Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees: Interview With Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL)
Interview
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Well, I was incredulous, and I checked to make sure that he actually said it and I cannot believe that he would think that White nationalists were not racist.
In fact, I think that it is an insult to all military men and women of all different backgrounds who wear the uniform of this great nation, and we should be focusing on supporting them and not defending White nationalists as he is doing.
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I can only take him at his word and he said that, you know, he didn't think that White nationalists were racist, when that's an actual dictionary definition. And frankly, that is a disservice to our men and women in uniform.
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I highly doubt it. I think he's been put under a lot of pressure. But still, for him to even say it in the first place is wrong. We should be focusing on our military men and women who are deployed all over the world right now protecting and defending this great nation and in harm's way.
And this just undermines our nation's national security in so many ways, and you know, he is injuring our military in more ways than one, not just with this remark.
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He is wrong and you could just -- not just take my word for it, but take the word of former secretaries of Defense, a bipartisan group have come forward and said that he is wrong. Military officers have come forward and said he is wrong.
For the first time in our nation's history and over -- for the first time in over a hundred years, the Marine Corps is not going to have a commandant of the Marine Corps because of this hold.
And by the way, it's not just about abortion, the Pentagon policy is if a service member needs to seek reproductive health care, because they're stationed in a state where they don't have access to it, they will reimburse them for their travel, not for the procedure, but for their travel.
So it could be like me, someone who had to leave to go get IVF, for example, and he is injecting his personal agenda into military readiness, and this problem is only going to get worse the longer he maintains this hold.
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He is also telling all the military officers, including those who are currently serving who have told him, this is hurting the military.
You know, when you have an acting commander at whatever level, that I think commander cannot issue certain orders, and at a time when we have troops who are in harm's way, defending and protecting our nation, to have commanders, the commandant -- not have a commandant of the Marine Corps, who can exercise his full duties as commandant is destructive to this nation's national security, and it all is laid at Senator Tuberville's feet.
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I don't know. You'll have to talk to Senator Tuberville. He has been offered all sorts of off ramps for this. He was offered a vote on Senator Ernst's bill, which is actually much more stringent and he rejected that.
He has been offered many other options by his own leadership, and he has rejected them all. You know, he is fundraising off of this. So, I suspect that there is more than just his own personal concerns for why he is taking this position.
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Well, you know what, I wish more of them would speak out. I know they've had many conversations with them. Now, listen, Republican Leader McConnell has spoken up and said that he does not support this. So I don't think that you can have a more influential Republican than the leader of their own caucus in the Senate, and yet he's rejected that.
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Thank you.
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