GOP Senator Tuberville defends white nationalists ... "I call them Americans"

Ahhhhh, the GOP ladies and gentlemen

 

There is a subset of people who don’t have core beliefs other than gaining power, so telling people what they want to hear is easy - be it a black family or a white nationalist. It’s a personality type I can’t relate to, but seems common among politicians.

 

180+ military officer promotions are held up because of him

 

The irony that Bama voted for this abject idiot over the guy who convicted racist church bombers/Klansmen.

 

Not at all defending this idiot, but my guess is he really doesn’t even know what white nationalist means. He probably thinks they are just whites who love their country.

 

About zero chance of that.

 

It's a strawman, because there is no law stating that racists, white supremacists, white nationalists, etc... can't serve in the military. You just aren't allowed to display bigotry, or discriminate against people. Plenty of racists guys in the military.

 

The GOP is the party of white nationalists, so Tommy Tubesteak's comment definitely tracks.

 

Extremist groups usually stay out of supporting a political effort as everyone use to call them out. But This is a good example of why white nationalists are identifying with trump & maga.

 

No, I want an all-LGBTQ+ military. Holding off an insurrection at Wigstock is our top national priority now.

 

Other than Bosnia and Kosovo… hasn’t the US been fighting POC post WW2? Seems to be a pattern that has brings in a certain group.

 

I don't think that is irony...

 

Part of his base, but equivocate away.....

 

I'm not surprised at all, that P.O.S. racist hypocrite. Totally unqualified for the position he now holds. Just like Trump was.

 

Said it before, the Republican Party of today is the new Dixiecrat Party, Tommy Tuberville being another example.

 

Sen. Tuberville is correct. They are Americans. But that doesn't mean that their views are American. White nationalists by definition reject the 14th Amendment, at a minimum. Consequently, they reject the Constitution. The very definition of being a loyal American is loyalty to the Constitution, not a land, person or an ethnicity. So while they are legally American citizens, they are not American in a truer sense.


That said, I originally had a bit mixed feelings about Sec. Austin's desire to root out white nationalists. Traditionally, the military has had plenty of people with some pretty extreme views, who express those views openly. But they are ultimately professional and do the job as ordered by the civilian chain of command, even if they grumble about it. Put another way, I had no worries that military would not do their job professionally if they held views that can be accurately portrayed as antithetical true American values.


I do worry about those that receive training and then are separated, like McVeigh or the most recent Texas shooter, but I don't know how the military can be responsible for what former servicemembers do.


January 6 changed my calculus. For the first time I worried about military members violating their oath and being persuaded that insurrection was permissible. In fairness, no American institution resisted Trump’s corruption more effectively than the military, and arguably no institution has been as successful at true integration. But that took some heroic efforts, and some actions and directions that were arguably defiant of the then constituted civilian authority, such as it was. Another previously unquestionable virtue of American life (apolitical professional military that abides by Constitutional values) that Trump attempted to corrupt, and may have opened the door to future corruption.


All that aside, from what I could tell from the outside, the “purge” was not excessive. I note that Tuberville is not getting any support from other Senators. So it seems sound, based on what I know.

 

I just call them Canadians.

 

Interesting.

According to this article from 2021, an actual KKK member, for example, can serve in the military so long as he doesn't actively promote those messages. I didn't know the rules were this permissive. Presumably, this would be different for groups or organizations that have been declared terrorist or enemies of the state or something along those lines?

Troops can still be members of hate groups like the KKK as long as they're not 'active,' per new DoD extremism rules