The leaders of three branches of the U.S. military slammed Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) over his monthslong blockade of senior military promotions Tuesday, with one accusing the Republican senator of “aiding and abetting communists.”

“For someone who was born in a communist country, I would have never imagined that actually one of our own senators would actually be aiding and abetting communists and other autocratic regimes around the world,” Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro — a Cuban-born Navy veteran — said Tuesday during an interview on CNN alongside Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall and Army Secretary Christine Wormuth.

“This is having a real negative impact and will continue to have a real negative impact on our combat readiness,” Del Toro added.

  • varoth@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Lmfao…Tuberville helping communists? Dude is as right wing as they come. Communism is left. He’s very much anti-communist. God I’m so sick of how this country has bastardized the word so much that they call literally everything they don’t like communist.

    Traffic bad? It’s communist! Woke up sick? Communist! Kids giving you problems? Communist! Store was sold out of your favorite thing? Communist! Dog barked too loud? Communist! Bird crapped on your car? Communist! Burnt your toast? Communist!

    Where does it fucking end? Please use a different fucking word, holy hell.

    • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      And yet, his blockade is a big help to China. Plus, this is hitting him where it hurts. Do you think the people who vote for him want to vote for a “communist?”

      • ThwaitesAwaits@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        You could ponder it for years and that won’t make it true. There are several different ways that this is reducing the militarys readiness, but ‘spreading communism’ isn’t one of them.

        When politicians chooses to use lazy cold war fear mongering when real legitimate reasons exist they only make themselves look bad.

        • Thrillhouse@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          They didn’t say spreading communism though.

          They said aiding and abetting communist and autocratic regimes, which is very different.

    • orclev@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Dude is as right wing as they come. Communism is left. He’s very much anti-communist.

      While I agree with everything else you’ve said this bit kind of undermines your point. Left/Right particularly with regards to the US is almost irrelevant. The terms liberal and conservative are probably more useful/relevant although increasingly you could just say fascist/non-fascist as well unfortunately. Use of Left/Right to refer to Democrats and Republicans is really just historical shorthand at this point, particularly since Democrats are only Left relative to Republicans.

      Furthermore the whole thing is stupid because there really aren’t any communists (as the term is meant when used by these people) left for the most part. Only one I can think of off the top of my head is North Korea. There’s also the fact that it has always bothered me that Communist as it’s typically used very much combines two different concepts/systems into one, that is economics and government policy/decision making. It’s like arguing that Britain is a Feudalist society just because they have a monarchy (although that’s not a great example since the monarchy is pretty damn vestigial at this point). Similarly it bothers me that people will use Capitalist as some kind of shorthand for Democratic as if Capitalism is a requirement of Democracy and vice versa.

    • Buelldozer@lemmy.today
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      1 year ago

      Lmfao…Tuberville helping communists?

      There’s a strong argument to be made that his actions are doing exactly that. He passed the point where any reasonable person would have allowed the Military to perform the necessary promotions so they can get on with their Constitutionally assigned function.

      THIS asshole though needs to prove a political point so damn bad that he’s hamstringing the readiness of our forces over it. Republicans need to find a way to deal with him.

    • RaineV1@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      I don’t think he’s saying it because he believes this senator is actually helping communists. Rather it’s just a way to put political pressure on him. It’s the military branding him as someone weakening America and helping its enemies to his voters, and telling other Republicans that that is how they’ll also be viewed.

    • SCB@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Leftists would shoot themselves in the face just to make a semantic point lol

      There is no way that the military putting pressure on Tuberville from the right is a bad move for you - take the fucking W where you find it.

      • themeatbridge@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        I don’t completely disagree with you, but I’m not really a communist so it feels disingenuous to tell communists they should not object to being demonized. I am an atheist (functionally, but not really, and the difference is not relevant), and I know how it feels when atheists and satanists are used as a political bogeyman by the right wing. It’s frustrating when someone you want to agree with is attacking someone you don’t agree with by saying that person is like you.

        Communists don’t want to be associated with Tuberville, and I can’t blame them for that.

    • BruceCampbellschin@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      What’s with all the down votes? Regardless of this situation even, I’m confident a good amount of people in the US still have no clue what communism really is… or fascism, Marxism, banana republic, etc. I was constantly told in my childhood to watch out for communists, long before I was old enough to understand. The indoctrination continues.

      • APassenger@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        “Communism” is a leftover, inaccurate descriptor to say “Russia, China and North Korea.” While inaccurate, the shorthand still works.

        And Russia is being an aggressor. So… if we accept the inaccuracy so the General can get a better soundbite, he’s got a point.

        Then the caught-on-an-inaccuracy-but-losing-the-big-picture response… that caught downvotes. Because it lost the bigger picture.

        Or would rather Russia win, as later responses may have implied.

      • varoth@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Good question. Probably bootlickers who have been propagandized their entire lives. China is far more capitalist than communist IMO. It’s kind of a blend these days. They also think places like China & Russia are the enemy whe in reality our own government is the enemy and have progressively made things worse and worse for the poor and working class for decades.

    • GiddyGap
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      1 year ago

      You can aid communists unintentionally without being one. By his actions, Tuberville is aiding communist ragimes.

      Traffic bad? It’s communist! Woke up sick? Communist! Kids giving you problems? Communist! Store was sold out of your favorite thing? Communist! Dog barked too loud? Communist! Bird crapped on your car? Communist! Burnt your toast? Communist!

      You’re right about that. It has become the conservative mantra. Everything they dislike is “communist” or “socialist.” Sometimes they throw a “radical” in there. The words have lost all meaning.