Alabama Republican Senator Tommy Tuberville was criticized after he attempted to defend President Donald Trump on Newsmax from accusations that his presidency is more like a "dictatorship"—and he fumbled it badly.
Tuberville was aggressively defending Trump's recent executive order banning transgender women and girls from competing in female sports. Titled the “No Men in Women’s Sports Executive Order,” it marks the fourth executive action targeting transgender individuals since he took office on January 20.
In response to the order, the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) banned transgender women from competing in women's sports. The NCAA's updated participation policy now reads only "student-athletes assigned female at birth" will be allowed to take part in collegiate competitions.
According to Tuberville, the NCAA and similar organizations had "played dictator" on this topic—but then Tuberville went hilariously off message with his assessment of "dictatorship":
"I'm sick of the NCAA and some of these other organizations playing dictator. There is no dictatorship here other than Donald Trump saying, ‘This is not gonna happen.’”
You can hear what he said in the video below.
So did Tuberville call Trump a dictator? Sure seemed like it.
The timing of Trump's order was intentional, as it coincided with the 39th annual National Girls & Women in Sports Day, an event established in 1987 to celebrate female athletes and encourage girls to engage in sports.
Over 20 states already restrict transgender athletes from participating in school sports, both in K-12 and collegiate levels. Additionally, in January, just days before Trump's inauguration, the House passed a bill aimed at prohibiting transgender women and girls from participating in female sports programs nationwide.
The bill's future remains uncertain in the Senate, where it would require support from seven Democrats to move forward.
