 Do you believe they should allow white nationalists in the military? Well, they call them that. I call them Americans. You just listened to Alabama Senator Tommy Tuberville defend white nationalists in the U.S. military, which is a serious problem for those unaware, and it's a problem that has been officially acknowledged by the Biden administration, the Department of Defense, and even military personnel themselves. According to a Military Times poll, one-third of active duty members saw signs of racism and or white supremacy in their ranks. So as a U.S. Senator, if your response to that problem is, well, you know, you call them white nationalists, I just call them Americans, I think that it's reasonable for people to interpret that as a defense of white nationalists in the U.S. military, as a defense of white nationalists in general. But in response to that, I guess we'll call it Yikes comments. He was asked to clarify his comments, and you could say that we definitely have more clarity now after listening to him speak more, but it's not because he changed what he said. He said the same exact thing, but let's listen. Do you want to explain those comments, Senator? Yeah, first of all, I'm totally against any type of racism, okay? I was a football coach for 40 years, and I dealt and had opportunity to be around more minorities than anybody up here on this hill. But when our military has been attacked, was being attacked after January the 6th, and that was my first day on the Senate floor, I thought it was outrageous of what senators from the Democratic side, Chuck Schumer, sat on the floor that night calling out people, calling people racist, calling people nationalist, white nationalist. White nationalist is just another word that they want to use other than racism. I'm totally against anything to do with racism, but the thing about being a white nationalist is just to cover word for the Democrats now where they can use it to try to make people mad across the country identity politics. I'm totally against that, but I'm for the American people, I'm for military, I'm for Christian conservatives, Democrats who ever wants to be in the military to fight for this country, to protect this country, that's what it's all about. But just to be clear, you agree that white nationalists should not be serving in the U.S. military. Is that what you're saying? If people think that a white nationalist is a racist, I agree with that. I agree they should... A white nationalist is someone who believes that the white race is superior to other races. Well, that's some people's opinion, and I don't think... Is that your opinion? Pardon? What's your opinion? My opinion of a white nationalist, if somebody wants to call him white nationalist, to me is an American. It's an American. Now, if that white nationalist is a racist, I'm totally against anything that they want to do because I am 110% against racism, but I want somebody that's in our military that's strong, that believes in this country, that's an American that will fight along anybody, whether it's a man or woman, black or white, red, it doesn't make any difference. And so, I'm totally against identity politics. I think it's ruining this country, and I think that Democrats ought to be ashamed for how they're doing this because it's dividing this country and it's making this country weaker every day. Now, there's more, but let's just stop there because we need to parse this out a little bit because he's saying a lot. So, what he's saying is if a white nationalist whose default position, by the way, is that the white race is superior to all other races, happens to be racist, then that's bad. But so long as the white nationalist is not racist, then that's okay. I mean, what's next? Are Libs gonna say that everyone in the KKK is racist too? Is everyone not safe from this identity politics? I can't even say it with a straight face because what he's saying here is so absurd on its face that there's no way that you can be any more charitable than just deducing that he's racist, period. Now, I'm also very relieved to know that he's personally not racist with the evidence being that he was around minorities as a football coach. Well, that's definitive. There's nothing else that you can say about it after that. That to me confirms beyond a shadow of a doubt that he's not racist because as we all know by definition, when you're within the proximity of non-white people, racism is literally dispelled from your body at a rate of 1% per hour. But you see, the main problem is that he is against identity politics. So that's really what this is all about. The problem is that white nationalism is identity politics. It's just white identity politics. So the question is, should the military allow for that type of white identity politics knowing that it could cause internal turmoil? Well, he's not gonna be very clear about that, but amid the wishy-washyness and evasive answers, what he's saying does come into focus, and I'll tell you what I mean by that. One more short clip from this interview. But that's not identity politics. You said a white nationalist is an American. It is identity politics. You said a white nationalist is an American, but a white nationalist is