Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) criticized the Biden administration for trying to remove white nationalists from the military in a radio interview earlier this week.
“We, our military and Secretary Austin put out an order to stand down and all military across the country, saying we’re going to run out the white nationalists, people that don’t believe how we believe. And that’s not how we do it in this country,” Tuberville told NPR affiliate WBHM on Monday.
Tuberville was asked if he believed white nationalists should be allowed to serve in the military.
“They call them that,” he said referring to the Biden administration. “I call them Americans.”
Tuberville also argued that the U.S. is “losing in the military so fast” in terms of recruitment “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.”
“This year, we will not reach any recruiting goals in the military. So if we want to talk about looking weak, that’s where we’re going to look weak,” Tuberville continued. “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.”
Tuberville’s office released a statement to AL. com clarifying the senator’s remarks.
His office claims Tuberville was being “skeptical of the notion that there are white nationalists in the military, not that he believes they should be in the military.”
While Tuberville is skeptical that there are white nationalists in the military, there were concerns long before Biden was elected to office. In 2020, a Pentagon report found that “white supremacy and white nationalism pose a threat to the good order and discipline within the military” by seeking to recruit service members into their ranks and, in some cases, joining the military to acquire combat experience.
