“President Trump was just chosen to be America’s head coach. He needs to be able to hire the assistant coaches he wants.”
WASHINGTON – Today,U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) spoke on the Senate floor about the need to confirm all of President Trump’s cabinet nominees, including Pete Hegseth, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., and Matt Gaetz. Senator Tuberville highlighted the mandate Senate Republicans received from the American people on November 5th and why it’s critical the Senate confirms President Trump’s cabinet picks to help deliver on his America First agenda.
Read Senator Tuberville’s remarks below or watch on YouTube or Rumble.
“Mr. President,
The historic comeback victory for President Donald J. Trump earlier this month was one for the ages.
His overwhelming victory sent a clear message to the Uni-Party here in Washington, D.C., mainstream media, globalists, and elites that Americans are fed up with the agenda that was crammed down their throats for the last four years. A majority of voters decided that the America First agenda championed by Donald Trump and JD Vance is the playbook for American greatness.
As a part of that playbook, President Trump has already put together a strong, very strong list of highly qualified nominees. At Defense, he’s tapped Pete Hegseth—a veteran who served two tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, is Ivy League educated, [with a business] background—that’s what we need in the Pentagon right now—to restore order in our finances. At HHS, he’s assigned Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has single-handedly brought attention to the many public health crises facing Americans. He’s Harvard educated, has authored multiple books, and has a four-decade career in public health and environmental law. And at Attorney General, he’s nominated Matt Gaetz, a qualified attorney who has served in Congress for nearly a decade. Matt Gaetz has been a warrior for the Constitution on the Judiciary Committee and has exposed the weaponization of the justice system at the DOJ.
Ask yourself: why are my Democratic colleagues, the media, and the establishment losing their minds over these highly qualified nominees? It’s because they dislike President Trump, the America First agenda, and the nearly 80 million Americans who voted to send him back to the White House. It’s obvious.
Panic has set in at the DOJ, the Intelligence Community, and the entire DC Swamp. They’re finding out—as Barack Obama said—that, ‘elections have consequences.’ Americans have spoken. Not only did President Trump win the electoral college in a landslide, he also is the first Republican in two decades to win the popular vote.
In addition to sending President Trump back to the White House, Americans delivered a mandate to every single Senate Republican: they want President Trump’s America First agenda, and they want it now. As a result, Senate Republicans should embrace this mandate [by] supporting every single one of President Trump’s cabinet picks.
You’d think this would be a no brainer. Not one Democrat broke from their party in supporting Joe Biden’s nominees in 2021. Not one. However, over the last few days, I’ve heard some of my Senate Republican colleagues express concerns about who President Trump is picking for his team. I would expect this from my colleagues on the Left, not on the Right.
What’s surprising to me is that I am hearing grumblings from Republicans. My advice to them is get on board or get out of the way.
The American people have enthusiastically trusted President Trump and JD Vance with saving our great Republic. I am calling on my Senate Republican colleagues to listen to both the American people and the constituents in their states and support President Trump’s vision for his cabinet.
Last time around, the Republican Senate took months to confirm President Trump’s appointments—if not years. As a result, President Trump had to govern with one hand tied behind his back because some of his cabinet members were never confirmed.
That’s completely unacceptable this time around. We need to help President Trump. We need to help him usher in a new Golden Age in America. Be a team player. It’s time to move the ball down the field.
You know, I spent many years as a head coach at several different football programs. Whenever an organization brings on a new coach, that coach brings in a whole new staff. It’s the head coach’s obligation to hire the personnel he needs to achieve his objectives for that certain program.
The old staff, by and large, usually gets fired. It’s not always fun, but that’s the reality. I had to do it several times. In the same way, President Trump was just chosen to be America’s head coach. He needs to be able to hire the assistant coaches he wants. In this case, it’s his cabinet and other important, high-level personnel picks.
President Trump has faced two assassination attempts, partisan lawfare from a corrupt administration, his first campaign being spied on by the Obama administration, and baseless lies from the corporate media who tried their best—tried their best—to keep him out of the White House. The last thing he needs is obstruction from Senate Republicans. He is a large part of why we just won back the Senate and [why] a lot of these people got re-elected.
76 million Americans decisively chose President Trump and his America First agenda. 76 million. This is a record for any Republican President in our nation’s history. Let that sink in.
This is not because of any of us. This is because of President Trump who is the most effective communicator and leader in modern history. It’s because he’s a successful businessman, not a career politician.
But now, elected Republicans are expressing frustrations with his cabinet picks. Who do Republican Senators think they represent? They are representing the voters in their states.