someone who believes horrific things. Do you really think that's someone who should be serving in the military? Well, that's just a name that has been given. It's a real definition. There's real concerns about extremism. So if you're gonna do away with most white people in this country out of the military, we got huge problems. It's not people who are white, it's white nationalists. That have a few probably different beliefs. You see the distinction, right? That have different beliefs. Now, if racism is one of those beliefs, I'm totally against it. I am totally against racism. But that is a white nationalist is racist, Senator. Well, that's your opinion. That's your opinion. But if it's racism, if it's racism, I'm totally against it. I am totally against any type of racism. I don't care what it's in. So he concedes that maybe white nationalists have a few different beliefs, but he won't say what those beliefs are specifically and whether or not he agrees with them. And I think that that's on purpose. So what is he actually trying to say, right? Because he's racist, that's pretty clear, but he doesn't want to just come out and say it, right? So it seems like what he's trying to say is, no, no, no. Racism means that you just hate minorities. But being a white nationalist means that you have a love of and preference for white people and think that they should have their own ethno state. But you can have that belief simultaneously while not hating minorities. I mean, is that what he's trying to say? Because if that is indeed the case, to think that non-white people should be excluded from government, from your ethno state, that is inherently hateful. But it's hard to get into the mind of this hateful bigot. And what he's saying sounds contradictory and like we're splitting hairs, because, I mean, we are. Internally, I'm sure that he's probably much more clear, right? But this sort of muddying of the waters is an effort by racists like him to normalize white nationalism and white supremacy. And the thing is that by him not being clear, he's giving us a clear answer, right? You just have to kind of read between the lines. If he wanted to be more clear, he would have done that by now. But he's not being more clear. He was asked the same question again and his answer did not change. So we're going to watch that along with some commentary from CNN. And I think that their commentary here is important, because I think that it's necessary for commentators to make deductions, because the audience might not necessarily connect, you know, from point A to B, but just make that leap for them because it's pretty obvious we have more than enough evidence. Elaine, why do you continue to insist that white nationalists are American? Listen, I'm totally against racism. And if the Democrats want to say that white nationalists are racists, I'm totally against that, too. But that's not a Democratic definition. The definition of a white nationalist is something... Well, that's your definition. My definition is racism bad. The definition is that the belief that the right racism is superior to all other races. Totally out of the question. So do you believe that white nationalists are racists? Yes. If that's what a race is, yes. Thank you. But that is the definition. And he just continues to double down. And the fallout on Capitol Hill from Republicans is now that many Republicans are being asked by reporters or white nationalist racists. And I talked to several Republicans, including Rick Scott of Florida, who said absolutely that is the definition of a white nationalist, that they believe that the white race is superior to other races. You also heard from John Thune, who I spoke to just moments ago. He is the Republican whip, and he was pressed by reporters whether or not he was going to talk directly to Tuberville about his comments. He said he had no idea what Tuberville was actually trying to say. He said, just to be clear, though, there is no room for white nationalists in the Republican Party. I pressed him on whether or not there was room for white nationalists in the military. He said, no, not there either, making it clear that he wants to put this to bed. He does not want this to become a broader question of whether or not Republicans are sticking with white nationalists, Sarah. Yeah, hard to put it to bed when you keep getting those same answers from Tuberville. Thank you so much, Lauren Fox, for that update. Appreciate it. Why do you think it is so hard for Senator Tuberville to be clear about that? So it's interesting and good to see you, but, you know, here's what's happening. So if you listen to the full interview for somebody that claims to be very clear-spoken, I'm just going to tell you how I feel. He is twisting his words around to please everybody. So we see a lot of speculation from Pundits about why he won't just be clear here, why there is so much obfuscation and evasiveness with everything that he says, and they seem almost shocked that he's doubling and tripling down despite the backlash and condemnation even from fellow Republicans. And I think that all of this confusion is because they don't want to accept the answer that he's giving them. He's doubling down because this is what he