[Roger Slater]

Michael, he is not "taking on" the military. The military is just being used as a hostage. His issue is abortion (he's against it) and he is hoping to extract concessions on that issue by using leverage he gets through is ability to holdup military promotions.

[Michael Tyldesley]

I had to go to ABC to get an explanation:

In the Senate, one senator can hold up nominations or legislation even if the other 99 want it to move forward.

Generally, leaders in the majority party get around this by holding a series of votes to move a measure and dispense of the hold. It just takes some additional time on the Senate floor.

But Tuberville’s blockade is unique because there are hundreds of military nominations and promotions, and Democratic leaders would have to hold roll call votes on every single one of them to get around the hold. It’s a decades-long tradition for the Senate to group military promotions together and approve them by voice vote, avoiding lengthy roll calls.

If there's an impact on military readiness then why can't the majority party pass emergency legislation to remove these barriers?

I understand that abortion is a big issue in America but it shouldn't be allowed to interfere with other areas of politics related to national security.

Tuberville is playing the system and the system should be designed so that it can be continuously improved to remove these kind of unintended consequences.

And, as I've already said. He's making himself unpopular and giving the opposing party an easy line of attack.

[John Riley]

The article reports that he said his playing politics and disrupting the military because of a side issue in order to raise money and to increase his name recognition in the right-wing media isn't what is damaging the military. A much more destructive problem is that he's heard some ships have had poetry read over the intercom during the morning calls.

[Michael Tyldesley]

Tuberville said on Fox News: “Secretary Del Toro of the Navy, he needs to get to building ships, he needs to get to recruiting, and he needs to get wokeness out of our Navy,”

“We’ve got people doing poems on aircraft carriers over the loudspeaker. It is absolutely insane the direction that we’re headed in our military, and we’re headed downhill, not uphill."

He has got a point about the Navy needing more ships and recruits but I don't see how removing "wokeness" would solve that problem. Surely most people of an average IQ can see that? I guess the MAGA Republicans in safe seats feel that they can get away with saying outrageous things like this to get noticed and score points with Trump so that's why they do it.

If this is the best they can come up with I'm not worried for you.

[RCL]

Little Tommy Tuberville

Just remembered, no self-created trash here.

[Shaun J. Russell]

I guess the MAGA Republicans in safe seats feel that they can get away with saying outrageous things like this to get noticed and score points with Trump so that's why they do it.

If this is the best they can come up with I'm not worried for you.

Well, underestimation is one of the biggest difficulties we have going for us in this country. It, more than any other factor, is what won Trump the election in 2016, and it's the surest path to him winning again. I'll never forget Chuck Todd on election night, 2016, adamant that the numbers would turn around, incredulous that what was happening was happening. Vigilance is absolutely vital, and we can't take anything for granted, no matter how nonsensical it must seem.

In truth, it's almost impossible to explain what the political situation is like within the U.S. to those outside of it. I learned this several years ago when talking with my parents - a Canadian and New Zealander, both living in Canada. There's just no way to express the feeling of a handcart careening downhill, pushed by a group of reckless idiots, with other reckless idiots batting more sensible hands away from the handbrake. It defies logic, reason, sense, and even self-preservation, and yet... And yet.

The Tuberville holds are just a small, but significant subset of the greater issue. Our system is suffused with it right now. Send help.

[John Riley]

I love what you said Shaun. It seems a little cracked in GB but here it is combustible. You’re right if you don’t live here you can’t feel the coming apart. The world better open their eyes.

[Jim Moonan]

.
The facetiousness of the thread title is a bit off-putting but I understand your frustration. The effects of the gangrene caused by Trump has become protracted and will not be easy to to eradicate.

I wonder what TT would think of hearing the poem, "The Times, They Are A'Changin'" blaring from the loud speakers of the USS John McCain?


(Btw, Tommy Tuberville looks like the principal in Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Where is Ferris Bueller when you need him?)

.

[Michael Tyldesley]

MAGA Republicanism has its roots and ties with Brexit. The Brexit leave vote came first in 2016. Trumps people watched and learned from that win. He invited some of the Brexit campaign people over as consultants for his campaign and paraded Nigel Farage on rallies.

So, we have been sending help Shaun but not the kind you would wish for...

John, we're living with the consequences of Brexit here and we will be for decades regardless of changes of government. Labour accepts there's no way back into the EU. So when you dismiss GB's problems in comparison to those in the US, actually our acts of political self harm have been permanent whereas, it remains to be seen, but let's hope yours can be healed.