A US senator causes outrage on television with his understanding of racism. A day later, he suddenly changes his mind.
Tommy Tuberville appreciates a clear speech. In his former life, he was the coach of an American football team, barking his orders across the field. Then he went into politics, became a senator and once again caused heads to shake in the USA with his provocative statements.
In an interview with the CNN television station on Monday evening, Tuberville engaged in a war of words with moderator Kaitlan Collins. In the course of this he granted profound insights into his world of thought. The interview was actually about Tuberville’s blocking of promotions within the US military. The senator, a staunch opponent of abortion, had voted against a corresponding bill in the US Congress, which is why the US Marine Corps, one of the US Army’s elite units, is without a leader for the first time in 164 years.
Then presenter Collins confronted the Alabama congressman about his statements on the subject of racism. Tuberville said he didn’t see a white nationalist as a racist, so he couldn’t see why white nationalists shouldn’t be allowed into the US military. Racism, that’s just a “label that’s stuck on it,” said the 68-year-old.
Presenter Collins was amazed. She immediately countered the senator: “A white nationalist is a racist, Mr. Senator.” “Well, that’s her opinion,” Tuberville replied. “That’s her opinion”.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer then emphasized, “Defining white nationalism is not a matter of opinion.” This ideology is racist to the core. Other members of Congress also reacted with outrage to Tuberville’s statements. The US best-selling author Stephen King wrote on Twitter: “Tommy Tuberville gives the word idiot a new meaning”.
Nationalist, racist, or just an ordinary American?
The venerable Encyclopedia Britannica, the world’s oldest reference work, leaves no doubt as to what constitutes a white nationalist. Someone whose “ideas and beliefs raise the natural superiority of fair-skinned people or ‘white’ people over other ethnic groups”.
In 2017, there was a violent demonstration by white nationalists in Charlottesville, Virginia, in which one person died and numerous others were injured. The aim of the organizers of the protest march under the motto “Unite the right” was to gather neo-Nazis, alt-right supporters, extreme right-wing militias, neo-confederates and white supremacists under the umbrella of white nationalism. After the deadly riots, observers spoke of one of the darkest hours in recent American history.
Tuberville nevertheless insisted in the “CNN” interview that white nationalists are ordinary citizens, but certainly not racists. For him, a white nationalist is simply an American.
“Ready to say I’m sorry”
On Tuesday, Tuberville suddenly changed his mind. Even among some influential Republicans, his statements had caused outrage, as “CNN” reports. When asked by the press in the US Congress, the congressman had previously followed up and said: “I am absolutely against racism. If the Democrats want to say that white nationalists are racists, then I am also completely against it.”
It is not the first time that Tuberville has provoked with radical statements. After the massacre in the small American town of Uvalde in May 2022, in which 19 schoolchildren and two teachers were killed, the senator from Alabama stood up and defended the gun lobby.
He was asked what he had to say to those parents who had just lost their child. Tuberville coolly replied, “I’m willing to say I’m very sorry about what happened. But guns aren’t the problem, okay? The people are the problem.” And further: “We have always had weapons. And we will continue to have weapons.”
