Leaders in both parties pushed back on comments made by Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., who argued in a CNN interview on Monday night that “white nationalist is just a cover word for the Democrats now where they can use it to try to make people mad across the country.”
“My opinion of a white nationalist, if somebody wants to call them white nationalist, to me, is an American. It’s an American,” Tuberville said, responding to CNN anchor Katilan Collins’ question about comments he made in May about whether white nationalists should be allowed to serve in the military. He went on to say “I am 110% against racism” and that some white nationalists have different beliefs than others.
When Collins pressed Tuberville on Monday, stating white nationalism is inherently racist, Tuberville responded “well, that’s your opinion.”
What You Need To Know
- Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., argued in an interview on Monday night that people described as white nationalists are not necessarily racists and “to me, is an American”
- Tuberville continued to insist white nationalists were labeled improperly as racist on Tuesday morning while being questioned by reporters at the U.S. Capitol, before eventually conceding hours later that “white nationalists are racist”
- Before walking back his comments, Tuberville drew criticism from Democrats while top Senate Republicans pushed back heavily on his defense of white nationalists without explicitly condemning their colleague
- The comments came amid a conversation about Tuberville blocking the Senate approval of promotions for hundreds of senior military officers, including for the U.S. Marine Corps’ highest ranking officer. The Marines are without a Senate-confirmed commandant for the first time since 1911
Facing down outcry and criticism, largely from Democrats, Tuberville continued to insist white nationalists were labeled improperly as racist on Tuesday morning while being questioned by reporters at the U.S. Capitol.
“I’m totally against racism and if Democrats want to say that white nationalists are racist, I’m totally against that, too,” Tuberville said, insisting that defining white nationalists as racist was partisan and telling ABC News’ Rachel Scott , who is Black, “that’s your definition” when she pushed back.
Finally, hours later, Tuberville began walking back his statements, telling reporters “white nationalists are racists” and later telling CNN’s Manu Raju that he responded to earlier questions the way he did because Republicans and Trump supporters are portrayed as racist.
Before walking back his comments, Tuberville drew criticism from Democrats while top Senate Republicans pushed back heavily on his defense of white nationalists without explicitly condemning their colleague.
“White supremacy is simply unacceptable in the military and in our whole country,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said at a press conference on Tuesday. McConnell’s number two, Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., told reporters he didn’t understand the point Tuberville was trying to make and said “there is no place for white nationalism in our party and I think that is kind of full stop,” according to CNN .
Tuberville’s junior Senate colleague from Alabama, Katie Britt, reportedly said “white supremacy and racism have absolutely no place in our country. Period. The end.”
Democrats were much sharper in their criticism.
“The senator from Alabama is wrong, wrong, wrong. The definition of white nationalism is not a matter of opinion,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said on the Senate floor on Tuesday morning. “White nationalism, the ideology that one race is inherently superior to others, that people of color should be segregated, subjected and relegated to second-class citizenship, is racist down to its rotten core.”
Schumer went on to say Tuberville’s remarks were “very, very dangerous” and are “fanning the flames of bigotry and intolerance.” He noted the mass shooter that targeted Hispanic shoppers and killed 23 people in an El Paso, Texas Walmart in 2019, and the gunman who killed 10 Black shoppers at a Buffalo, New York supermarket last year were both white nationalists.
The outcry reignited on Monday evening began in May when, speaking with a local radio station , Tuberville said Democrats trying to keep “the white extremists, the white nationalists” out of the military were sabotaging recruiting efforts.
“They call them [white nationalists],” Tuberville said in May. “I call them Americans.”
The comments came amid a conversation about Tuberville blocking the Senate approval of promotions for hundreds of senior military officers, including for the U.S. Marine Corps’ highest ranking officer. The Marines are without a Senate-confirmed commandant for the first time since 1911, according to a U.S. Marine Corps University database .
Tuberville is blocking the promotions over his objection to a Pentagon policy that allows the military to pay for service members’ travel if they have to leave the state they are stationed in to get an abortion or receive other reproductive health care.
Because of the Alabama senator, the future of President Joe Biden’s nominee to serve as the country’s top military officer, Air Force Gen. CQ Brown Jr., is in flux. The Senate needs to confirm him before he assumes the role as chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff when Army Gen. Mark Milley steps down at the end of September.
“We will lose talent” because of holds, Brown told the Senate Armed Services Committee during a confirmation hearing on Tuesday.
Tuberville, who sits on the committee, did not mention the holds or his objection to the abortion policy when it was his turn to question Brown. Instead he thanked the general for his service, asked him about the military’s budget and recruitment efforts, and offered to help “in any way we can help you.”