[Michael Tyldesley]

John, I didn't say "don't worry yourself about politics and the state of the world". I said that the views of one right winger who is playing to a limited audience is not going to have much sway at the top table. The Republican party are not going to fight against the interests of the military at the next election. That's a guaranteed loser.

One politician on his own can't take on the military. It looks to me like a publicity stunt or are you saying the senate need to unanimously approve pay increases or, in other words, one senator can stop the law? If so then that sounds constitutionally crazy. Nothing would ever get agreed.

In the UK, there are parts of the country where crazy right wingers get into power but it only becomes an issue if they find their way into cabinet positions. Is Tuberville realistically going to get a high ranking brief if the Republicans get in next time? He looks like a bit of a liability to me.

[Roger Slater]

Yes, it's crazy. But that's the way it is. Tuberville alone has the power to hold up the promotions, and that's what he's doing. If he didn't have that power but was only bluffing or posturing, we wouldn't be talking about him so much.

[James Brancheau]

It's NOT a limited audience, Michael. When I first commented I didn't even read the article (which turned out to be a one minute read, so I might as well have). Look, the Republican party is no longer functioning as a political party. That would require a belief in democracy.

[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.

[James Brancheau]

Yeah, this is the only way Republicans know how to get anything done anymore, Roger. Imaginary issues, gerrymandering and voter suppression. And outright fraud. They have lost support from women and independents. It's no wonder they want to limit what students read.

Sorry, John, I know I'm not addressing this specific thing. But I cannot separate this from everything else that's going on.

[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.