Sen. Tommy Tuberville Has No Problem With White Nationalists in the Military: ‘I Call Them Americans’
Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) told a local radio station this week that he is not concerned about white nationalists in the U.S. Military.
Tuberville, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, told WBHM National Public Radio that the Biden administration is “destroying” the military by trying to get rid of ideologies like those on the far right. When asked directly if white nationalists should be allowed to serve in the military, Tuberville, referring to the Biden administration, replied, “They call them that. I call them Americans.”
“We are losing in the military so fast,” Tuberville added. “Our readiness in terms of recruitment. And why? I’ll tell you why, 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 our agenda, as Joe Biden’s agenda. They’re destroying it. This year, we will not reach any recruiting goals in the military,” he said, adding:
So if we want to talk about looking weak, that’s where we’re going to look weak. We cannot start putting rules in there for one type, one group and make different factions in the military, because that is the most important institution in the United States of America, and our allies, is a strong, hard-nosed, killing machine, which is called our military.”
AL.com published a statement from Tuberville’s office Wednesday, “clarifying” the senator’s comments.
“Sen. Tuberville’s quote that is cited shows that he was being skeptical of the notion that there are white nationalists in the military, not that he believes they should be in the military. He believes the men and women in uniform are patriots. (Defense) Secretary (Lloyd) Austin seems to think otherwise, subjecting them to extremism training as his very first act in office. That cost us four million man-hours.”
Even if Tuberville is skeptical that white nationalists exist in the U.S. military, CQ Roll Call reported that the Pentagon has been taking steps to identify and keep them out.
Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-CA), a member of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee and a former member of the Armed Services Committee, had a hand in creating a 2020 Pentagon report to Congress outlining the threat, according to Roll Call.
“What the report made clear is that white supremacists are using our military to further their hateful and violent agenda,” Aguilar said. “We need further collaboration between agencies like the DoD and FBI to make sure that we’re keeping extremists away from our service members and keeping our communities safe as well.”
