Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., spoke out against the Democrats who blocked the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act this past week.
Tuberville introduced the bill to the Senate for the second time after failing to pass it through in 2023, only to watch the Democrat minority filibuster the bill with just 45 nay votes. All 51 Republicans in the majority voted to pass it through, but it was not enough.
Tuberville insisted the Democrats voted against the bill because they “hate this country,” during an interview on OutKick’s “Hot Mic.”
“It’s a hatred of not just President Trump but for our country,” Tuberville responded when asked if they voted against the bill just out of pure opposition and hatred of President Donald Trump.
“They hate a constitutional republic, they hate the opportunity for people to do what they want to do, they hate free speech and, again, President Trump is upending all the things that [Democrats] stand for, and it’s humiliating to watch these people just absolutely crush the Democrat party.
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Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., attends the House and Senate committee markup of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2024 in the Dirksen Building on Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2023. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
“I hate it for the Democrats across the country who actually still believe in this country, but the clowns that are up here, they could care less about the United States of America. They care about their control of what they can get out of what people have.”
During Monday night’s vote, all Democratic senators voted against the motion to proceed, except for Sens. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., and Peter Welch, D-Vt., who were absent.
On Feb. 5, President Trump signed an executive order that required all institutions that receive federal funding to keep trans athletes out of women’s and girls’ sports, but multiple states have defied that order so far. Tuberville’s bill would have helped set a stricter precedent and codify Trump’s order with more permanence.
Additionally, despite the fact that recent data has suggested the majority of Americans, including most Democrats, oppose trans inclusion in women’s sports, the party rallied to prevent the bill from advancing to Trump’s desk.
Conservative activist Riley Gaines has vowed to help unseat all the lawmakers who voted against the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act leading up to the 2026 midterms. Gaines claims to have spoken with Democrat senators who agree that biological males should not compete in women’s and girls’ sports but are not willing to side with the GOP on the issue.
“In some of these private, confidential conversations that I have had with several Democratic senators, they assure me that they know it’s absurd to allow men into women’s sports and that they wouldn’t want it to happen to their daughters. But they hide behind many different excuses,” Gaines told Fox News Digital.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., was seen giving an exaggerated thumbs-down gesture while voting no on the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act on Monday night.
Warren held her thumb down for several seconds in the face of the clerk tallying her vote. The clerk even had to tell Warren, “I got you,” to assure her that her vote had been counted as the senator held her gesture for an exaggerated amount of time.
Other Democratic senators have made various excuses for opposing the bill, ranging from valuing the protection of trans rights to simply not seeing the issue as a critical priority.
Meanwhile, Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., and Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., pushed the unsubstantiated argument that the law would subject young girls to genital examinations, which is not rooted in any language within the bill.
U.S. House of Representatives Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries first made this argument the day the House voted on the bill, Jan. 14, joining other prominent Democratic representatives, including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y. The argument prompted harsh backlash among some registered Democratic voters.
Jeffries then repeated this argument on Thursday when asked about California Gov. Gavin Newsom recently saying that trans inclusion in girls’ sports is “unfair” on the governor’s podcast Thursday.
“I haven’t seen [Newsom’s] comments. What Democrats opposed was unleashing sexual predators on girls throughout the United States of America,” Jeffries told reporters Thursday.
A recent New York Times/Ipsos survey found the vast majority of Americans, including a majority of Democrats, do not think transgender athletes should be permitted to compete in women’s sports.
Of the 2,128 people who participated, 79% said biological males who identify as women should not be allowed to participate in women’s sports. Of the 1,025 people who identified as Democrats or leaning Democrat, 67% said transgender athletes should not be allowed to compete with women.
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Trump reaffirmed his intent to punish states that continue to allow trans athletes to compete with girls during Tuesday night’s address to a joint session of Congress.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt insisted Trump “won’t back down” as he goes after these states.
“The president has made a commitment to ensure that states are being held accountable if they continue to allow men in women’s sports, which he believes is an egregious violation of taxpayer dollars. And, so, that fight continues, and the president won’t back down,” Leavitt said.
“This is a commonsense policy. Eighty percent of the American people, including more than 60% of Democrats, do not want men in women’s sports.”
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