Senator Tommy Tuberville told Fox News host Laura Ingraham that the US military was a "disaster" and "couldn't beat anybody right now.”
Tuberville — a former football coach who never served in the military and has no background in military tactics — made the comments while insisting that the nation needs to build up its armed services.
“We need to build our military up,” the Republican senator said. “Our military right now, Laura, is a disaster. Absolute disaster. We couldn’t beat anybody right now.”
He said that while "we've got some good people in the military" the "structure of it, the things that we've done, the Democrats have destroyed it.”
The broader conversation that night centered on US aid for Ukraine in its ongoing defense against Russia's invasion. He bragged that he had always voted against supporting Ukraine. He insisted that Ukraine cannot win the war against Russia, and said he was excited for President-elect Donald Trump to end it.
We shouldn’t be sending any money to Ukraine while Americans are being CRUSHED by Democrats’ crippling inflation.
— Coach Tommy Tuberville (@SenTuberville) November 12, 2024
We should be focused on fixing the issues here at home and making the U.S. military the most lethal fighting force in the world. pic.twitter.com/Jpzlhqbs9F
“They can’t win, Laura,” Tuberville said. “I didn’t want to get these people killed. They can’t win. They’re undermanned, they’re understaffed.”
He said that Trump would "get them out of this."
“I don’t know what he’s going to have to give up to get them out of it, but we cannot continue to send money over there," he said.
The senator did not voice any concern over the military aid the US sends to Israel for its ongoing war in Gaza, however. Instead, he has insisted that US must “support and supply Israel.”
Tuberville was not specific about how Democrats destroyed the military, and did not explain why the US needed to prioritize building it back up when Trump ran on an explicit platform of preventing and ending armed conflicts.
Trump hasn't indicated who he'll pick to lead the Defense Department, and has not provided any outline as to his plans for the military other than musing that his comments suggesting he’d use the them against his domestic opponents were “nice.”
This isn’t the first time the senator has taken a swipe at American service members. Tuberville has spearheaded a blockade of military promotions — meaning members cannot rise in rank and thus move towards higher pay — because he opposes the Pentagon's abortion policies.
“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," Tuberville said in March. "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.”
Blue Star Families, a non-profit organization, asked polled more than 300 service members and their spouses about the impact Tuberville's blockade has had on them, according to Federal News Network. Of the respondents, 57 percent of currently-serving family respondents said the promotion blockage decreased their likelihood of recommending military service to younger families, meaning Tuberville's actions are indirectly obstructing military recruitment, despite his insistence that the military needs to be built up.
