Ideally, Sen. Tommy Tuberville would steer clear of controversies related to the U.S. military. Evidently, however, the Alabama Republican can’t seem to help himself.
Last year, the coach-turned-politician launched an unprecedented 10-month blockade on armed services confirmations, which undermined his own country’s military during international crises. In the end, the right-wing senator had nothing to show for it but a ruined reputation.
This is the same Tuberville who has reportedly failed to follow through on his commitments to veterans’ charities, failed to tell the whole truth about his father’s military service, lied about the U.S. military not being “an equal opportunity employer,” used veterans to push a debunked anti-immigrant conspiracy theory and claimed earlier this year, “We’ve kinda gone downhill with our military.”
It is against this backdrop that the Alabaman came up with yet another idea related to the military: Tuberville decided it’d be smart to block the promotion of Lt. Gen. Ronald P. Clark, who was nominated to become the four-star commander of all U.S. Army forces in the Pacific.
As the GOP senator saw it, Clark was a senior aide to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin when the Pentagon chief underwent surgery to treat prostate cancer last year, which Austin failed to disclose. (He ultimately apologized for the secrecy.)
Thankfully for the military, Tuberville backed down shortly before lawmakers wrapped up their pre-election work. Politico reported:
Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) has dropped his objection to President Joe Biden’s nominee to lead Army forces in the Pacific, ending a weekslong standoff over the officer’s role in Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s hospitalization. The Senate on Tuesday quietly confirmed Lt. Gen. Ronald Clark’s promotion to four-star general. The vote, which Tuberville had been blocking in recent weeks, occurred just hours after the Alabama Republican met with Clark to clear the air.
The senator initially wanted to delay the general’s promotion until he saw an inspector general’s report on Austin’s hospitalization, but those findings aren’t complete, and U.S. forces in the Pacific couldn’t wait. So Clark and Tuberville had a private meeting, at which point the senator concluded Austin’s misplaced secrecy “wasn’t his problem.” That’s probably the sort of detail the Republican might’ve realized before blocking the general’s promotion, but at least Tuberville allowed Clark to be confirmed. The list of Tuberville’s military-related missteps, however, continues to grow.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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