Biden: ‘Extremists’ like Tuberville ‘have no idea what the hell they’re talking about’
President Biden on Thursday called out Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville as being among the “extremists” in Congress who “have no idea what the hell they’re talking about.”
Biden made the remark during a speech in Arizona rebuking Donald Trump and the former president’s allies in Congress while honoring former Sen. John McCain.
Biden did not refer to Tuberville by name, calling him “one guy in Alabama” and “one MAGA senator” during the speech Thursday in Tempe.
The president continued his attacks on Alabama senior senator over Tuberville’s hold on military nominations in response to new Department of Defense policies reimbursing travel for service members who seek an abortion but serve in an area where abortion is illegal.
Referring to Tuberville, Biden said, “one guy in Alabama is holding up the promotion of every — hundreds of these officers. Frankly, these extremists have no idea what the hell they’re talking about.”
“Our U.S. military — and this in not hyperbole; I’ve said it for the last two years — is the strongest military in the history of the world. Not just the strongest in the world — in the history of the world,” Biden said. “It’s the most diverse, the most powerful in the history of the world. And it’s being accused of being weak and ‘woke’ by the opposition.”
Earlier this month, Tuberville cited “people doing poems on aircraft carriers” as a reason the U.S. Navy is “so woke” during an appearance on Fox News.
Last week, Gen. C.Q. Brown was nominated as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Randy George was confirmed as Army Chief of Staff and Gen. Eric Smith was confirmed as commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps, temporarily breaking the impasse.
But Tuberville’s hold remains.
Brown takes over for the retiring Gen. Mark Milley, who Trump suggested should be executed for speaking with a Chinese general during the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol.
Biden compared the lack of outrage at Trump’s comments among Republicans to the silence when Tuberville announced his hold in February.
“Hardly any Republican called out such heinous statements, just as they watch one MAGA senator outrageously — instead, blocking the promotions of hundreds of top military leaders and affecting not only those leaders but their families, their children,” the president said.