Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) said Monday the racism of white nationalists is a matter of “opinion,” doubling down on his previous remarks describing those who espouse white supremacy as “Americans.”
In an interview with CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, Tuberville was asked to clarify his prior comments on whether white nationalists should be barred from serving in the U.S. military.
“If people think that a white nationalist is a racist, I agree with that,” he said.
Collins interrupted the senator’s response, noting that a white nationalist is “someone who believes that the white race is superior to other races.”
“Well, that’s some people’s opinion,” Tuberville responded.
“My opinion of a white nationalist, if somebody wants to call them a white nationalist, to me, is an American,” he continued. “It’s an American. Now, if that white nationalist is a racist, I’m totally against anything that they want to do because I am 110 percent against racism.”
Tuberville also suggested the term white nationalist is “just the name that it’s been given” and includes people who have “a few probably different beliefs.”
When Collins noted that “a white nationalist is racist,” the Alabama Republican said once again, “Well, that’s your opinion.”
The senator doubled down on his remarks Tuesday.
“Listen, I’m totally against racism,” he told reporters. “And if the Democrats want to say that white nationalists are racist, I’m totally against that too.”
Tuberville faced backlash earlier this year for similarly describing white nationalists as “Americans,” when asked whether they should be permitted to serve in the military.
“Well, they call them that,” Tuberville told a local NPR station in Alabama in May. “I call them Americans.”
He also claimed the U.S. is “losing in the military” in terms of recruitment “because the Democrats are attacking our military, saying we need to get out the white extremists, the white nationalists, people that don’t believe in our agenda, as Joe Biden’s agenda.”
However, his office later clarified that the senator was “being skeptical of the notion that there are white nationalists in the military, not that he believes they should be in the military.”
Updated at 12:23 p.m.