Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) offered up a head-spinning defense of white nationalists on Monday, saying he’s against racism but that many of them “just have different beliefs.”
Tuberville, who has blocked hundreds of military promotions to protest the Pentagon’s abortion policy, was asked by CNN’s Kaitlan Collins about comments he made in May when asked about white nationalists.
“I call them Americans,” he said at the time.
He didn’t back down, saying he’s against racism but believes white nationalists are just Americans and that the term “is just a 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.”
Collins reminded him what the term actually means.
“A white nationalist is someone who believes that the white race is superior to other races,” she said.
“Well, that’s some people’s opinion,” Tuberville replied, and again he defined a white nationalist as “an American.”
It’s not an opinion; white nationalists are literally defined “as one of a group of militant white people who espouse white supremacy and advocate enforced racial segregation,” according to Merriam-Webster.
But Tuberville said they’re Americans who “have different beliefs” while repeating that he’s “totally against racism.”
“A white nationalist is racist, senator,” Collins reminded him.
“Well, that’s your opinion,” Tuberville said, as he did earlier. “That’s your opinion.”
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Tuberville has a history of racist rhetoric ― so much so that his own brother called him out over it.
“Due to recent statements by him promoting racial stereotypes, white nationalism and other various controversial topics, I feel compelled to distance myself from his ignorant, hateful rants,” musician Charles Tuberville wrote on Facebook in May. “I DO NOT agree with any of the vile rhetoric coming out of his mouth.”
Last year, the NAACP criticized him for “flat out racist, ignorant and utterly sickening” comments comparing Black people to criminals.
Critics on Twitter called him out for his latest comments: