During remarks on the Senate floor Thursday, Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) spoke about alleged 'woke propaganda' in the education system.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Thank you, Mr. President.
00:03You know, I've come to the floor today to talk about how delusional
00:08my Democratic colleagues have tried to poison our country's young people
00:12with what I call a woke-mind virus.
00:17Before I got into politics, I spent 40 years working with young people
00:21from the high school level to the college level.
00:24Higher education, we call it.
00:26I coached, recruited, and mentored young people all over the country, thousands of them.
00:32I saw firsthand how hard work and a quality education can change a person's life,
00:39no matter where they come from, what they look like, or how much money they have.
00:47I used to tell my players that if they work hard, there's no limit to what they can achieve.
00:52It's called the American Dream.
00:55Our founders came here because they envisioned a country where the sky is the limit
00:59and people aren't bound by the circumstances that they were born in.
01:04But, unfortunately, the Biden administration and the Democrats have spent the last four years
01:11communicating a much darker message to our young people.
01:17You know, this country was founded on merit.
01:22But instead of focusing on hiring the best and brightest,
01:25Biden, Harris, Obama, and the woke-mind virus Democrats have spent the last four years
01:30dividing our country based on diversity, equity, and inclusion,
01:36or better known to all of us, called DEI.
01:40This poisonous ideology says that people should be hired based on their skin color
01:46or sexual preference, not because of how they might do in a job.
01:54And to make matters worse, the Biden administration used one trillion
01:59American taxpayer dollars to pay for DEI programs in the federal government.
02:05One trillion.
02:07You heard that right.
02:09American taxpayers are footing the bill.
02:14And they were paying for things that were racist, divisive, and woke.
02:22A woke propaganda.
02:24So, I don't know about you, I want a refund.
02:28I want my money back.
02:30We all pay taxes.
02:31Why in the world would we do that?
02:34Let's call DEI what it really is.
02:36A fundamentally racist, prejudiced, and anti-American ideology
02:41that is designed to divide and oppress people.
02:46Exactly what it is.
02:48It's baffling to me how Democrats don't see this, or do they?
02:53They claim to be a tolerant, a very tolerant, inclusive party rooted in equality.
03:00But as we have all learned, Democrats are only tolerant as long as you agree with them.
03:08I thought we left the stain of discrimination and race-basing hiring practice behind
03:13in our country a long, long time ago.
03:16But apparently not.
03:18It's clear that Democrats would rather divide Americans based on their race, gender, creed,
03:25or sexual orientation than live in a world where people are hired based on intellect,
03:32experience, work ethic, and merit.
03:35What a thought.
03:36So let's set the record straight.
03:38This country owes you nothing except for the opportunity to succeed.
03:42That's what's great about this country.
03:44And if you don't succeed, you can get back up and go again.
03:47We're the only country that allows that.
03:49For generations, Americans understood this.
03:53All Americans.
03:54An opportunity to pursue your dreams, to use your God-given talents to contribute
04:00to making this country the greatest place to live in the world.
04:04I've always said this.
04:06If you were born in the United States of America, you hit the lottery.
04:11100%.
04:13And I guarantee you, the other 7 billion people in this world would give anything
04:20to take the place of any of us, from the poorest to the richest.
04:25My new granddaughter of just two weeks, Rosie Grace,
04:31if there's any one thing I can teach her as a grandfather,
04:36it's the value of hard work and determination.
04:39There's nothing that takes the place of that.
04:42Nothing.
04:43With a strong work ethic and a commitment to excellence,
04:46opportunities will open up for her or anybody to live a happy, successful life,
04:55and that's all a grandfather like me now can ask for.
05:00Hard work and determination.
05:03So what kind of message is it that if we're teaching our young people
05:07that they are victims of their circumstances,
05:11an American dream is only for people who have a certain skin color?
05:17That's the opposite of the American dream.
05:20But Democrats don't care one bit about that.
05:22Not one bit.
05:24I've listened to it for four years.
05:26Obama started a horrible trend that Democrats carry on to this day.
05:30He used racism to divide the Americans and politically enrich themselves.
05:37Look at the money they've made.
05:39The woke mind virus has taken hold of them.
05:42They've lost their ever-loving mind.
05:45They'd rather promise racism and promote it, sexism, divisiveness,
05:52than support solutions that empower, unify, or uplift our country and our people.
05:58Democrats are obsessed with hating this country and tearing it apart.
06:02They want a different United States of America.
06:05It doesn't matter if it is anything that's pro-American or pro-traditional values.
06:11It doesn't matter.
06:12Democrats will attack it, demonize it, and demonize us for supporting it.
06:18These people have zero respect for human life.
06:23They have shown their true colors in the past few years,
06:28ever since Roe Wade was overturned, which sent abortion back to the states
06:32where it could be voted on by the people instead of politicians.
06:37They have raised cane.
06:39Since then, Democrat politicians have said the quiet part out loud,
06:42admitting that they think there should be no limits to abortion.
06:47How can you believe that?
06:50That means that they're okay with aborting a baby at nine months of pregnancy.
06:56Former Virginia Governor Ralph Norman, a Democrat,
06:59said that he supports post-afterbirth abortions.
07:02Are you kidding me?
07:05And other Democrats, like Minnesota Governor Tim Walsh.
07:09Remember him?
07:11Flash in the pan, signed a law to allow abortions after birth.
07:14Signed a law in Minnesota, abortions after birth.
07:17What do they do with that?
07:20They cut these babies up and sell the body parts.
07:24That's never talked about too much, is it?
07:26Can you believe that this is who the Democrats picked as their vice presidential candidate?
07:32I can believe it.
07:34That means that in Minnesota, a doctor can kill a baby after he or she is born
07:37right there on the delivery table.
