Back to Washington
now where Senator
Tommy Tuberville thinks the Pentagon
brass is too woke.
And because of that, he's
invoking a tradition, Senate tradition
and blocking dozens
and dozens of military promotions.
The Alabama Republican says
his main objection is Pentagon
policy, allowing leave and travel
for military members
and their families
to access abortion services.
As this standoff plays out, though,
Tuberville has raised eyebrows,
to put it mildly,
with other comments about the military,
including this from one week ago
Do you believe they should allow
white nationalists in the military?
Well, they call them that.
I call them Americans.
Our reporters back with us at the table.
And this has been a back and forth.
I'll get to the whole cheese
paste up promotions in a minute.
But the senator says something like that
and your head snaps.
His staff
says it was kind of a misunderstanding
and he doesn't believe
there are that many white
nationalists in the military
that was going to say.
But then he keeps talking.
He told CNN, Democrats say MAGA
Republicans are white nationalists
and MAGA
Republicans should not be characterized
that way.
Tuberville told NBC,
I look at a white nationalist
as a Trump Republican.
That's what we're called all the time,
a mega person.
I'm just well,
I agree
should not be characterizing Trump
supporters as white nationalists.
My dad, you
say first rule of whole, stop digging.
What is he saying?
I'm not sure
I can explain what he's saying,
but this isn't the first time
that Tuberville has made comments
that have been concerning.
Back in the fall,
he made comments about reparations
and connecting
black people to crime
that a lot of black leaders in Alabama
called for him to address.
So this I'm not going to say
it's a pattern,
but we have heard
things like this before.
From Senator Tuberville
when it comes to the issue of holding up
some of the Pentagon nominees.
I'm interested to see how much backlash
he gets within his own party.
We know that Senator McConnell said
that he does not agree with Tuberville
holding back these nominees.
But then if you look at Tuberville,
he really doesn't have any incentive
to stop what he's doing.
Because he's not seeking reelection
for a while.
He is from a deeply conservative
state in Alabama.
I was a political reporter
there for about five years.
I don't think he is
losing anything right now
with his own constituents.
But it will be interesting to see
if these comments continue on
and how the people in Alabama
address them and also his own party.
And again,
this is dozens and dozens
and dozens of promotions.
Lieutenant generals to bigger generals
have up the chain.
And Lloyd
Austin, the secretary defense
in a letter
simply irresponsible
harms America's
national security
will breed uncertainty,
confusion, unnecessary
and unconscionable burdens
on military families,
a perilous precedent. Here's my question.
The president of United States
is a former senator,
obviously for four decades
he respects the Senate tradition
where any one senator
can put a hold on things.
But at what point does President Biden
go to the Rose Garden
with Secretary Austin
and some of these
maybe some of these people
waiting for promotions and say enough?
You know, it's interesting.
Senator Elizabeth Warren
has really been leading the effort
by Democrats on this.
Obviously, the Senate majority
leader, Chuck Schumer,
talked about it as well.
This is a very
just flip things for a minute.
If a Democrat was doing this
to Republicans, Republicans
always kind of
taking the national security,
using it as a beneficial political issue
for them.
Election after election after election
would absolutely kill them
politically over this issue.
And I think it's low hanging fruit
to some degree.
Democrats have been trying
to figure out a way to navigate this
based on the fact
that they want
those nearly 200 promotions
to actually go through
and they want to try
and remove this roadblock,
which by the end of the year
could be more than 600 people
or military officers.
That would be blocked
if he maintains a seeing,
if there's a way that they can work
behind the scenes
to try and clear the pathway
here, knowing that Republican is
when you talk to them,
at least a minority leader, Mitch
McConnell, said something.
Most Republicans,
if you talk to them
candidly,
quietly, will acknowledge
that this makes no sense
to them whatsoever.
And they disagree with it.
Not saying anything publicly,
which I think frankly says more about
where the party is on this
than anything else.
I think that if we can just go back
to the white nationalism comments
for a second, because
White nationalists and white
Christian nationalists
believe if they subscribe to it,
they believe that whites are superior.
They believe that Christianity deemed
that white culture
should be superior
throughout the United States.
So for the senator to simply say
that these are just Americans
that should be allowed
to serve in the military,
that's where you see
bad actors
that's where you see violent attacks.
And we see
more and more political violence
that is carried out
on behalf of these ideologies.
But to me, it also speaks
to a larger pattern
within the GOP,
which is that
you see senators like Tuberville
who are saying that this is okay
and giving permission
to people
to believe in these things,
as well as symbols like Michael Flynn,
who trump is saying that he may
well come back into a future
administration.
And Trump
called into his rally this weekend.
So these are bigger
pieces of the larger movement
within the GOP
I know you've got to move on,
but can I just say real quick,
this isn't just about block promotions
or military readiness.
These are families. Right.
I'm a military kid.
When your dad gets promoted,
when your mom gets promoted,
you are moving
when your promotion doesn't go through.
You are stuck in the state of limbo.
This is schools.
This is families.
This is actual people beneath the number.
And I think that's completely absurd
to do that
to families
that are already giving so much
and people and families
who serve our country
for less than they can make
in the private sector
through any circumstances.
Do it
the government,
the president, ask them to do.
It's an excellent point.