Tommy Tuberville, Republican Senator from Alabama, flubbed a question about white Nationalism the other day. Since nobody admits to making a mistake any more, he has chosen to double down on the mistake. Which probably will turn out all right because his voters don’t give a damn about the topic. On the other hand, an admission he goofed would certainly save the rest of the Republican party running around having to say White Nationalists are indeed racists and we don’t know what Tommy Tuberville is talking about here but we can guarantee you he isn’t racist.

Which is understandably disturbing to those of us who do know what White Nationalism is all about. So, what exactly does he think when hanging out with these friends he just disagrees with but they themselves are really good people when they spew this racist poison. What is a Senator to do? For Tuberville, it is just a simple difference of opinion, requiring nothing more than an oh shucks you crazy guys, I can’t believe you still think that is true.

He either is an idiot, which could be the answer, but I really want to give Tuberville the benefit of the doubt here, he is, after all, a US Senator, so he must raise, if ever so slightly, above being characterized as an idiot. This leaves he doesn’t give a damn what people think as, to some extent, he is OK with White Nationalism. This seems closer to the truth as I can’t believe that a Republican US Senator would not be prepared for such a softball question. His internal danger warning must have been screaming DANGER, DANGER THIS IS A TRICK QUESTION SENATOR.

Instead of taking the easy way and finesse the question to a meaningless but agreeable mush of words, Tuberville, knowingly stumbled into the controversy that followed. Nobody, even his White Nationalist friends, would have condemned him had he responded with some benign blather about all races are equal under the law and he judges each person as an individual and not by their race. Since he decided to engage in a conversation about White Nationalism, it suggests he holds a more nuanced understanding of White Nationalism and he is putting his toe in the water to see how receptive the American public was to this position.

The good news for the country was there was enough blowback to make Republicans tell Tuberville he was wrong and Tuberville kind of sort of backed down just a smidge on what he meant. It is still concerning that a Republican Senator clings to a racist belief system and is a little confused on why people are getting all worked when he expresses his opinion. There is a persistent group within the Republican Party attacking democracy as we have understood it for the past 50 years. The heart of their argument is defining who is worthy to be considered a full citizen. They worry that certain groups are not the right people to be considered citizens. They worry about illegal aliens giving birth to American citizens. They worry about softhearted woman voters. They worry about poorer citizens exercising their right to vote, and they question the ability of urban counties run by Black officials to count votes fairly.

Their real worry is these groups don’t vote Republican and hence are making their party’s electoral survival more difficult. Any party that has only won the popular vote once in the last six presidential elections has every reason to worry about this too. Making their arguments more palatable to the American voter, however. might be a better strategy to pursue than changing the makeup of the American citizenry.