WASHINGTON — The Republican candidate to be Alabama’s next governor admitted Thursday he actively avoids reading anything — because only his opinion matters to him.
"No, I read very little," Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) told Raw Story. "I want my own opinion, not somebody else's."
The former Auburn football coach is leading polls in his gubernatorial contest in ruby-red Alabama, but former U.S. Senator Doug Jones (D-AL) is hoping to ride the nation’s anti-Donald Trump sentiment into the governor’s mansion in November.
In today’s Senate, Tuberville’s far from alone in avoiding the latest headlines. Unlike the president's tweet-saturated first term, these days most Republicans in Congress seem to avoid the news altogether.
But Tuberville is taking it to a new level.
"What do you make of this report that Vice President Vance was the person behind the leak in one of the Politico stories that got them banned from the White House?" Raw Story pressed the MAGA Republican while riding an elevator in the Capitol.
"Did they ban Politico, too?" Tuberville asked Raw Story. "Who knows? I mean, hey, I've learned up here about 10 percent of it is fact. The other [90 percent] is not even close to reality. You know that. Everybody tries to get out there and make a name."
"There's no way Vance would do that," Tuberville said. "You gotta have faith in your people that lead, you know, on both sides."
"And he'd lose faith with Trump if he was leaking?" Raw Story pressed.
"Well, whoever's going to run for president is going to be picked by him," Tuberville said of Trump's role in picking his successor.
With Vance and Secretary of State Rubio's names at the top of the speculative 2028 presidential pack, Tuberville says both need to woo Trump.
"Well, you can't have both of them run,” Tuberville gamed out. “You can't waste that much money."
While he won’t be found thumbing through tabloids, Tuberville says he’s heard chatter in Washington about some of the other Republicans who are eyeing a White House run in 2028.
“I saw that Rand [Paul] is thinking about running,” Tuberville said. “Rand Paul — who else? Cruz will run. I was with [Florida Gov. Ron] DeSantis Saturday at a football game in Tuscaloosa. He said he hasn't made his mind up yet.”
Besides presidential gossip, Tuberville seems to have tuned out the talk of the town on Capitol Hill.
"What do you make of Sen. [John] Curtis' (R-UT) move to try to get [Donald] Trump Jr. in to testify about the Russian wedding donations?" Raw Story asked.
"I didn't see that," Tuberville said.
"Oh, yeah? He's calling your party out. Some people aren't happy," Raw Story replied. "Do you have questions about Trump Jr. taking Russian oligarch money?"
"I don't get into all that," Tuberville said. “I mean, no reason to talk about anything you don't know anything about.”