U.S. Senator-elect Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) on Thursday sat down for a wide-ranging interview on FM Talk 106.5’s “Jeff Poor Show.”
The radio segment opened up with Tuberville lightheartedly talking about how, even when he takes the oath of office, he still wants to be referred to colloquially as “Coach.”
“‘Coach’ will always be my name. … There’s only one coach [out of] 100 U.S. Senators — and one ever in the lifetime of the Senate. So, I want to be called, ‘Coach.’ … I earned ‘Coach’ after dealing with all these knuckle-heads for years, I earned the right to be called, ‘Coach,’ and it was a great opportunity,” he said.
Host Jeff Poor emphasized that Tuberville has now earned being called “Senator-elect” and, soon, “Senator,” as well. Tuberville acknowledged that he will have to be called “Senator” in “formal situations.”
“A week ago, I was one out of 340 million people in this country, and now I’m one out of 100 that has an opportunity to make the life better for everybody in this country — all 340 million. It is an honor and a privilege to represent Alabama,” Tuberville affirmed.
He stressed the importance of Republicans maintaining the majority in the U.S. Senate; control of the chamber will come down to Georgia’s two runoffs to be held January 5. Tuberville advised he and U.S. Senator Richard Shelby (R-AL), along with the rest of the Senate GOP Caucus, will be helping U.S. Senators David Perdue (R-GA) and Kelly Loeffler (R-GA) raise money for those crucial races.
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“I will spend a lot of time over there in the next five weeks, campaigning and giving speeches from my perspective. Because people know me over there in Georgia,” Tuberville said.
“I’m telling you folks, if we don’t hold … the Senate, this is our last shot. Again, not giving up on President Trump, but … [the Senate composition] could be 50/50. We have got to hold the Senate, because we could block anything possible that they throw at us,” the former Auburn University head football coach noted.
Tuberville warned that a Democratic-controlled Senate would allow a Biden administration to raise the taxes of hardworking Americans and implement single-payer healthcare, among other far-left policies. The senator-elect also explained that a Democratic-controlled Senate would pack the Supreme Court of the United States and grant statehood to Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico.
“[I]f we were to happen to lose this Senate, we have lost our country as we know it,” he advised. “It’s over. … We will not have a Christian conservative majority ever again… If we lose the Senate, it’s going to be a different world.”
Tuberville subsequently outlined that his top immediate priority as a senator will be helping the country through the COVID-19 pandemic and related recovery. He praised the Trump administration for Operation Warp Speed, the unprecedented effort to support streamlined private sector development of effective coronavirus vaccines.
“We’ve got to protect the people,” Tuberville remarked, commenting on how tough the winter is expected to be when it comes to spiking COVID-19 numbers and the strain on the healthcare system.
“Hopefully we don’t shut the country down — we can’t. We can’t shut it down,” he added. “But we’re going to have to be very protective.”
Further pressing priorities for Tuberville in office will be workforce development, infrastructure, healthcare and Alabama’s manufacturing industry.
Poor then asked Tuberville about the Biden COVID-19 advisor who is championing a nationwide mandatory lockdown.
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“Well, when and if we elect Joe Biden when all this is said and done — hopefully it does not happen — we elected a socialist. He’s going to go socialism. The key to doing that is finding a way to really get people to understand how they can get the government more involved,” Tuberville lamented. “Well, this virus has helped get the government more involved in people’s lives of telling you what you can do, can’t do, church, work, going to school. They’ll do the same thing. Joe Biden can’t wait to get his hands on your money and give money back to everybody across this country at an even rate. They want to make sure that they’re going to distribute wealth. That’s what socialism is. You’re not going to have the freedom to really do what you want to do.”
Sean Ross is the editor of Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @sean_yhn
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