The leaders of three branches of the U.S. military slammed Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) over his monthslong blockade of senior military promotions Tuesday, with one accusing the Republican senator of “aiding and abetting communists.”

“For someone who was born in a communist country, I would have never imagined that actually one of our own senators would actually be aiding and abetting communists and other autocratic regimes around the world,” Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro — a Cuban-born Navy veteran — said Tuesday during an interview on CNN alongside Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall and Army Secretary Christine Wormuth.

“This is having a real negative impact and will continue to have a real negative impact on our combat readiness,” Del Toro added.

  • raspberriesareyummy@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    83
    arrow-down
    11
    ·
    1 year ago

    And pray thee, which “communists” would that be? Because last I checked, Russia was an oligarchy and China a capitalist quasi dictatorship.

    • TheJims@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      53
      ·
      1 year ago

      He’s doing it for pro Russia American Facists or who we simply call Republicans these days.

      • raspberriesareyummy@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        9
        ·
        1 year ago

        He secretary of Navy (= saying “communists” for the ears of the pro Russia US facists) or Tuberville (= aiding and abetting Russia to make his electorate happy)?

        • AmberPrince@kbin.social
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          25
          ·
          1 year ago

          I think Del Toro said communists just so Republicans would care. Since they seem to believe communists are at your local food back, or teaching kids in schools.

      • CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        1 year ago

        And the far right call everything they don’t like either “woke” or “Communist” these days. It’s interesting how the hard right especially now loathe anything anti-fascist, too. There was a point where they did not say the quiet part out loud, now they do.

    • SCB@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      7
      arrow-down
      2
      ·
      1 year ago

      Delivering impactful messaging is a good thing, actually.

      Also he’s blocking appointments until the government penalizes abortions in the military btw.

        • SCB@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          8
          arrow-down
          3
          ·
          1 year ago

          Then that tells me you’re probably not a Republican voter which means this message isn’t for you as you already don’t support Tuberville’s unhinged crusade to ban abortions in the military.

          • Semi-Hemi-Demigod@kbin.social
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            3
            arrow-down
            9
            ·
            1 year ago

            I don’t think it will be impactful for them either because they have complete loyalty to the Republican Party above all else and think killing babies is wrong.

            • SCB@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              6
              arrow-down
              2
              ·
              edit-2
              1 year ago

              Primaries are how you win these fights, and they’re trying to paint Tuberville as bad for the military (because he is) to his own constitutents, who dislike killing babies and also dislike “communists” and the military being hurt.

              More to the point, the hope is clearly that the threat of this primary challenge will make him drop his blockade.

              The alternative is to do nothing and let one person’s personal vendetta fuck up our military.

    • CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      4
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      This, so much this. Communism, most especially the capital-C Communism the goofy Republicans rail against, are not really even a thing.

      • raspberriesareyummy@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        4
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        I suppose an imaginary enemy is much more convenient than a real one, where your populist statements might face a reality check.

        It’s very similar to how Republicans have this fetish with unborn children, yet conveniently forget to give a shit about children the moment they are born into a poor family.

    • yesman@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      9
      arrow-down
      10
      ·
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      I don’t think it’s helpful to gate-keep definitions. China says it’s a communist country, and that’s good enough for me. So goes Cuba, Best Korea, and Vietnam. Splitting hairs over the difference between Marxist-Leninist vs. Unitary one party Socialist State sounded cool and academic until I heard a libertarian claiming to be an anarcho-syndicalist and realized how ‘well, actually’ that shit sounds.

      People who look forward to an egalitarian economic and social order need to acknowledge the failures of real life socialism. Fuck the confederates, leftists are the real “lost causers”. I don’t know how to do socialism “right”. But I know we can’t get there by arguing semantics.

      • Redscare867@lemmy.ml
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        2
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        Modern communists do recognize the failures of attempts at socialism. They recognize that those failures directly lead to Deng Xioaping and his friends taking control of China and destroying the socialist state. Simply because China declares itself communist does not make it so. I could declare myself the king of England do I suddenly get the throne just because I’ve claimed it? China, much like the USSR before it must declare itself communist due to the popularity that Mao has in the country. Unfortunately socialism died in China shortly after Mao. The “why did socialism fail” is exactly what communists study so that they can understand the pitfalls and try to move past them in the future.

        This isn’t a case of gatekeeping. China has become exactly what it hated the Soviets for — social imperialists.

      • raspberriesareyummy@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        China says it’s a communist country,

        “China says”? You mean the one, and true voice of 1.3 billion Chinese people, that all agree with? Or even the majority?

        China is run by money like most of the rest of the world, therefore the system under the hood is capitalism. And since it’s a one-party system, it’s a de-facto dictatorship.