I remember when 20—that’s right, 20—Senate Republicans voted to confirm Merrick Garland for the top law enforcement spot four years ago for the Biden administration. That’s their prerogative. As Attorney General, Merrick Garland turned the DOJ into a weapon—a weapon—against President Donald Trump, Republicans, and law-abiding U.S. citizens. The perversion of law that Merrick Garland embraced at the DOJ makes third-world banana republics blush.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg who had no previous experience in the transportation sector, received 36 Republican—and I repeat, 36— Republican votes. His qualification for the job? ‘His personal love of transportation.’ Apparently liking trains as a kid makes you qualified to be in the cabinet.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who was in large part responsible for the blatant lies pushed in a letter written by 51 former intelligence officials right before the 2020 election, received 28 Republican votes in the Senate.
Secretary of Education Cardona received 14 Republican votes. Secretary Cardona supported mandatory COVID vaccines for schoolchildren of all ages. He doesn’t believe parents should have any say in their children’s education. [He believes] it’s up to the teachers. He has also directed his department to destroy —and I will repeat, destroy—Title IX and allow men to compete in women’s sports. In my opinion that is a total disgrace. And he had 14 Republicans that voted for him, here on this floor, to confirm him.
Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland, a Green New Deal and Medicare-for-All career politician, received several Republican Senators’ votes.
I could go on, and on, and on.
Many Senate Republicans had no issue voting to confirm these Democrat nominations. And that is their prerogative. Even though many were unqualified, radical, and in some cases, completely out of their minds. […] Yet, many Republicans have been quick to voice concerns about the ‘competency’ and ‘qualification’ of some of President Trump’s picks. It makes no sense.
I’ve heard concerns about nominees’ personal lives being a focus point.
Need I remind my colleagues of Rachel Levine, a transgender woman, who is the Assistant Secretary for Health at the Department of Health and Human Services. Multiple Republicans voted for [this person]. And that is their prerogative.
Or Tracy Stone-Manning, the Director at the Bureau of Land Management, who was literally a member of an eco-terrorist organization that spiked trees with metal rods to harm [lumberjacks] when they cut into trees with a chainsaw. She was confirmed.
Or Sam Brinton, a former Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Office of Nuclear Energy, who repeatedly stole women’s luggage at airports while traveling on the taxpayers’ dime. I didn’t hear a peep from Democrats or the mainstream media about these disastrous picks.
So, let me ask my colleagues this: If Democrats won the Senate, the House, and the White House, do you think a single Democrat would be going against Kamala Harris’ nominations? Absolutely not.
Senate Democrats would greenlight every single one of Kamala Harris’ cabinet picks without giving it a second thought. That’s their prerogative. Democrats get in line. That’s what they do. They did it for Biden’s and they would have done it for Harris’. And believe me, none of her Cabinet nominees or other high-level staff would be any more credentialed, qualified, or morally upright than President Biden’s picks.
To my Republican colleagues, remember that the media hates Donald Trump. I think we will all admit that. And [the media] will do anything to sink his nominees and stop his agenda. The media will do everything it can to keep America from getting back on track. The media doesn’t care when extreme leftists get important roles in a Democrat administration. They don’t care. The media doesn’t care when establishment figures from either political party get jobs. The media only whips into a frenzy when an America First candidate gets the nod. The media only pretends to care about qualifications, credentials, and character when their power is being threatened.
So, I encourage my Senate colleagues to listen to the media about as much as the American People did this election: not one bit.
The mainstream media has been completely discredited after this election. Treat them as such.
We need to trust that President Trump is picking the right people for the job. That is his job. We should defer to him on who he thinks is the best for each position. Of course we should review his nominations, as the Senate always does. That’s [our] job. But don’t forget that the American people gave us a mandate—gave us a mandate.
Don’t lose sight of the moment and critical situation that our country is presently in. The American people don’t want us infighting about nominees. We [have] a lot more to do than that. They want us focused instead on passing President Trump’s agenda.
If his nominees can’t do the job down the road, [we]—along with President Trump—[can address it then]. He will be addressing that; I promise you that. But until then, we need to support whoever President Trump wants on his team. Senate Republicans should be thanking President Trump for helping us take back the majority here on this floor in the Senate.
We have a country to save. No more playing games. I, for one, am playing for keeps. I encourage my colleagues to think the same way.
Every single one of President Trump’s cabinet nominees should be confirmed. No question. We must save the United States from total collapse at the hands of the globalist-socialist Democrats who have run our country into the ground for the last four years. I have personally witnessed it, right on this floor.
Mr. President, I yield the floor.”
Senator Tommy Tuberville represents Alabama in the United States Senate and is a member of the Senate Armed Services, Agriculture, Veterans’ Affairs, and HELP Committees.
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