"A rot in the GOP": Tuberville blasted for military blockade over "poems on aircraft carriers"

MSNBC's Joe Scarborough slammed the Alabama senator for saying he didn't know what the Pentagon does every day

By Tatyana Tandanpolie

Staff Writer

Published September 7, 2023 6:58PM (EDT)

Joe Scarborough speaks at the Global Citizen NOW Summit at The Glasshouse on April 28, 2023 in New York City. (Noam Galai/Getty Images for Global Citizen)
Joe Scarborough speaks at the Global Citizen NOW Summit at The Glasshouse on April 28, 2023 in New York City. (Noam Galai/Getty Images for Global Citizen)

 "There's a rot in the GOP and Tommy Tuberville is a perfect example of it."

On Thursday, MSNBC host Joe Scarborough, a former Republican member of Congress, slammed GOP Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., who complained about "wokeness" in the military amid his months-long military promotion stoppage protesting the president's military abortion policy.

Tuberville told Fox News' Laura Ingraham on Wednesday that the armed forces are losing recruits because of so-called wokeness, Mediaite reports. After accusing the Biden administration of wanting to make everything "about equity" with its military policies, the Republican senator called on Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro, who co-authored a scathing op-ed accusing Tuberville of "aiding and abetting communists" by carrying out the hold, 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 heading in our military and we're heading downhill, not uphill," Tuberville said, adding later that "we're running Russia into China" after responding "no" when Ingraham asked if the U.S. military could confidently take on the country. 

The Alabama Republican's recent comments about the military drew rebuke from Scarborough, who during his Thursday morning segment sharply condemned Tuberville's admission that he doesn't know what Pentagon officials "do every day." 

"What an idiot!" Scarborough said, after playing a clip of Tuberville's remark. "What an idiot. Let me just say it again. What an idiot! What!? What? You don't know what our military leaders do in the Pentagon every day."

Scarborough went on to chastise Tuberville, explaining that the Pentagon protects the nation from enemies and freedom from tyranny and "idiocy like that guy." He ended his admonishment of the senator by acknowledging the "honorable Americans" who serve the country despite the sacrifices that come with doing so. "And those are the people that Tommy Tuberville is hurting every single day. It's disgusting," Scarborough concluded.

Watch below via MSNBC: