Tuberville says definition of white nationalist is a matter of opinion

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Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) Said the definition of a white nationalist is a matter of opinion during a television interview Monday evening in which he had the opportunity to clarify the remarks of this spring, when he appeared to advocate for white nationalists to serve in the US military.

During the CNN interview, Tuberville repeatedly said he rejects racism, but pushed back against host Kaitlan Collins when she told him that, by definition, white nationalists are racist because they believe that their race is superior to others. Tuberville, at one point in the back and forth, characterized white nationalists as people who probably hold a few different beliefs.

The interview reignited another controversy for the first-term senator, who has made headlines primarily for blocking dozens of senior military appointments in a bid to end a Department of Defense policy that helps secure access to abortion for military personnel and their families.

In a May interview with a local public radio station in Alabama, Tuberville, a former football coach, criticized Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin for his efforts to drive white extremists, white nationalists out of the army. Tuberville said it was part of an effort to politicize the armed services and accused Pentagon leaders of bankrupting our military and driving out supporters of former President Donald Trump.

Tuberville later told reporters he considered a white nationalist a Trump Republican, adding: That’s what they called him all the time.

Defending white nationalists, Tommy Tuberville fears an army gone wrong

On Monday evening, Collins asked Tuberville whether white nationalists should be allowed to serve in the military, offering a definition of a white nationalist as someone who believes the white race is superior to other races.

Well, that’s the opinion of some, Tuberville said.

Asked for his opinion, Tuberville said: My opinion of a white nationalist, if anyone wants to call them a white nationalist, to me that’s an American. He’s an American. Now, if this white nationalist is racist, I’m totally against anything they want to do because I’m 110% against racism.

Tuberville then accused Democrats of using the term to push identity politics, which he says is ruining this country.

Collins continued to lobby Tuberville about whether white nationalists should be allowed to serve in the military, saying they are people who believe horrible things.

Well, it’s just been given a name, Tuberville said of white nationalism.

Collins told him, that’s a real definition.

If you’re going to knock most white people out of this country out of the military, we’ve got huge problems, Tuberville replied.

They are not white people. Its white nationalists, Collins said.

Who probably have a few different beliefs, they have different beliefs, Tuberville said. Now, if racism is one of those beliefs, I’m totally against it. I am totally against racism.

Earlier in the interview, Tuberville cited his coaching experience at Auburn University and elsewhere.

I coached football for 40 years and had the opportunity to interact with more minorities than anyone on this Hill,” Tuberville said.

A white nationalist is a racist, said Senator Collins.

Well, it’s your opinion, it’s your opinion, Tuberville said.

He added: I am totally against any type of racism.

According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, [w]These nationalist groups espouse white supremacist or white separatist ideologies, often focusing on the supposed inferiority of non-white people.

Their main goal is to create a white ethno-state, the group says on its website. Groups listed in various other categories, including the Ku Klux Klan, Neo-Confederates, Neo-Nazis, Racist Skinheads, and Christian Identity, could also aptly be described as White Nationalists.

Military leaders have long worried about extremist views within their ranks.

A study by the Center for Strategic International Studies found that 6.4% of all domestic terrorist incidents in 2020 involved active duty or reserve personnel, more than quadrupling from the previous year. Hate groups actively target troops to become recruits while encouraging their own extremists to join the military ranks.

The presence of many military veterans during the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol further alarmed senior Pentagon officials and prompted Austin to create a counter-extremism task force in April 2021.

Paul Kane contributed to this report.

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