Tuberville Sticking With Trump He Doesnt Have To Learn The Ropes

Alabama Republican Senator Tommy Tuberville is sticking with former President Donald Trump in 2024, despite recent calls from some within the GOP for the political party to nominate a different candidate.

“You know what you’re getting with President Trump,” said Tuberville, speaking to AL.com from Washington, D.C. on Tuesday. “He doesn’t have to learn the ropes. He knows the ropes. He won’t be running again (in 2028). I like someone who will come in and say, ‘Listen, I don’t care. I will do what’s good for America.’”

Tuberville, a Trump ally stemming from the 2020 campaign, said he does not know Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is among the likely frontrunners for the GOP nomination if he decides to run for the presidency. Trump is expected to announce his presidential candidacy at 8 p.m. from his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.

“I know everyone likes Ron DeSantis, but I don’t know him,” Tuberville said. “He’s running on the same platform as President Trump. The same things.”

Tuberville’s comments come as former Trump supporters, including retiring U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks, R-Huntsville, are voicing concerns about the ex-president’s likely 2024 candidacy.

Brooks, late last week, told AL.com it would be a “bad mistake” for Republicans to have Trump as their nominee in 2024. Brooks also called Trump “dishonest, disloyal, incompetent, crude” and that he alienates “so many independents and Republicans.”

The criticism directed at the ex-president comes after a disappointing midterm election in which the Democrats retained their Senate majority. The House is expected to flip to a Republican majority, albeit a smaller one than what was anticipated ahead of this month’s general election.

Some of the blame for the Republican’s disappointing showing has been directed at Trump, and for the underperformance of the candidates he supported.

Also joining the Trump criticism in recent days is his former Vice President Mike Pence, who is eyeing a 2024 run. Pence called Trump “reckless” for suggesting he block President Joe Biden’s Electoral College count on January 6, 2021.

There are other signs of Republican discontent. The New York Post, owned by conservative media heavyweight Rupert Murdoch – a longtime ally of Trump – mocked the ex-president on its cover last week, calling him “Trumpty Dumpty,” The Murdoch-owned Wall Street Journal’s editorial board called Trump the election’s “biggest loser,” and suggested the country would be best served if Trump ceded the field to the “next generation” of candidates.

Tuberville said he recognizes “a lot of people don’t like” the former president “because of his ego” and that he talks “all the time.” But the senator also said those traits are the reason Trump got elected in 2016.

“He got elected doing that,” said Tuberville.

The senator added, “A lot of people look at personality. I don’t look at personality. I know President Trump. Had dinner with him a few weeks ago. (As a) Republican, I see what’s going on. We don’t have really control in our country with open borders and crime and those things.”

He added, “I’m looking for stability. I’m looking for someone who will make real, real hard decisions.”

Tuberville acknowledged that some recent polling shows DeSantis, who won re-election to governor by a landslide last week, as improving in hypothetical head-to-head contests. A Politico-Morning Consult poll, released Tuesday, shows DeSantis – while trailing Trump 47 percent-33 percent among Republicans and Republican independents – improving his standing against the former president by 7 percentage points.

“I think they will be the two guys who will go after it,” Tuberville said about the GOP presidential primary. “I don’t have a problem with either of them. But I like President Trump for the simple fact that he knows what he has to do.”

Tuberville and Trump have been allies since the former Auburn University head football coach ran for the Senate and defeated Democratic incumbent Senator Doug Jones in 2020.

MINDEN, NEVADA – OCTOBER 08: U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) speaks during a campaign rally at Minden-Tahoe Airport on October 08, 2022 in Minden, Nevada. Former U.S. President Donald Trump held a campaign style rally for Nevada GOP candidates ahead of the state’s midterm election on November 8th. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)Getty Images

Tuberville, who said he had dinner with the ex-president a few weeks ago, spoke at a Trump rally in October and got into hot water for comments he made suggesting that Democrats were in favor of “reparation” because they were “pro-crime.” Tuberville has since said his comments were about “crime, not race” and blamed the “liberal media” for helping Democrats.

Tuberville was among the 43 senators who voted to acquit Trump of impeachment last year stemming from the January 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.

Trump reached out to Tuberville while the January 6 was occurring, and their phone conversation was the subject of the House’s Jan. 6 committee’s hearings in July.

While Pence was evacuated from the Capitol, Trump placed a call to Tuberville. At the time, Trump called Tuberville “one of his strongest supporters in the Senate.”

Trump actually called Utah Senator Mike Lee, who handed the phone over to Tuberville. The two briefly spoke before Tuberville had to end the conversation so he, too, could evacuate the Capitol.