CNN anchor Jake Tapper tore into Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) on Thursday, following a radio interview in which he dismissed the threat of white nationalists in the military — while deliberately blocking appointments essential to military readiness in the Senate.
In a new radio interview, Tuberville was asked, "You mentioned the Biden administration trying to prevent white nationalists from being in the military. Do you believe they should allow white nationalists in the military?" to which he replied, "Well, they call them that. I call them Americans." He later tried to back off this somewhat, with his office releasing a statement saying that he "was being skeptical of the notion that there are white nationalists in the military, not [saying] that he believes they should be in the military."
"Today, Tuberville talked to CNN off-camera and said, quote, 'Here's the problem. Democrats portray all MAGA Republicans as white nationalists. That's not true. We've got a lot of great people in the military that are MAGAs. That's what I was talking about," said Tapper. "All right. Let's break this down. Three points. First, no one, no one in the military is worried about MAGA Republicans serving in the U.S. military. That would be ludicrous for any number of reasons, especially given the fact that so many service members are conservative. Point two, obviously most service members do not fit the definition, but there is a white supremacist problem in the U.S. military, according to the U.S. military. In study after study. And there's a long list of actual incidents and domestic terrorists who fall into this category. Point three, Senator Tuberville's attempt to distance himself from seeming to be standing up for the rights of white supremacists might be easier to believe if last fall Senator Tuberville had not made one of the most blatantly racist statements we've heard from a U.S. senator in perhaps decades ... take a listen."
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"Some people say well, they're soft on crime," said Tuberville in the clip. "No, they're not soft on crime. They're pro-crime. They want crime. They want crime because they want to take over what you got. They want to control what you have. They want reparations because they think the people that do the crime are owed that. Bullshit! They are not owed that."
"Senator Tuberville there, saying that Democrats like crime and they want reparations, which is the term for payments made to individuals who are descendants of slaves, because they think that people that do the crime are owed that," said Tapper. "That's just racism."
And all of this, Tapper noted, comes as Tuberville is blocking dozens of military appointments to try to force the military to stop funding travel for abortion care. "There are currently 196 military nominations pending in the senate. generals, admirals ... 64 three and four-star positions that will need to be filled soon, including the Chief of the Staff of the Army, the Director of the National Security Agency, Commander of U.S. Cyber Command," said Tapper. "Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin this week, calling it a major national security risk, blasted Tuberville in a letter, writing, 'Without these leaders in place, the U.S. Military will incur an unnecessary and unprecedented degree of risk at a moment when our adversaries may seek to test our resolve.' This also, of course, has a trickle-down effect on other military officer nominations, which in turn impacts regular military service members and their families who are moving to new installations for new assignments."
"The guy doing this, the guy holding up all these generals and admirals and colonels from being promoted and the military from being ready for whatever threats the U.S. faces, Senator Tuberville, to sum up, he says Black people are criminals, he says white nationalists are Americans, and I guess for Senator Tuberville, the year is 1843?" concluded Tapper.
Watch video below or at this link.