Opinion by Hal Brown
This was a can’t miss story on HuffPost with it on top of the page this morning:
Excerpt:
Newly elected Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) told reporters Wednesday night, following the second day of the former president’s impeachment trial, that Trump had called for his help in delaying election certification the afternoon of the U.S. Capitol attack but he had told Trump that Pence had just been taken from the Senate and he couldn’t talk just then.
“He didn’t get a chance to say a whole lot because I said, ‘Mr. President, they just took the vice president out. I’ve got to go,’” Tuberville said.
According to video footage from that day, Pence was removed from the Senate at 2:14 p.m. after rioters had broken into the Capitol, meaning that when Trump lashed out at Pence at 2:24 p.m., he already knew Pence’s life was in danger.
“Mike Pence didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution,” Trump wrote in his tweet.
This was reported in Politico as follows:
The existence of the phone call had been previously reported, but the detail that Tuberville informed Trump his vice president was in danger is a new and potentially significant development for House prosecutors seeking Trump’s conviction: it occurred just around the time that Trump sent a tweet attacking Pence for not having “the courage” to unilaterally stop Joe Biden’s victory. And Trump never indicated publicly that he was aware of Pence’s plight, even hours after Tuberville says he told him.
It’s long been unclear precisely when Trump learned of the danger that Congress and his vice president faced — though it was broadcast all over live television — but Tuberville’s claim would mark a specific moment Trump was notified that Pence had to be evacuated for his own safety.
I thought that I’d made some assumptions, all of them negative, about this former college football coach who I assumed to be a stalwart Trump sycophant.
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“This world and our country has lost it,” the former Auburn University head football coach said. “Thank God, and I do thank God every day that we got Donald Trump elected two years ago. I could not imagine where we would be today had he not got elected …”
“And he has, I’m telling you now, he has got to win. All other elections are off, I mean he has got to win the next election,” he emphasized. “He’s got to get four more years.”
“Then of course, I want to go to the Senate to help him,” Tuberville added, explaining part of his motivation for running. “I’m not a politician, don’t want to be one. I’m an outsider like him (Trump). I’m a Christian conservative. I’m pro-life.”
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Tuberville returned several times to the theme that a belief in God is essential to fixing what he believes are the nation’s pressing problems. He received applause and an amen or two when he said he believes the Trump presidency was a gift from God.
“I want to help Donald Trump and you get this mess straightened out,” Tuberville said. “And I’m going to do that. But we’ve got to put Jesus and God before everything else. And if we don’t do that we’re going to be brought down to our knees again.”
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Most newly elected members of Congress don’t begin their terms as nationally well known either for their politics or other endeavors. Ironically, Trump is an exception. His fame came not from being a real estate figure but from his TV show “The Apprentice” who created the false image that got him elected as a savvy highly successful businessman. He became the fourth who I came up with myself but comments brought the number to nine nationally known entertainment or sports figure to win a major state or federal election. Omitting Tuberville can you name the rest of them?
Click HERE to see all them (so far).
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While I never heard of Tommy Tuberville until he became a senator I am sure that those who follow college football at least knew who he was and some of them would have been very familiar with his career.
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College football coaches, especially successful ones, are used to being in positions of power and influence. As coaches they are like the supreme commander of an army. On campus, while their star players come and go, as long as they are winning they are treated like deities. When it comes to decisions about how the university spends its money the winning head football coach is rarely overruled. Nationally they are usually better known than the president of their university.
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The winning head football coach, unlike a professional coach who answers to the team owners, serves at the pleasure of the board. Someone like Tommy Tuberville is probably not used to being a sycophant to anybody. When the winning coach meets with the college president who may have a lower salary to discuss issues where they may be at odds, you can bet that the president doesn’t feel overly confident in coming out the winner.
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My sense is that Tommy Tuberville does not bow down to mere mortals. His Christian beliefs seem deeply rooted. He may come to see Trump as having betrayed not only his sworn to God oath to the Constitution but Christian values too. If he sees him in the Biblical sense as a false god, a graven image, and an idol, he may open his mind to the arguments being made by the House managers as to Trump’s guilt. (Vice President Pence who has no vote could be struggling with the same realization.)
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It remains to be seen how Tommy Tuberville will vote once all the presentations are completed in the Senate trial. However, while before reading the news story today and looking at his Wikipedia page I assumed his would be a definite vote against conviction. Now I’m not so sure.
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Addendum:
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Take the poll.