(Tribune News Service) — U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama said there should be no efforts to block different ideological groups, including white nationalists, from serving in the military and criticized President Joe Biden for taking steps to remove them even as concerns about extremism in the military dates back to the Trump administration.

Tuberville, a staunch supporter of the military and a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, made the comments in a Monday interview with WBHM, a National Public Radio station in Birmingham.

Asked if he believed white nationalists should be allowed to serve in the military, Tuberville said in referring to the Biden administration, “They call them that. I call them Americans.”

Tuberville also said in the interview that singling out any ideological group is detrimental to the military.

“We are losing in the military so fast,” Tuberville told WBHM. “Our readiness in terms of recruitment. And why? I’ll tell you why, because the Democrats are attacking our military, saying we need to get out the white extremists, the white nationalists, people that don’t believe in our agenda, as Joe Biden’s agenda. They’re destroying it. This year, we will not reach any recruiting goals in the military. So if we want to talk about looking weak, that’s where we’re going to look weak. We cannot start putting rules in there for one type, one group and make different factions in the military, because that is the most important institution in the United States of America, and our allies, is a strong, hard-nosed, killing machine, which is called our military.”

Tuberville’s office issued a statement Wednesday to AL.com to clarify the senator’s comments.

“Sen. Tuberville’s quote that is cited shows that he was being skeptical of the notion that there are white nationalists in the military, not that he believes they should be in the military,” the statement from a spokesperson said. “He believes the men and women in uniform are patriots. (Defense) Secretary (Lloyd) Austin seems to think otherwise, subjecting them to extremism training as his very first act in office. That cost us four million man hours.”

While Tuberville is skeptical that there are white nationalists in the military, it’s a concern that traces to the Trump administration. CQ Roll Call reported in February 2021 about a Pentagon report released in October 2020 that “paints a stark picture of white supremacist inroads in the U.S. military.”

The report also outlined steps the military was taking to remove them from the armed services and measures to keep them out. CQ Roll Call described the Pentagon report as saying extremism is a “threat” but to what degree was not clear but there were concerns about possible violence and endangered morale.

A defense department press release on Jan. 14, 2021 – a week after the insurgence at the U.S. Capitol attempting to stop the certification of the 2020 presidential election and in the final days of the Trump presidency – included the headline “No place in DOD for extremism, white supremacy, officials say.”

“We … are doing everything we can to eliminate extremism in the Department of Defense,” Gary Reed, the director for defense intelligence and counterintelligence, law enforcement and security, said in the press release. “DOD policy expressly prohibits military personnel from actively advocating supremacist, extremist or criminal gang doctrine, ideology or causes.”

Tuberville, in the interview, focused his criticism on Biden and Austin, the defense secretary.

“We, our military and Secretary Austin put out an order to stand down and all military across the country, saying we’re going to run out the white nationalists, people that don’t believe how we believe,” Tuberville said. “And that’s not how we do it in this country. We have got so much division up here (in Washington) that, not for the country. You know, this is not for any individual, this country. This country is for all of us. And we’re all the same. It doesn’t make any difference if you’re rich, poor, black, white. It doesn’t make any difference. Everybody’s an American, has opportunity to make this country better. We’ve made it 247 years. But I’m going to tell you what, we’re walking a tightrope right now, at how much longer this country is going to make it, as we all know it.”

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