I don’t know about you, but I am sick of Republicans always buckling to the absurd demands of the Left.

Every time there is a budget dispute and talks go down to the wire the MSM tells us that it is the Republicans’ fault–as if the default should always be that the Democrats get their way.

A government “shutdown?” It’s because Republicans didn’t cave.

A debt ceiling showdown? Republicans should just let Democrats get their way or the world will end.

EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. The Democrats make ridiculous demands and Republicans are expected to cave in order to avoid disaster.

The current cause du jour the MSM and the Democrats are claiming Republicans are being “extremist” about is the new Pentagon policy that pays for female servicemembers to travel to states that have permissive abortion laws from states that are more restrictive. The policy makes the taxpayer the travel agent and paymaster for women seeking elective abortions, and that is a radical shift in policy that the Biden Administration is taking without Congressional approval.

Senator Tommy Tuberville has decided to fight it and has chosen a very senatorial way to do so: refuse to vote yes on a unanimous consent request.

Unanimous consent is a mechanism through which the Senate can get around the normal rules of the Senate to approve an uncontroversial measure. No need for debate or votes. Everybody simply agrees to something. Lots of things are done through unanimous consent in order to get the little stuff out of the way.

Normally senior military appointments are passed through the Senate using unanimous consent. Officer appointments legally go through the Senate, but as they are rarely controversial or even very political nobody pays much attention–and given how ridiculous some of these appointments are that is likely a mistake. Look at how awful some of these guys are.

By refusing to give his consent Tuberville is not actually preventing the appointments–the Senate leadership, who are Democrats, can actually bring the appointments up for a vote as with anything else, they simply have chosen not to. Instead, they are making the case that Tuberville is undermining military readiness by refusing to allow these appointments to be made without scrutiny or a vote.

They want “unanimous consent,” not a normal vote. Tuberville says it’s not unanimous. That is how democracy works.

Pentagon launches media blitz to combat Tuberville blockade https://t.co/orpwaMkgGr

— POLITICO (@politico) September 6, 2023

Pentagon leaders have launched a new, more aggressive campaign this week to pressure Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville into finally releasing a nine-month hold on senior military nominations they say is harming national security.

The Defense Department dispatched the civilian leaders of three branches of the U.S. military to slam the senator for the blockade, first in a WashingtonPost op-ed on Monday and then during a CNN interview on Tuesday. On Wednesday, DOD took the rare step of putting out a news story highlighting the hold’s impact on its official media webpage. Also this week, the Pentagon released a slate of new senior nominations, including for the Air Force vice chief of staff.

During the CNN interview, Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro — a Cuban-born Navy veteran — went so far as to accuse Tuberville 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,” said Del Toro, speaking alongside Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall and Army Secretary Christine Wormuth on CNN.

Senator Tuberbille is aiding and abetting communists? Really?

My holds are not affecting national security, no matter what national pundits are saying.@SecAFOfficial, @SECNAV, and @SecArmy would rather attack me in a newspaper than have an actual conversation.

Just another example of woke propaganda. pic.twitter.com/ty5ug481iW

— Coach Tommy Tuberville (@SenTuberville) September 6, 2023

Let’s consider that argument for a moment. Let’s assume, wrongly, that no appointments could be made without Tuberville lifting his “hold.” Then what? Communists win?

Or, maybe, we go back to the status quo ante–Biden rescinds his radical policy shift that violates a longstanding agreement between Republicans and Democrats to avoid using federal funding for abortion? Going back to the 80s there has been an agreement that was codified as the “Hyde Amendment” after Congressman Henry Hyde, which prohibited the use of federal funds for abortions except to save the life of the mother.

Joe Biden opposes the Hyde Amendment, but it is still law. Arguably paying for travel, and not the abortion, doesn’t violate the Amendment, but Tuberville’s argument clearly has merit. The Pentagon is spending money specifically for the purpose of a person getting an elective abortion.

It is this CHANGE in the Pentagon’s policy that is completely at the discretion of the Biden Administration that has caused this controversy, and if Biden and his cronies think it is harming national security to not get their appointments through the Senate he could rescind it today.

In other words, Tuberville is simply saying “I don’t consent” to this radical change in policy. If Biden wants it to become law, then he should ask Congress for the power to do so. Barring that this is a battle of wills. Why Tuberville and not Biden should give in is beyond me. Biden is holding these appointments hostage as much as Tuberville, and arguably more since he is the one demanding a radical change to a policy that is over 40 years old.

Congressional Democrats at the same time ramped up their criticism of Tuberville’s hold and implored his fellow Republicans to step in, an approach that has so far come up empty.

“Basically, what Tuberville and others are saying is they don’t believe in democracy,” House Armed Services ranking member Adam Smith (D-Wash.) said at the Defense News Conference.

“If you don’t like the travel policy … get someone elected who will change that policy,” Smith said. “Don’t stop the ability of the Department of Defense to do its job.”

Senate Armed Services Chair Jack Reed (D-R.I.) charged that Tuberville is “flirting with disaster” through the vacancies on the Joint Chiefs resulting from the hold.

In a floor speech condemning Tuberville on Wednesday, Reed estimated that nearly 90 percent of the 852 general and flag officers stand to be impacted by the blockade. An estimated 650 nominees will require Senate confirmation this year. Reed added that a further 110 officers will need to do two jobs or take on a temporary assignment because of the blockade.

“He has achieved what America’s enemies could only dream of: instability in the ranks of our military leadership,” Reed said.

Adam Smith’s argument is an encapsulation of how bizarre this argument is. After all, it boils down to this: an elected representative should drop his demand for an actual vote on an appointment as specified by Senate procedure. Unanimous consent may be a traditional way to do these things, but a vote would actually be the normal order of things. NPR has an explainer here.

Majority Leader Schumer, when asked if he’d hold a vote on joint chiefs nominees amid Sen. Tuberville’s (R-AL) blockade of military promotions:

“It's up to [Republicans] to solve it … We’re not going to shift the burden to Democrats when this is a Republican-caused problem.” pic.twitter.com/ZKYRCayO6G

— The Recount (@therecount) September 6, 2023

This is how things work in Washington: Tuberville is demanding a debate and an actual democratic vote on a radical change in policy, and everybody else in Washington screams ‘THAT IS NOW HOW WE DO THINGS YOU FASCIST!”

If this really is a matter of national security, Chuck Schumer could bring the officers up for a vote, or Biden could change the policy back to what it has been for decades. Instead, Schumer calls holding a vote a “burden” to the Democrats.

Instead, they want to have their cake and eat it too. They get to be the radicals while making it seem like Tuberville is a communist. And the MSM pushes the narrative.

Tuberville is right. They are wrong. Thank God somebody has the guts to stand up for principle.