Abortion, the military and white nationalism have put Tommy Tuberville in the hot seat

18 May 2023

Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Alabama) has been serving in the U.S. Senate since January 3, 2021, but May 2023 may be the most turbulent month of his political career so far.

The far-right GOP culture warrior and Donald Trump ally has been drawing vehement criticism from Democrats — as well as from Never Trump conservatives — for holding up military promotions in response to the Biden Administration's abortion policies. And criticism of Tuberville, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, intensified after a May 10 interview with Birmingham, Alabama's WBHM-FM (an NPR station) in which he defended the presence of white nationalists in the U.S. military.

Tuberville told WBHM, "(The Biden Administration) calls them that. I call them Americans."

In a subsequent interview with NBC News' Julie Tsirkin, Tuberville only added to the controversy when he said, "I look at a white nationalist as a Trump Republican. That's what we're called all the time. A MAGA person."

In an article published by The Hill on May 18, journalist Al Weaver notes that holding up military promotions has brought Tuberville "rare criticism from" Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky).

"Tuberville's battle with the military is about the subject of abortion, an issue that has repeatedly helped Democrats in elections and hurt Republicans since the Supreme Court's decision overturning Roe v. Wade," Weaver notes. "Tuberville has effectively blocked promotions for roughly 200 senior military officials in key regions over the Pentagon's abortion policy, which allows service members to take leave and provides travel reimbursements for those who need to travel to get an abortion. That is a more common need since the end of Roe."

Weaver reports that Alabama residents fear that Tuberville's actions with the military could hurt jobs. An Alabama Republican, interviewed on condition of anonymity, told The Hill, "It's not something that's gone over super well (here)."

Find The Hill's full report at this link.

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