Officials are fuming at Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) after it was discovered over the weekend that Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Eric Smith, who had been doubling as both the top No. 1 and No. 2 Marine Corps leader since July, suffered an apparent heart attack and was hospitalized on Sunday — leaving a three-star general to hold the prestigious post, according to a report published by Politico.
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The potential overextension of Smith and the stalling of more than 300 critical leadership roles was iced out by Tuberville's blockade installed as a protest against the Pentagon's policy to permit time off and reimbursement for abortions.
Now, the fingers are being pointed at the Alabama politician by DOD officials.
“This is outrageous,” an anonymous senior DOD official told Politico. “I cannot help but think — because at the end of the day, Eric Smith is a human — that Tuberville’s unnecessary stress that he’s put on the situation where you don’t have a backup … has added a level of complexity and danger to an already bad situation.”
Since Smith's "medical emergency," Lt. Gen. Karsten Heckl has been running point in a temporary capacity, while still keeping up with another job as deputy commandant for combat development and integration.
“My thoughts and prayers, as well as those of all our fellow Marines, both past and present, are with our Commandant and his family at this time," Heckl said in a statement. "In typical Marine fashion, I am the next Marine up. This is what we do, as so many have done before us throughout the history of our Corps."
The holdup brought on by Tuberville has left Pentagon officials to wait it out and improvise for months.
On Wednesday, the outlet noted that Tuberville batted away any of the DOD disdain.
“They’re looking for someone to blame it on, other than themselves,” he said. “We could have all these people confirmed if they’d have just gone by the Constitution."
He continued: “I don’t listen to these people. They’re just looking for any possible way to get themselves out of a jam.”
The only reason Gen. Smith was sworn in back in September was due to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer sidestepping Tuberville by holding a la carte votes on Smith as well as new Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Charles "CQ" Brown Jr. and Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George.
Back in July when Tuberville moved to block the promotions, the White House condemned it, with the press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre saying it caused a "cascading effect of delayed promotions" and that it "threatens to brain-drain from the military."
But many prominent Republicans sided with his uncompromising moral position.
"BIG WIN FOR TOMMY," former President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social. "Unlike McConnell and his group of automatic Democrat YES VOTES, Tommy T is willing to take on the Radical Left Fascists & Thugs that are destroying our Country. What a difference!"
Before he won the Speaker's gavel, Sen. Mike Johnson (R-LA) was all in on the stall tactic.
“[The Pentagon will] certainly lose," Johnson told Newsmax. "I get that [the Pentagon is] trying to find a crafty workaround, but it’s a blatant violation. Insistence upon diving into issues outside of simply maintaining a lethal and capable fighting force is tearing our military apart."
When interviewing both former and current DOD officials, Politico learned that there is a hard truth that with the stagnation, there is nobody to be the next up should a medical emergency (like the one that hit Gen. Smith) or potentially another crisis causes a senior officer to be put out of commission.
Beyond the Marine Corps, the outlet noted that both the Navy and Air Force are running sans a Senate-confirmed chief due to the same blockade.
And as the war rages in Ukraine as well as in the Middle East between Israel and Hamas there are reportedly more than a dozen positions in U.S. Central Command that are directly impacted.
