Pentagon officials have been frustrated for months over an Alabama senator’s blockade of more than 300 senior military nominations. But after the Marine Corps chief was hospitalized over the weekend, that frustration is turning into rage.
Gen. Eric Smith had been filling both the No. 1 and No. 2 Marine Corps posts from July until he was finally confirmed as commandant in September. He, along with more than 300 other senior officers, was swept up in the promotions blockade put in place by GOP Sen. Tommy Tuberville in protest of the Pentagon’s abortion travel policy.
In an interview Wednesday, Tuberville brushed off the comments from the DOD officials.
“They’re looking for someone to blame it on, other than themselves,” he said. “We could have all these people confirmed if they’d have just gone by the Constitution.
“I don’t listen to these people,” he added. “They’re just looking for any possible way to get themselves out of a jam.”
Okay, so, first off, I want to remind everyone that Tuberville is a Christian Nationalist who believes that God sent Trump to save America. He objected to Biden's win in January 6th, and still says that Trump won.
With that in mind, no matter what happens with the military promotions, Tuberville will always be happy. Right now (and even if he eventually loses), he can claim that he's owning the libs. He likes that, and he'll ride that forever - in his mind, this is a good outcome and he's not going to stop. This is now his signature, defining issue.
Until the next Senate gets sworn in, there are three ways this can go. First off, the Senate caves and Tuberville gets to start pushing his religious ideology onto the US military - huge win for him!
But the other ways it can go (either everything remains blocked, or only a limited number make it past him) also have a less obvious win: he's holding up promotions. Which seems obvious, but keep in mind that this is the exact same bullshit McConnell did to Obama on federal judges - and that as soon as Trump took office, they took off the brakes and rammed the judges through as fast as they could.
That's exactly what's going to happen the next time the Republicans get control of the Senate - they're going to speed-promote every right-wing officer they see, and slow-walk anyone they're not sure of.
When the next insurrection comes - and you can be sure that it will - the military is going to have a proto-fascist core.
There is one other thing that could be done...but won't be.
Qui tacet consentire videtur ubi loqui debuit ac potuit. "He who is silent, when he ought to have spoken and was able to, is taken to agree."
If they simply decided to adopt a silence gives consent rule for the Senate's role of advice and consent for all appointments, they would no longer be able to obstruct by simply holding off on things. The senate could still deny consent by voting against a candidate and explicitly not confirming them, but doing nothing would automatically become consent and pass unopposed.
This is what Obama should have done with Merrick Garland, not to mention all those other federal judge appointments. Simply go 'okay, you're not voting on it, which means you're silent, which means you consent. All appointments approved!'
Edit: Although truthfully the idea that the Senate needs to confirm every military promotion is so insanely stupid that I can't understand how it's ever become the standard. The only reason Tuberville can do this is because these promotions are usually passed behind the scenes with unanimous consent - he can't actually block them...he can just make them be voted on. And yet, the volume of promotions means that simply voting on them would take up all of the Senate's time. The Senate really should only need to confirm the highest levels, not every single promotion in the entire military.
Jfc let me off this ride