U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville, the freshman Republican from Alabama who single-handedly since February has been blocking what are now hundreds of U.S. Armed Forces promotions, appeared unconcerned when asked about the U.S. Marine Corps having no permanent Commandant as of Monday.
Sen. Tuberville is blocking more than 250 military promotions, which ordinarily pass through the Senate by unanimous consent. He claims his blockade is in response to the Pentagon’s policy of assisting any service member who wants or needs an abortion to access that health care in a state that does not ban the procedure.
“No, I’m not gonna change my approach. You know, it is what it is,” Tuberville told CNN’s Manu Raju Monday, when discussing the required retirement of Marine Corps Commandant David Berger. This is the first time in 160 years, according to CNN, the Marines will have no confirmed permanent leader.
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Tuberville went on to say he’s met the officer who will serve as acting Commandant, and suggested the only difference between an acting Commandant and a permanent Commandant is “just the name.”
But Tuberville, who infamously was unable to identify the three branches of government after his election, and has a history of racist and pro-white nationalist remarks, neglected to mention he is also upset because U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has called him only once, and is refusing to negotiate.
Last week PBS Newshour reported that not only do the Marines now have no permanent leader, but next month, the U.S Army will suffer a similar crisis when its Chief of Staff is forced to retire. Shortly after, the U.S. Navy’s Chief of Operations will be forced to retire. In October, the nation’s highest-ranking military officer, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, will also retire.
On Friday, NCRM reported retired U.S. Naval War College professor Tom Nichols, an expert on national security, Russia, and nuclear weapons, suggested Tuberville is “directly harming the military readiness and national security of the United States” by blocking the promotions.
Journalist Marcy Wheeler, a national security and civil liberties expert on Monday asked, “Imagine a world in which the headline was, ‘Tommy Tuberville makes the country less safe to force his political will’?”
Watch Tuberville below or at this link.