It is not often that I write critically of a Republican United States senator. But that happened in February 2023, when Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville placed a hold on military promotions to protest a Department of Defense policy that covered travel expenses for service members seeking reproductive healthcare across state lines. Tuberville’s hold ultimately delayed the promotions of more than 400 senior military officers, many of whom were colonels or Navy captains awaiting promotion to general or flag rank, for roughly 10 months.
The “Tuberville Blockade” upended the lives and careers of hundreds of Army, Air Force and Marine Corps colonels and Navy captains by seriously disrupting carefully planned career paths and assignments. It also disrupted the carefully constructed career paths of the generals and admirals who were sidelined by the ill-considered embargo.
Career military officers ought never again to be held hostage for political goals. Sen. Tuberville eventually relented after months of mounting pressure from senators in both parties. He lifted his blanket “hold” after long meetings with his Senate colleagues, who emphasized to him that he was damaging the careers of people who had provided exemplary service over decades.Â
Sen. Tuberville is almost certainly going to be the next governor of Alabama, and hopefully he will be a better governor for having learned from his mistake. But the precedent he set in 2023 should alert everyone to why a radical leftist like Michigans Abdul El-Sayed ought never to hold the office of United States senator.
El-Sayed is a sworn enemy of the State of Israel, and I fear that it is very unlikely that he will be a supporter of the American military. El-Sayed has also repeatedly appeared with controversial left-wing streamer Hasan Piker, including at campaign rallies. His staunch allegiance to Piker telegraphs exactly what he could do if he beats Republican Mike Rogers in the fall: wreak havoc on our military and Israels defenses. El-Sayed has already called for a complete embargo on weapons sales to Israel â even defensive weapons.
El-Sayed supports “the immediate and comprehensive enforcement of U.S. laws that condition the provision of military aid and sales.” He argues this means “an immediate arms embargo on Israel,” and El-Sayed specifically rejects the distinction between offensive and defensive weapons, meaning his position includes weapons such as Iron Dome interceptors, not merely offensive bombs and missiles.
This stance places him among the most outspoken Senate candidates opposing U.S. military support for Israel. As a true hater of Israel, would El-Sayed dust off the Tuberville playbook to try to bring aid to Israel to an end? There is no reason voters should assume he would hesitate to do so. Â Theres a precedent, and it is easy to hear a Sen. El-Sayed arguing that he is just deploying the same tactic that a Republican senator used.
The question for Michigan voters is not whether one senator could single-handedly shut off every American weapon or dollar flowing to
