Now a word about Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) on two key topics
from Yahoo. News with their headline article about his arrogance:
“Senate Republicans grapple with Tuberville's positions on white
nationalism, abortion, and military promotions”
Tuberville’s
positions on white nationalism and the military’s policy on traveling for an
abortion have put Republicans in a difficult spot.
After weeks of
insisting that white nationalism doesn’t equal racism, and tripling down on
that opinion over the last 24 hours, Tuberville
– the hardcore rightwing harsh Alabama Republican eventually told reporters
Tuesday (July 11) at the Capitol: “That white
nationalists are racists.”
Republicans in Washington
had spent the day fielding questions about Tuberville’s position.
GOP Senate Minority
Leader Mitch McConnell (R-K) addressed Tuberville’s words in his weekly press
conference and seen in this short video clip here
said: “White supremacy is simply unacceptable in the military and in our
whole country.”
Sen. Katie Brit (R-AL) Tuberville’s colleague said: “White supremacy and racism have
absolutely no place in our country. Period. The end.”
In addition to muddying the waters on white nationalism,
Tuberville has also drawn condemnation for his blocking of nearly 300 military
promotions of senior military officers over a Pentagon policy on reproductive
health. In doing so, he’s turned into a favorite target of President Biden, who
called the tactic bizarre and
specifically targeted Tuberville in recent fundraising and official speeches.
In a May interview with Birmingham
radio station WBHM, Tuberville said: “Military recruiting
was hurting because the Democrats are attacking our military, saying we need to
get out the white extremists, the white nationalists, people that don’t believe
in Biden’s agenda.”
Then when asked if he believed white nationalists should be able to
serve in the military, Tuberville said: “They call them that. I call them
Americans.”
For years, Pentagon
officials have expressed concern about extremists serving
in the military. After his confirmation in early 2021, one of current Defense
Secretary Lloyd Austin’s first acts was to order the
individual military branches to address the issue.
Tuberville’s office
attempted to clean up his comments in a statement that said: “The senator was
being skeptical of the notion that there are white nationalists in the
military, not that he believes they should be in the military.”
Then however, in an interview with CNN on
Monday (July 10), Tuberville reiterated his belief that being a white
nationalist didn’t necessarily make someone a racist, say, when he said: “Now,
if that white nationalist is a racist, I’m totally against anything that they
want to do, because I am 110% against racism.”
Then Tuberville was
elusive on the definition again Tuesday (July 11) before his about-face, saying on ABC News:
“Listen, I’m totally against racism. And if Democrats want to say that white
nationalists are racist, I’m totally against that too.”
Reporter Rachel Scott
then said to him: “But that’s not a Democratic definition.”
Tuberville shot back:
“Well, that’s your definition. My definition is racism is bad.”
Dem Senate Majority
Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) in a floor Tuesday morning (July 11), called on
Tuberville to apologize, saying in part: “The definition of white
nationalism is not a matter of opinion.”
Tuberville’s freeze
on Pentagon (military) promotions:
Tuberville is protesting DOD reproductive (abortion) health
care policies. Now for months, Tuberville has also been blocking military
promotions over the DOD decision to pay for
the travel of service members if they need to leave
the state in which they’re stationed to receive reproductive care, including
abortions.
He opposes the policy, although the military pays for only
the travel, not the procedure itself.
To date, Tuberville’s arrogance has held or stopped the
promotion of 260 officers, a number that could climb to 650 by year’s end if it
isn’t lifted.
Most recently, Tuberville blocked
a vote on a new leader for the Marines, leaving the Corps without a
Senate-confirmed Commandant (CMC) for the first time
in over a 100 years.
Tuberville’s national security adviser who devised that strategy resigned in May after a Washington Post profile highlighted his role in the blockade and his eccentric past as a food writer.
In May, seven former
defense secretaries, including two that served under Trump, wrote to Senate leadership urging
them to act on the blockaded nominees because Tuberville’s actions were
“harming military readiness and risks damaging U.S. national security.”
In a statement Monday
(July 10), Secretary Austin said: “Smooth and timely transitions of
confirmed leadership are central to the defense of the United States.”
McConnell also told reporters that he does not support the Senate
holds by Tuberville.
Sen. John Thune (R-SD), No. 2 Republican said on Tuesday that he believed there was a path forward, adding: “I think that the longer this drags on, the more problematic it becomes for the military to function and operate the way the American people expect them to operate. So I’m hoping something can be worked out here.”
Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX)
said he agreed with Tuberville’s position but saying he wanted to find a way to:
“Help him make his point without blocking a lot of these nominations, which has
nothing to do with the health care/abortion controversy. It may be setting a
precedent that we’re not going to like in the future.”
Tuberville holding up scores of military promotions over
abortion underlines his party’s position on the issue, which has hurt Republicans in
numerous swing races in the past since the Supreme
Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022.
My 2 Cents: Not much to
add to the above comprehensive analysis – a great rundown that shows the ass that
Sen. Tuberville truly is.
Lastly I would add, that
the Senate must not allow one person to pull off this kind of stunt. No one
person in the Senate or anywhere else in Congress should have that kind of
power, period.
If Tuberville will not relent
and remove his blocks, then I say the Senate must somehow start to move and work
to expel him and the sooner the better.
This is a horrible mess
created by a horrible man.
Thanks for stopping by.
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