Tuberville insists hold on promotions doesn't harm military, rejects white nationalism

Alabama GOP Sen. Tommy Tuberville fired back at Democratic claims that his holds on promotions harm the military and contested Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer's accusations that he supports white nationalism.

"Somebody's fighting for the taxpayers of this country," Tuberville said on the "John Solomon Reports" podcast. "And 60% of the people in this country are against taxpayer money going into abortion."

In the wake of the 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson decision that allowed states to regulate abortion, the Department of Defense opted to grant servicemembers paid leave for travel to obtain an abortion in states that maintained abortion access. Tuberville subsequently announced he would not grant requests for unanimous consent of military nominations, which is how the Senate typically approves groups of promotions.  This stance would require the Senate to spend floor time on each individual nominee, effectively blocking dozens of promotions for key military officials.

"The American taxpayer doesn't deserve this," he continued. "60% of the country is against this. Well, they did it anyway. So I've had a hold on all their generals and admirals for the last five months."

On Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer accused Tuberville of "fanning the flames of bigotry and intolerance," after saying the definition of white nationalism comes down to one's opinion, according to The Hill. 

"I was a football coach," he said. "Going on 40 years, I worked with mostly minorities and I've raised more young men than most of these people up here combined. White nationalism is racist. So I completely reject white nationalism."

He went on to explain that Democrats have been misusing the term "white nationalism" and have mislabeled people as such. 

"I want to repeat this. I reject any type of racism," he said. "But I am sick and tired of Democrats unfairly throwing that term around when it's not true. Because what they do is they throw it around at all Christians, all conservatives, all Republicans, and Donald Trump's supporters. That's what they call all of us and that's what I was fighting back against."