Tommy Tuberville is the American statesman we need

We’ve turned the republic upside-down. The signs of health are taken as signs of illness, and the signs of illness are taken as signs of health. Consider Senator Tommy Tuberville’s refusal to allow approval of military appointments by unanimous consent.

But let’s start with a comparison before we get there.

In January, U.S. Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) needed 15 rounds of voting to be chosen as speaker of the House, negotiating with members of his caucus over the conditions he would need to establish in order to obtain their support. The process was blasted as an “attack on democracy” and “good government.”

To take a single representative example of allegedly mainstream rhetoric, the geniuses at Time magazine assured readers that, as their headline put it, “The McCarthy Holdouts Are Trolling Democracy.”

That same story said that the Republican representatives who hesitated to vote for McCarthy were being called “the Taliban 20.” They used their seats in a deliberative body to negotiate over the conditions of their choice of a leader, you see, which is terrorism. The Democratic caucus, meanwhile, was politically healthy: It voted in perfect lockstep for Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), without a single dissenter in a single round of voting.

We’re back to the argument about the choice of a speaker of the House back in January: If a deliberative body has to engage in deliberation, something has gone wrong.

So extended debate and negotiation, with frequent public voting by elected representatives, are an assault on democracy, while a perfect and invariable uniformity of choice is an example of healthy democratic processes. Debate and votes are an assault on democracy. Everyone holding up their hands and casting the same vote without dissent is healthy American politics. It’s “normalcy.”

By this standard, North Korea has the healthiest political system on earth. America is strongest when we are all perfectly uniform in our thoughts and behaviors and government runs automatically on untested and mostly unstated assumptions.

Better yet, Time, like so many others, cast the process by which McCarthy won the speakership as undemocratic and sick because it allowed "far-right elements" to have a say in the choice of a speaker. Again, what an interesting definition of healthy democratic process: If things were working properly, elected officials on the political right would have no voice.

So consider what Tuberville is doing. After the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the Department of Defense unilaterally established a process by which service members would be classified as non-deployable while they engage in taxpayer-funded travel to abortion-friendly states. (You can read that policy here.)

Now, at the risk of engaging in extremist rhetoric, Congress appropriates funds and regulates military forces. Tuberville has argued that the Pentagon, by unilaterally making rules for the regulation of the armed forces, has granted itself legislative powers. Here’s how a story from the Associated Press explains what he wants: “Tuberville says he won’t drop the holds until there is a vote on the Pentagon policy.”

That’s it. A United States senator wants Congress, which has the constitutional authority to make rules for the armed forces, to vote on a rule governing the armed forces. He wants normal constitutional order. This is what makes him a dangerous and frightening extremist. This is why #TubervilleIsATraitor has been trending on X (formerly Twitter).

If you’re paying attention, the headlines on Tuberville’s outrageous assault on the U.S. military have started to give away the truth of the game. Here’s one, again from the Associated Press: “Senate confirms three military officers as Sen. Tuberville holds up hundreds more.”

Isn’t it interesting that the Senate is able to confirm the appointments of three military officers while Tuberville “holds up hundreds more”? The reason those three were confirmed is that Tuberville isn’t blocking all military nominations from coming to the floor for a vote, and he can’t. He’s only preventing the nominations from being confirmed by unanimous consent, which means that Senate leadership can still bring the appointments forward for debate and a vote. They prefer not to. They prefer to exercise the Senate’s constitutional authority to provide advice and consent on nominations without debate and a floor vote.

They prefer automaticity, deference to executive authority, and an absence of debate.

We’re back to the argument about the choice of a speaker of the House back in January: If a deliberative body has to engage in deliberation, something has gone wrong. Debates and votes in the United States Senate are a sign of deep sickness, because significant military appointments are just supposed to fly through automatically. The Senate is only healthy if it does a bunch of its business by unanimous consent, uncontested and undebated.

The senior U.S. senator for Alabama is proceeding on a constitutionally normative course. The outraged reaction to his reasonable behavior is the actual sign of sickness, and the Republican senators joining in the performative outrage are on the wrong side. It isn’t a sign of pathology for senators to have to vote on things within the constitutional authority of the Senate, and the Pentagon’s abortion policy merits debate. None of that is extreme. All of it is well in-bounds, politically and institutionally, which is why other senators will complain for the cameras but not actually change the rules for unanimous consent.

Tuberville deserves support from the Republican grassroots for taking a stand. We could use a few more just like him.