America has forgotten the definition of toughness.
We don’t know what it means to be tough anymore. Especially in Alabama. We’ve lost the ability to recognize true strength and courage. We’re unable to discern stoicism and dignity from performative fluff and the bullying of the weak.
That should have been obvious to us all when the country transitioned from one of the strongest men to ever serve as president, Barack Obama, to one of the weakest, most fragile, most morally flawed men, Donald Trump, to ever set foot in all of Washington D.C.
Since that time eight years ago, things have become progressively worse. So much so that in recent days, a guy who appears to be the frontrunner to be this state’s next governor – and one of the top Trump sycophants – has openly cheered for the unconstitutional killing by the U.S. military of alleged drug runners and has gone on a weird, sometimes completely unhinged attack of Muslims in America.
Of the controversial boat strikes of alleged drug runners in the Caribbean, current U.S. Senator from Alabama Tommy Tuberville took this very nuanced, very learned position: “Kill every damn one of them.”
Because the phony tough guy act is a certain cure for America’s illegal drug problems.
Tuberville has not wavered on this stance, insisting that the Venezuelan drug runners are killing Americans, and insisting that America is at war. This, he seems to believe, gives Trump the authority to order these strikes and kill these people.
It’s an absurd position. One that is antithetical to everything that America stands for, most notably due process and fairness.
Even if we could prove that the people in the boats are, in fact, drug runners, thus meeting the definition of “narco-terrorist” – a completely made-up term that appears to be randomly assigned after the strikes – do we execute drug runners now in this country? I thought we gave them presidential pardons?
Regardless, ordering a drone strike on a suspected drug runner and screaming “kill them all” like a lunatic, is now apparently considered rightwing “tough.” Trump is rightwing “tough” for ordering these murders. Tuberville is rightwing “tough” for defending them.
Tuberville is also rightwing “tough” for daring to say offensive and untrue things about people who practice a minority religion in this country. Over the last few weeks, he’s turned the clock back 25 years and gone on quite the Muslim-bashing spree. There was no seminal event that touched off this weird tirade, so I can only assume that it was born out of the usual rightwing playbook – create a villain to scare white, ignorant people and run against that.
And man, has he played all of the George W. Bush-era hits along the way. Called for Muslims to be deported. Called for a ban on Muslim immigrants. Warned about the dangers of sharia law and how it’s definitely taking over. (Somewhere Rudy Giuliani is wondering why he never thought of becoming a governor of a red state.)
Most recently, Tuberville referred to Islam as a “cult.” And he said that when he becomes governor, “I’ll be damned if we’re going to do that in the state of Alabama. We’re going to protect the people of Alabama. We’re going to protect our constitution. We’re going to protect our state and we’re going to protect our country.”
So very, very tough.
Except, it’s not. It’s actually the opposite. And for the life of me, I cannot pinpoint what led to so many people in this country mistaking ignorance, cowardice and bullying for old-school toughness.
That’s all this is. It’s picking on the marginalized and weak. It’s creating villains out of ignorance. It’s bullying in its purest form.
American toughness has never been any of that.
True American toughness has always been standing up for the minorities, protecting the weak, fighting off the bullies and upholding the rule of law and fairness even when your primal, visceral reaction was to seek vengeance.
That’s toughness.
Standing up in front of the mob with the pitchforks and torches and telling them that the Muslims have the same rights as the Christians here. That’s American toughness.
Speaking out when the president and secretary of defense order the illegal killing of people, even when that president is in the party you’re in. That’s American toughness.
Holding your ground even in the face of relentless political pressure and threats, as Thomas Massie and Marjorie Taylor Greene did on the Epstein issue. That’s American toughness.
You think it was easy to take a stand religious freedom when the Constitution was being written? You think it was easy to pile off those boats in Normandy to fight fascism? You think it was easy to walk across that bridge in Selma right towards those state troopers?
That’s American toughness.
It takes zero courage to pile on minorities. It takes no backbone at all to sell out crime victims. It takes not a single ounce of bravery to remain silent when wrongs are being done or rights are being taken or the weak are being bullied.
If you look back at our country’s true heroes, from the movies to the battlefield to the streets, their toughness has almost always been defined by their willingness to protect the vulnerable, punch back against the bullies and to do the right thing even when it was the tough thing.
That’s American toughness.
