Amid standoff with Pentagon, Tuberville blasts Biden over China: ‘Walking around with blinders on’

Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., the legendary football coach turned politician now locked in an epic battle with the Pentagon over abortion funding, tells Just the News he believes President Joe Biden has weakened the military through social engineering and endangered America by appeasing an increasingly aggressive China.

“Our problem is China. And their goal is to take over as world dominance, and they do everything they possibly can,” Tuberville told the John Solomon Reports podcast on Friday, rattling off Chinese aggression ranging from spy balloons and Confucius Institute infiltration of U.S. schools to recent penetrations by Chinese nationals of U.S. military installations.

“I mean they're infiltrating everything. And we're walking around with blinders on. We’re trying to be too nice to everybody. And sooner or later, we got to start standing up for the American people,” he added.

The freshman Alabama senator has been locked in months-long battle with the Biden Pentagon, blocking military promotions for senior appointees until the Defense Department either reverses a policy paying for military personnel to travel to get abortions or gets congressional approval for it.

Democrats in recent days have unleashed increasingly personal attacks on Tuberville, with Biden’s Navy secretary even accusing the GOP senator of "aiding and abetting" communists and other enemies. The attacks have backfired, rallying many Republicans around Tuberville while prompting more than 5,000 military veterans to sign a letter supporting his position.

In a wide-ranging interview, Tuberville reaffirmed he won’t relent on his blocks, known in Senate parlance as “holds.” He said the reason is he believes the Pentagon rule change to allow for abortion travel funding was not authorized by Congress and therefore is illegal.

“No. 1, it's against the law. And No.2, you know, I was elected, campaigned very hard for two years to get elected in the Senate to be able to represent and give the people of Alabama an opportunity to vote on a controversial topic like this. And so you're not going to go around me. You're going to have to go through me.”

“And it's been interesting, you know, they've come at me from all angles,” he added. “And as we talked earlier, I've, you know, I've been called everything as a coach, but my goodness, I've never been called a terrorist and a communist from somebody that supposed to be in, in higher echelon, the Secretary of Navy.”

Tuberville said claims in recent media op-eds that his actions are harming national security are nonsense. He said everyday military officials have not been affected, only higher-ups in Washington, and all crucial positions are filled by capable acting officials.

“it worries me that I see people talk, you know, from the Pentagon, like these are the most important people in the military,” he said. “Well, they're not the most important people. Those are the corporals, the privates, the sergeants, the lieutenants, and the captains that actually do the warfighting, the people who actually do the training. It's not the generals and admirals that ride around in these black SUVs in Washington, DC and have the real nice offices in the Pentagon.”

Tuberville also scoffed at Democrat criticism, saying Senate Leader Chuck Schumer could easily resolve the standoff by holding a vote in the chamber to approve the abortion policy but he won’t because it is bad politics for his Democrat party heading into an election year.

“Here's the problem. This is an election year coming up. And, it would be a bad vote for some people in their caucus, because I think they have 25 that are up for reelection,” he said.

Tuberville also accused critics of hyping the standoff to distract from a larger crisis in the military: new liberal policies like critical race theory, transgenderism and equity have scared away potential soldiers and left a recruitment vacuum.

“Nobody will stand up to Joe Biden,” he said. “Nobody will stand up to the people who are actually turning our military into a total woke environment.

“It's not a fighting machine anymore. It's more of an appeasement machine. Let's don't upset anybody,” he added. “We need the strongest military in the world. It's not an equal opportunity employer. We need the best and the brightest that's going to fight and most to defend our country.”