believes. He's racist, period. Point blank. And I get that they don't want to come out and say that because he's going to accuse them of engaging in identity politics. But I mean, sometimes you've just got to call a spade a spade, and he's given you more than enough insight into his twisted world view to logically deduce that he is indeed racist. And it's not the first time to be clear that he's made racist comments. And when you take into account the totality of his belief system that we know of, then I think the conclusion is pretty clear and to his credit, Jake Tapper comes to this point. Senator Tuberville's attempt to distance himself from seeming to be standing up for the rights of white supremacists might be easier to believe if last fall Senator Tuberville had not made one of the most blatantly racist statements we've heard from a U.S. senator in perhaps decades. He falsely suggested that Democrats like crime and he smeared black people as criminals. Take a listen. Some people say, well, they're soft on crime. No, they're not soft on crime. They're pro-crime. They won't crime. They won't crime because they want to take over what you got. They want to control what you have. They want reparation because they think the people that do the crime are owed that bullshit. They are not owed that. Senator Tuberville there saying that Democrats like crime and they want reparations, which is the term for payments made to individuals who are descendants of slaves, because they think that people that do the crime are owed that. That's just racism. It's just racism, exactly. And the reason why Republicans, including Mitch McConnell, are denouncing his comments is because overt racism is still not acceptable even by the Republican establishment, even if they're racist themselves or are okay with racism, even if a large portion of the base is thirsty for racism. The reason why you have to still use dog whistles and double-speak when you are engaging in white identity politics is to maintain this facade of respectability in order to attract donations from large multinational corporations. They don't want any controversy for donating to white nationalist politicians, so it is incredibly strategic and savvy for Republicans to try to hide the ball a little bit. But when it comes to Tommy Tuberville, I mean, he's just saying the quiet part loud and that's not acceptable. That's not lucrative if we put it in capitalistic terms. So I think that we're not unsheritable to call Tuberville a racist. In fact, if anything, I think that people saying he's not racist would offend him because we all heard him. His feelings are pretty clear, right? Now, I would be remiss to not point out the other reason why he's been grabbing headlines lately. It's not just because of this comment. It's because of his opposition to abortion and specifically what he's doing to cut off access to more people. HuffPost explains, Senator Tommy Tuberville's unprecedented hold on military promotions has left the Marine Corps without a confirmed leader for the first time in 164 years, drawing outrage from Democrats who say his actions are undermining national security. Marine Corps Commandant General David Berger officially retired on Monday, leaving Assistant Commandant General Eric Smith as the acting Commandant and leader of the military branch until he is confirmed in the Senate. Democrats tried to confirm Smith via a unanimous consent request on Monday, but Tuberville blocked the move in protest of a new Pentagon policy that provides paid leave and reimbursement costs for travel for service members who cross state lines to get an abortion. The policy was enacted after the Supreme Court struck down federal abortion rights and overturned Roe v. Wade. The Alabama Republicans' hold pertains to over 250 of the Pentagon's general and flag officers. In order to approve each promotion, Democrats would need to schedule several votes on the Senate floor, eating up valuable floor time. It would likely take months to process them all. Time the Senate simply does not have if it wants to pass appropriation bills and avert a government shutdown this year. So there you have it. If you've been wondering why he's talking about the military so much lately or has been asked so many questions about it, that's basically the backstory and you really don't need to know more than that. But the main conclusion that I want to leave you with is that when people tell you who they are, believe them. Especially if they tell you a second time and then a third time and then a fourth time. I mean, there's no point in speculating about whether or not they're confused or just unable to articulate themselves properly. Tuberville is a grown man. He is a politician, right? He knows how to speak. You can't chalk this up to stupidity or ignorance. He made it very clear where he stands and that's with white nationalists. And he's not the only Republican senator to be clear who's a white nationalist. But the difference between him and them is that he's willing to admit it. So when people tell you that they are a certain way, listen to them. Because I don't think he could be any more clear despite the very convoluted language that he's using to describe his position.