Tommy Tuberville’s escalating attacks on Muslim Americans culminated last week in a demand for their mass deportation.
We’ve seen this from Alabama’s senior U.S. senator before.
Tuberville once said that Black Americans “do the crime.” He called most immigrants “garbage.” He compared residents of inner cities to rats.
The former Auburn coach has made it clear over his term in the U.S. Senate that he works for a very white, very Christian and very wealthy sliver of the population of Alabama — this is a man who recently called for federal aid for forest owners — while viewing the rest of us with contempt.
A contempt so profound that he would violently remove some Alabamians from their homes and communities for the way they worship God.
I know the tendency in this state to wave away the bile that comes out of our politicians’ mouths. Pretending it’s performative. Or even grimly funny. Maybe that’s a coping mechanism for living under a decidedly undemocratic government.
But no one should treat this as one of Tuberville’s many stupid, provocative statements with no follow-through. This man, running to lead 5 million Alabamians, considers large numbers of people who live here aliens or threats to public safety. If he is elected governor, he will have access to law enforcement resources and the ability to act on his paranoia.
Just the threat of that should give you pause.
It won’t matter if our already-compromised federal courts try to stop him. The damage done to innocent people — financial, psychological, maybe even physical — will have been done.
Tuberville is pursuing the standard online strategy of pretending his critics are overreacting. “Pearl-clutching,” as he tells it. If so, he can clear that up with a straightforward, unambiguous statement that he has a responsibility to serve all Alabamians. And that he will not prosecute the people who live in this state for their faith.
I’m not holding my breath. This is a man who took many months to issue a grudging acknowledgment that white nationalism is racism.
What does that say about us?
The first vote for Tuberville in 2020 didn’t pay Alabama any compliments. Here was a political neophyte who may not have lived in Alabama, who ducked all but the softest questions and interviews, and had no agenda beyond nodding vigorously at everything Donald Trump said.
But then, lots of Alabama Republicans in 2020 ran on a platform of “I am Trump as Trump is me and we are all together.” Perhaps — perhaps — one could have voted for him without anticipating what was in store.
That’s no longer the case. You know what this man is about.
And you know what he does with one of the most important jobs in the country. He chases clout with some of the most pathetic, obnoxious people around. He’s using the public trust to become an influencer.
As for his actual duties, he barely promotes infrastructure and has embraced trade policies that ruin business here. Tuberville’s apparent hatred of immigrants is a serious roadblock to what (so far) appear to be sincere efforts by Republicans in the state to boost Alabama’s low workforce participation rate.
But he’s the favorite. Because he will be at the top of a ballot most people won’t study past the “Democratic/Republican” box on the top.
Tuberville is counting on Alabamians not caring. He wants the voters of this state to check the box and tune out every promise he makes to terrorize your neighbors and waste law enforcement resources on right-wing hallucinations.
Many, many people who live here will embrace a man who wants to hurt the people who live here.
And they will do it claiming that they are upholding some vague set of values.
But deeply-held principles don’t put a person like Tommy Tuberville in a position of power. He gets to the top because of a deep cynicism about government and power.
Alabamians have good reason to feel their state government fails them. But all too often, that feeling curdles into a belief that government always fails. No matter where it is, what it does or who runs it.
It’s understandable. But if citizens believe politics can never deliver adequate schools, opportunity or health care, every vote becomes a protest vote. Every election becomes a search for blame.
That’s perfect for someone who has nothing to offer but targets. No plan, no hope, no way forward. Just a vent for pointless rage that leaves us worse than before. And wounding many innocent people in the process.
- Brian Lyman is the editor of Alabama Reflector. He has covered Alabama politics since 2006, and worked at the Montgomery Advertiser, the Press-Register and The Anniston Star. A 2024 Pulitzer finalist for Commentary, his work has also won awards from the Associated Press Managing Editors, the Alabama Press Association and Robert F. Kennedy Center for Human Rights. He lives in Auburn with his wife, Julie, and their three children.
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