MSNBC guest Eddie S. Glaude Jr. riffed on Nicolle Wallace’s takedown of Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) on Tuesday, drawing cackles from the host. (Watch the video below.)
Tuberville has invited scorn for blocking military promotions in the Senate while at the same time reinforcing his support for white nationalists.
On “Deadline: White House” Wallace accused Tuberville of single-handedly “impeding and harming U.S. military readiness.”
“We can’t decide if he’s more stupid or more racist,” she said in a clip posted by Twitter user @acyn. “And it’s almost comical and farcical, but he is today the most powerful Republican in the Senate.”
“So let’s just stipulate he’s a stupid racist,” said Glaude, an African-American studies professor at Princeton University.
“And you’re absolutely right in this regard,” he added as Wallace laughed.
Tuberville has ignited a firestorm of controversy lately.
He has held up military promotions in protest of a Pentagon policy providing paid leave and travel costs for service members who get an abortion in another state. Tuberville’s action has frozen the appointment for Marine Corps commandant, leaving the corps without a confirmed leader for the first time in 164 years.
Tuberville has also doubled down on his advocacy of white nationalists serving in the military.
On Monday he said it was “some people’s opinion” that white nationalists are racist.
“My opinion of a white nationalist … to me, is an American,” Tuberville said on CNN. Tuberville’s remarks have drawn condemnation from Democrats and some Republicans.
Later Tuesday, after engaging in back-and-forths with reporters about the subject, he conceded that “white nationalists are racists,” but refused to apologize for his earlier comments.