House Republican Tactics Are So Extreme That Tommy Tuberville Now Feels the Need to Support the Military

It's not easy for MAGA to lose Tuberville, but once they do, it's time to rethink

In what used to be a weekly ritual for me, I am again writing about House Republican adventures. Democrats have stolen the spotlight from the Republicans for a few months, but it is starting to warm the right side of the aisle again.

The latest tactic taken on by the Republicans has done the unthinkable: it’s made Alabama Senator Tommy Tuberville express concern for the military.

You remember the Tuberville military promotion fiascos in 2023, don’t you?

In early 2023, perhaps a bit overconfident from the contact high induced by the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision regarding abortion rights, Tuberville decided to singlehandedly hold up Senate approval of military promotions in protest of the Pentagon’s abortion policy for members of the military. Basically, they could get reimbursed for travel expenses to get one.

Tuberville objected to this policy. For 10 months, military promotions were stalled, simply because this one Senator wanted to raise awareness about this issue, which was not realistically going to be altered. This stalemate was potentially dangerous, as it had real-world effects on our military readiness, not to mention the micro-effects on the military families that were due to get the promotions.

According to a statement by the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) in September 2023, “As of today, the Army, Navy, and Marine Corps no longer have confirmed heads of their services, with hundreds of other routine uniformed promotions stalled behind them, due to Sen. Tuberville’s refusal to allow confirmations to proceed”.

But even beyond the effects of immediate national security, a grave concern was the long-term effects that giving one rogue Senator such power has on the morale of the military and subsequently its ability to recruit and remain strong and vibrant.

The Hill, also in September of 2023, published an article about the 5 ways that Tuberville’s military hold-up was affecting the military, and four of them were about morale and recruitment challenges than actual national security. Many of the promotions were simply routine and expected, and the affected families had to make arrangements in their new locale for housing, schooling, etc. Putting their official promotion in limbo cause major hardships in these respects.

In March 2024, The Federal News Network reported on a poll that was conducted by Blue Star Families. The participants were 609 active duty members and spouses, and veterans and spouses. 57% of them said that these experiences caused them to be less likely to recommend military service to a young family member. This obviously doesn’t exactly bode well for attracting a new generation to a seemingly strong and competent institution.

Despite opposition from, and pleading by, other leading Republicans in both the House and Senate, Tuberville persisted (no offense to Elizabeth Warren).

In his defense, Tuberville uttered the following nonsensical quote:

“I hated to do it. These people needed promotions. But somebody needs to wake up in the White House and the Pentagon that they cannot dictate policy here in the U.S. Senate. So I put a hold months ago on admirals, generals and civil nominees. A few months went by – a few months became 11, and we’ve had that hold ever since they put that policy in place,”

So, basically, Tuberville created a problem for the military that wasn’t good, because the White House and Pentagon can’t dictate “Senate” policy. Oh, and time passes. What?

Brinksmanship Again

Anyway, fast forward to today, and House Republicans are doing what they do very poorly, which is trying to generate sympathy by holding the federal government hostage in demanding an extreme and unnecessary policy position be enacted in return for their cooperation with passing a new budget.

The extreme right wing of the House Republicans, and Republican Presidential nominee Donald Trump, are demanding that a law named the SAVE Act be included as part of a new budget in order to get their votes. The SAVE Act makes it illegal for non-citizens to vote, and adds more restrictions on voting in Federal elections, such as proving citizenship.

The problem is that it’s already illegal for non-citizens to vote in Federal elections, and placing more paperwork burdens on voting end up mostly hurting citizens that are allowed to vote. So this proposal is going nowhere and will definitely not pass, which means if this is the Republicans’ final proposal, the government will be shut down just over a month to go before the 2024 election.

But Speaker Mike Johnson has to give these folks their due to some degree, partly to not be subjected to Trump’s abuse, but also to appeal to the extremists voting base and keep them voting for Republicans and not be inclined to sit this election out.

Doing this during calmer times might arguably make more sense. Even then it rarely works out to their advantage.

But choosing to bring the federal government to the brink of shutting down just over a month from what is considered to be the most consequential and highest stakes election of the last 100-plus years is…..let’s just say extremely bold.

In fact, it’s so wacky and unwanted that even Tuberville’s position on the military seems to have moved. Regarding the potential effects of a government shutdown, Tuberville said the following.

“It’s becoming a mess. Especially our military — they’re suffering. Even if you do a [continuing resolution], you know they don’t get the money they’d normally get. This whole thing’s a debacle,” Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) said of the stalled funding process.”

So Tuberville does care about the military and their ability to do their jobs? After spending almost a year of grinding the mechanics of the military to a halt over an obscure abortion benefit for veterans?

Given his history, Tuberville’s sentiments here might suggest a sea change in Republican confidence in the upcoming election. Perhaps he got some blowback that’s making him nervous now. He might have angered many veterans and active-duty military to the point that he’s now nervous and actively trying to shore up that support in time for the election.

This might produce a new motto for Republicans to live by: If you’ve lost Tuberville, you’re probably doing something really crazy.