Alabama Senator Won't Admit White Nationalists Are Racist Even Though They're, Uhh, White Nationalists

Everyone knows the term "white nationalist" refers to a group of people who inherently believe white people are superior to those of other races. Hell, it's in the dictionary; you can look it up.

Everyone knows that except a senator from Alabama named Tommy Tuberville, who despite being offered the chance to walk back earlier statements, continued to defend white nationalists and suggest they shouldn't be kept out of the military.

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The Wrap reports that on a recent episode of The Source on CNN, host Kaitlan Collins tried to get Tuberville to acknowledge those statements and to give him a chance to clarify what he meant on the radio show previously. Instead, Tuberville said that it's "some people's opinion" that white nationalists are racist and that they are still Americans. Tuberville says if those (racist) white nationalists happen to be racist, well he's "110 percent against that." Huh.

Collins did push back several times on Tuberville's confusing hot take, reminding him repeatedly that white nationalists, by definition, believe whites are superior. Tuberville suggested identity politics are to blame and that Democrats are trying to keep white out of the military, which Collins also argued against, saying it's not whites, it's white nationalists that are being discussed.

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Part of the impetus for the whole discussion was a Pentagon report earlier this year stating that white supremacists have got a foothold in the U.S. military. Tuberville has also been blocking military promotions in response to the Defense Department allowing access to abortion for service members and families despite the Supreme Court turning over Roe v. Wade. He's also against diversity initiatives in the armed forces, so maybe none of this should be very surprising.