Tommy Tuberville has responded to State Rep. Arnold Mooney’s (R-Indian Springs) social media criticism of his weekend comments regarding veterans’ healthcare and President Donald Trump.
What has now turned into a Twitter feud started on Saturday at the Shoals Republican Club, when Yellowhammer News reported that Tuberville chastised the president for not doing enough to improve military veterans’ healthcare.
While the former Auburn University head football coach was passionate in his initial remarks, he immediately — and again in followup comments since then — also emphasized that Trump has not gotten the necessary amount of help from other federal elected officials on the issue and that the Obama administration handed him a broken system in the first place.
“I’m a Donald Trump guy, but there are things that he hasn’t done yet that we got to get done,” Tuberville said in the same speech he criticized the president. “And I think he’s had to fight every battle by himself. He can’t get to all of them because nobody is helping him. Nobody is standing up for him.”
However, some have pounced on Tuberville’s comments, honing in on the portion of his speech when he said, “22 vets every day – every day are committing suicide. We can’t take care of them. We won’t take care of them. We’re paying for illegals to come over here – everything they’re getting: cell phones, health care, everything they want. That’s Donald Trump’s fault. That’s his fault. He’s got to get it done.”
Critics of the comments include 2016 ‘Never Trumper’ Erick Erickson and Mooney, who – like Tuberville – is running in Alabama’s 2020 U.S. Senate race. Erickson has already endorsed Mooney.
Coach Tuberville is a good man, but he’s dead wrong about President Trump. Nobody loves our veterans more than Trump. Blaming Trump for veterans’ suicides is wrong. Coach Tuberville owes our President an apology. #alsen https://t.co/UjNgaXCtzj pic.twitter.com/I8n09SyP2A
— Arnold Mooney (@ArnoldforAL) August 5, 2019
Mooney’s first tweet led to a response from Tuberville on the same platform.
“Career politicians and Never Trumper’s like Arnie have nothing to run on so they attack others. My point is this: Donald Trump has done more for our Veterans and our military than any President we’ve ever had and he was dealt a big mess by Congress and Obama,” Tuberville tweeted.
“We’re never going to improve healthcare for our veterans if we recycle the same ole tired politicians. We can all do better. And we must!” he added.
Mooney then doubled down on calling for an apology.
Coach, this shouldn’t be this hard. Just admit you were wrong: you shouldn’t have blamed @RealDonaldTrump for 22 veteran suicides every day. The President’s MISSION ACT has done so much for our Vets. President Trump & our Vets are still waiting for you to apologize. #ALSEN https://t.co/qjS6FMLaYQ
— Arnold Mooney (@ArnoldforAL) August 5, 2019
Now, the state representative appears to be actively campaigning on his critique of Tuberville.
Sean Ross is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @sean_yhn
