Things got heated between Republicans on the Senate floor Wednesday night. During a four-hour stretch, several GOP senators—led by Joni Ernst of Iowa and Dan Sullivan of Alaska—slung daggers at Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama for taking a hatchet to U.S. military readiness. Tuberville has single-handedly staged a months-long blockade of more than 370 promotions because he objects to the Pentagon policy of making abortion care accessible to troops who need it.
But Team Tuberville's efforts have extended beyond a policy fight into making electoral threats against GOP colleagues, according to new reporting from Politico's Burgess Everett.
Tuberville Communications Director Steven Stafford emailed anti-abortion groups requesting that they threaten his boss' GOP detractors—or "squishes" as he called them—with a primary from the right if they vote to bypass Tuberville's blockade. The specific effort to pass such a resolution would require at least nine Republicans to join with Democrats in order to end Tuberville's blockade.
“In my opinion it is imperative for all of the groups to make clear, in some words, that any Republican who votes for this will be primaried,” Stafford wrote from his Senate email account on Oct. 26. “In my view, if enough mushy middle Republicans come out in opposition, then this is over. But they only need nine squishes. And they will get there if we don’t act.”
Stafford was rather prickly about being caught gunning for primary fights against other Senate Republicans.
“That was a private email to a small group of people I thought were my friends, I was giving my personal opinion,” Stafford told Politico. "It is not the opinion of Coach [Tuberville], it was not on behalf of Coach. He was not aware of the email, and I have apologized to him for that.”
Yeah, that's a pretty bad look—a Tuberville guy trying to gin up primary challenges against Republicans who oppose him holding the country's national security hostage based on a personal ideological crusade. What goes around comes around.
But from a MAGA standpoint, it's par for the course. They have a terrorist mentality—as in, we'll just keep gouging out the moderate's eyeballs until they cave and we finally get "MAGA Mike Johnson” as speaker of the House.
That's exactly what Tuberville is doing. And it remains to be seen if nine Senate Republicans have the backbone to finally take him on.
For now, the blockade continues, despite GOP tempers flaring on the Senate floor. So does the harm to the U.S. military more broadly along with the individuals who swore an oath to protect the country. And the Republican civil war between MAGA and the party's supposed moderates that recently took center stage in the House has seeped into the Senate.
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But Team Tuberville's efforts have extended beyond a policy fight into making electoral threats against GOP colleagues, according to new reporting from Politico's Burgess Everett.
Tuberville Communications Director Steven Stafford emailed anti-abortion groups requesting that they threaten his boss' GOP detractors—or "squishes" as he called them—with a primary from the right if they vote to bypass Tuberville's blockade. The specific effort to pass such a resolution would require at least nine Republicans to join with Democrats in order to end Tuberville's blockade.
“In my opinion it is imperative for all of the groups to make clear, in some words, that any Republican who votes for this will be primaried,” Stafford wrote from his Senate email account on Oct. 26. “In my view, if enough mushy middle Republicans come out in opposition, then this is over. But they only need nine squishes. And they will get there if we don’t act.”
Stafford was rather prickly about being caught gunning for primary fights against other Senate Republicans.
“That was a private email to a small group of people I thought were my friends, I was giving my personal opinion,” Stafford told Politico. "It is not the opinion of Coach [Tuberville], it was not on behalf of Coach. He was not aware of the email, and I have apologized to him for that.”
Yeah, that's a pretty bad look—a Tuberville guy trying to gin up primary challenges against Republicans who oppose him holding the country's national security hostage based on a personal ideological crusade. What goes around comes around.
But from a MAGA standpoint, it's par for the course. They have a terrorist mentality—as in, we'll just keep gouging out the moderate's eyeballs until they cave and we finally get "MAGA Mike Johnson” as speaker of the House.
That's exactly what Tuberville is doing. And it remains to be seen if nine Senate Republicans have the backbone to finally take him on.
For now, the blockade continues, despite GOP tempers flaring on the Senate floor. So does the harm to the U.S. military more broadly along with the individuals who swore an oath to protect the country. And the Republican civil war between MAGA and the party's supposed moderates that recently took center stage in the House has seeped into the Senate.
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