Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) is facing extensive criticism after recent comments in an interview in which he spoke seemingly defensively about Russian leadership launching the unfolding war in Ukraine.
“He doesn’t want Ukraine. He doesn’t want Europe,” Tuberville claimed, referring to Putin, although there were already sham referendums held in Ukrainian areas targeted by Russian military forces on the question of joining Russia that ended with the entirely predictable outcome of results supposedly in favor. Russia also annexed the Crimean peninsula years before the most recent escalations took place. The area was part of Ukraine, and under Putin, Russia now claims it as its own.
Putin “just wants to make sure that he does not have United States weapons in Ukraine pointed at Moscow,” Tuberville claimed. The implication of some kind of potentially looming, offensive threat from the U.S. towards Russia is not supported by publicly available evidence. President Joe Biden has been unequivocal in outlining the U.S.’ opposition to entering into conflict with Russia — but claiming some kind of outside threat could take attention away from Putin’s apparent ambitions, like territorial expansion, behind the war, which has devastated sweeping areas inside Ukraine.
“Carrying water for Putin, undermining US national security and spreading misinformation,” recapped Paul Rieckhoff, an advocate and a founder at American Veterans for Ukraine. “Tuberville continues to be either the most corrupt—and/or the dumbest—member of the Senate. And an embarrassment to Alabama, America and football.”
Tuberville also recently faced criticism for trying to use D-Day, meaning the Allies’ incursion into Nazi-occupied Europe during World War II, in a political attack. He claimed that President Biden showed disrespect on the occasion of commemorating that military effort.
“This clown. Everything is political including Normandy,” replied Adam Kinzinger, a former Republican Congressman from Illinois and a longtime Air National Guard member. “What were you thinking Alabama? This guy makes you look pretty bad.”
