Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R) blocking unanimous Senate confirmation of about 300 generals promoted by President Joe Biden is warranted given their woke backgrounds, conservative groups say.
The groups, including the American Accountability Foundation and Citizens for Renewing America, are looking at the officers’ backgrounds and highlighting statements they have made touting their support for embedding Critical Race Theory and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) throughout the military.
“Military officers are fully bought into massive policy and culture changes without understanding the ideological impacts and agendas at play because they are labeled with nice sounding politically correct terms… or they know full well what is going on. Either way, they aren’t fit for command,” Wade Miller, executive director of the American Accountability Foundation and a Marine veteran, said on X.
One of the generals whose promotion is awaiting Senate confirmation is Air Force Col. Benjamin Jonsson, who is the vice superintendent of the Air Force Academy and whom Biden has nominated for promotion to brigadier general. In 2020, he published an article in the Air Force Times titled “Dear white colonel … we must address our blind spots around race.”
In the article, he argued:
As white colonels, you and I are the biggest barriers to change if we do not personally address racial injustice in our Air Force. Defensiveness is a predictable response by white people to any discussion of racial injustice. White colonels are no exception. We are largely blind to institutional racism, and we take offense to any suggestion that our system advantaged us at the expense of others.
Under Jonsson’s leadership, the Air Force Academy has told cadets not to use words implying gender, including “mom” and “dad.”
Another general whose promotion is awaiting Senate confirmation is Air Force Brig. Gen. Scott A. Cain, who recently assumed command of the Air Force Research Laboratory.
After George Floyd’s death, he sent a “unity message” to commanders at Eglin Air Force Base, calling on them to discuss building “a culture of inclusiveness to be a stronger force.” He also called the creation of a DEI office at the base his “most long-standing and significant accomplishment.”
Navy Rear Adm. Shoshana Chatfield, who is nominated for promotion to vice admiral for assignment as U.S. Military Representative to the NATO Military Committee in Brussels, Belgium, gave a speech in 2015 where she called Congress “unequal” because “about 80 percent of the legislators are men,” which she said “means that mostly issues that are important to men go forward to become bills and laws.”
Air Force Col. Corey A. Simmons, who is nominated for promotion to brigadier general, oversaw the creation of a “diversity and inclusion task force” at Vance Air Force Base, which paired students from “marginalized groups” together since “everyone should be able to look across the table and see someone that looks like them.”
RELATED: Exclusive — Sen. Tommy Tuberville Responds to Biden Criticism: “He Can Call Me All the Names He Wants”
William Thibeau, director of The American Military Project and an Army Ranger veteran, said in an X post, “These officers are not ‘following orders’ by cutting pride flag cakes and mandating DEI. These officers preach the approved progressive ideology infecting the military. We don’t have to accept their promotion as an inevitability.”
Tuberville initially put a hold on confirmation of their promotions in the Senate as leverage on the Biden administration to rescind its new abortion policy, which forces American taxpayers to pay for the cost of travel for troops or their family members seeking abortions if they are based in a state where they cannot get one.
RELATED: White House Calls Abortions in Military a “Sacred Obligation”
He and other Republicans argue that the policy is a violation of the Hyde Amendment, which prohibits federal dollars from paying for abortions except in the case of rape, incest, or if the mother’s life is at risk.
However, now, Tuberville told Breitbart News in an exclusive statement that the hold has given him more time to look at the generals’ backgrounds:
I warned the Pentagon that I would hold their most senior nominees if they broke the law. They did it anyway, and forced my hand. Since then, Chuck Schumer and the Biden Administration have refused any serious negotiations, and so this situation has dragged on.
This has given me more time to look more closely into the background of some of these nominees, and I have deep concerns about some of them. I will continue this process of oversight and I will announce my opposition to specific nominees in the weeks ahead.
On Tuesday, he shared on social media a thread by the American Accountability Foundation that highlighted some of the nominees’ backgrounds.
“The Biden Administration’s liberal and woke policies are the real threat to military readiness,” he said. “I’m trying to keep politics out of the military.”
The Biden administration has tried to ramp up public pressure on Tuberville and has enlisted top military leaders to weigh in on the topic.
The White House on Wednesday morning emailed out a Politico story accusing Tuberville’s hold of affecting military spouses and families.
“A new report is detailing the damaging and cascading impact that Senator Tommy Tuberville’s military holds are having on military spouses and families. Senator Tuberville has blocked more than 300 military appointments threatening our national security and military readiness, and adding unnecessary disruption for military spouses and families, affecting not only those awaiting promotion, but also those down the chain of command,” the White House claimed.
On Thursday, Deputy Press Secretary Sabrina Singh told Breitbart News in a statement:
Today over a dozen of our general and flag officers were personally attacked online. From combat pilots, to commanders of naval forces, to those with multiple tours in Afghanistan and Iraq, these officers have served on the front lines defending our nation and protecting American freedom and liberties. These public servants took an oath to defend the Constitution and risk their lives, and they are an intricate part of what makes the United States military the most lethal fighting force in the history of the world. They deserve better than to be personally attacked and should be promptly confirmed. The ongoing failure to confirm our qualified senior uniformed leaders undermines our nation’s military readiness, threatens the retention of some of our very best officers, and disrupts the lives of our military families who give so much to this country. These holds and attacks must end.
RELATED — White House: Tuberville Hold Is Hurting Military, and We Won’t Try to Find Compromise to End It
Often glossed over in official statements and media accounts, however, is how the Senate can still confirm the nominees — just by a regular order vote on each nominee versus all at once by unanimous consent. Each nominee would take two hours to confirm, but Democrats, who control the Senate, have refused to do this even for some of the nominees out of concern it would set a precedent. With more than 300 nominees, it would take over 600 hours, or about 50 working days, to confirm all of them by regular order.
Despite the pressure from the White House, conservatives in the House and Senate are supporting Tuberville.
Some senators, such as Sens. Mike Lee (R-UT), JD Vance (R-OH), and Roger Marshall (R-KS) and members of the House Freedom Caucus, including Reps. Andy Biggs (AZ), Eli Craine (AZ), Anna Paulina Luna (FL), and Matt Gaetz (FL), have come to the Senate chamber to show support for Tuberville, as Democrats have sought to end Tuberville’s blockade.
Earlier this week, Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) asked why only four Republican members voted against a defense bill that allowed for the Biden administration’s abortion policy to continue.
“America deserves a mission-focused military!” he posted.
This story was updated with a statement from Pentagon Deputy Press Secretary Sabrina Singh.
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