.” 

When Chew tried repeatedly to make it clear that he was not from China, but Singapore, a small nation off the coast of Malaysia (and nearly 1,200 miles from the nearest point in China) Cotton was not having it:

Cotton: You said today, as you often say, that you live in Singapore. Of what nation are you a citizen?

Chew: Singapore.

Cotton: Are you a citizen of any other nation?

Chew: No, senator.

Cotton: Have you ever applied for Chinese citizenship?

Chew: Senator, I served my nation of Singapore. No. I did not.

Cotton: Do you have a Singaporean passport?

Chew: Yes, and I served my military for two and a half years.

Cotton: Do you have any other passports?

Chew: No, senator. 

[…] 

Cotton: Have you ever been a member of the Chinese Communist Party?

Chew: Senator, I’m Singaporean. No.

Cotton: Have you ever been associated or affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party?

Chew: No, senator. Again, I’m Singaporean.

Cotton later went on to make himself an idiot on Fox News, claiming that “Singapore, unfortunately, is one of the places in the world that has the highest degree of infiltration and influence by the Chinese Communist Party. So, Mr. Chew has a lot to answer for."  What Chew has to answer for is that he’s from Singapore. Unfortunately, Tom Cotton has to answer for being a moron.