07:40It's evil, and it's absolutely sick.
07:44But it isn't just babies Democrats have no respect for.
07:47They also have gone out of their way to attack women and girls.
07:51Just last week, every single Democrat in this body
07:54voted against my bill to protect women and girls in sports.
07:58Oh, we've got to give these transitional boys an opportunity to participate, really?
08:04How about giving fairness to young girls and women,
08:07the opportunity to compete at a level that they're in?
08:15Give them an opportunity not to play for second or third, but play for first.
08:18How about that?
08:20The woke-mind virus has struck again.
08:24Democrats who claim to be pro-women would rather protect a few transgender people
08:28than protect the millions of women and girls who make up half of this country.
08:33Oh, we've got to be nice.
08:36We've got to be nice to everybody.
08:38No, we need a mental health program in this country.
08:42It's what we need.
08:45Democrats who claim to be pro-women would rather protect a few transgender people
08:49than protect the entire country of women and girls.
08:53It's backwards, it's disgusting, and it's downright wrong.
08:58You'd have to be dumber than a box of rocks to celebrate this, but that's what they did.
09:03They celebrated the handful of transgenders participating women.
09:08Oh, we knocked it down because it was supported by Donald Trump,
09:12who wrote out an executive order protecting women and girls.
09:16Thank you, President Trump.
09:18By the way, 79% of Americans and 67% of Democrats support men,
09:26support that men do not compete against women.
09:29Huge majority.
09:30But every single one of my Democrat colleagues went against their constituents
09:34and voted against this common-sense bill to protect women and men out of women's sports.
09:41Democrats, basically, are hypocrites, big time.
09:44They claim to be pro-women but allow men to dress up as women and take rights away from actual women.
09:51When we saw this firsthand during the Biden administration,
09:54when they had actual drag shows at the White House, it made me sick at my stomach.
09:58But the hypocrisy doesn't end there.
10:00Democrats celebrate when Hamas protectors violently attack Jewish students,
10:04but they demonize and imprison pro-life activists who peacefully protest outside an abortion clinic.
10:12Whose side are you on?
10:15Many of my Democrat colleagues say they are pro-choice but choose and lose their minds
10:21if a parent dares to ask a question about vaccines, for instance.
10:26I mean, they go off the deep end.
10:29We talk about vaccines.
10:31They claim they are the party of decency.
10:34Really?
10:35Tolerance.
10:36Are you kidding me?
10:38But turn a blind eye to multiple Democratic mayors being arrested of being pedophiles.
10:44Yes, that's what I said.
10:45Pedophiles.
10:47The former Democrat mayor of University Park, Maryland, was arrested and charged in 2024
10:52with 28 counts of possessing and soliciting child pornography.
10:56In jail.
10:5724.
10:58Mayor.
10:59Right down the street.
11:02The year before, 2023, a different Democrat mayor was the one from College Park, Maryland,
11:08pleaded guilty to 140 counts of possessing and distributing child sexual abuse images.
11:16Mayor.
11:17Leader.
11:18Democrat.
11:19Believes in the way of life for the Democratic Party.
11:24A pedophile.
11:25So, two Democratic mayors in Maryland have been arrested in the past two years for pedophilia.
11:31Can't make it up.
11:33The woke mind virus strikes again.
11:36I've yet to hear a single floor speech from my Maryland Democratic colleagues about this catastrophe.
11:43A leader caught doing this.
11:46They don't care.
11:48It doesn't bother them.
11:51They seem to find plenty of time to criticize President Trump every time he breathes,
11:57but they don't worry about pedophilia.
11:59How about we all speak out about it?
12:03I have yet to see them take the time to condemn multiple elected officials from their state
12:08who have been arrested and contributed to all this child pornography.
12:12It's sad, but we shouldn't be surprised.
12:15Democrats only pretend to care about the oppressed or the most vulnerable among when it benefits their agenda.
12:24After all, it was Democrats in the states like California and Washington
12:29who introduced bills to change the term, the name of it, sex offenders, to minor attracted persons.
12:39You're not a sex offender anymore.
12:41If you beat up a little child, molest a child, you're a minor attracted persons.
12:50We don't want to hurt anybody's feelings.
12:53What a joke.
12:54Makes me sick again in my stomach.
12:56If it wasn't for the re-election of President Trump on November 5th, I really don't know whether we'd have made it.
13:03Our country was headed straight to the gutter.
13:07Straight to the gutter.
13:09I mean, just listen to all this.
13:12Makes no sense.
13:14Now we have common sense.
13:17Trying to get common sense back into our country.
13:20We have to push for it.
13:23Thanks to President Trump and the ideas he's brought back to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
13:29This administration is working around the clock to get this woke crap out of our government.
13:35Our military, out.
13:38Classrooms, out.
13:40Get back to teaching our kids.
13:42President Trump is committed to abolishing the U.S. Department of Education,
13:46a federal agency that has failed our students for the past 40 years that I've been in education,
13:51and especially under Joe Biden and Barack Obama.
13:54President Trump believes, and it's correct, that our young people are the country's most important, precious commodity that we have.
14:01They are the future.
14:03He understands that under President Biden, the Department of Education allowed radical left-wing teachers to push radical, hateful ideologies onto our kids.
14:13We don't need opinion teaching.
14:16We need to teach reading, writing, math, science, and history.
14:20What's wrong with that?
14:22What's wrong with giving them a chance?
14:24Because they have ruined the lives of thousands of young people because they've indoctrinated them.
14:30You had drag shows that were being performed recently in elementary schools.
14:36I mean, in my day, you'd have been arrested for that.
14:39Woke, anti-American curriculum taught kids to hate each other.
14:44Actually, in classroom, teaching them, hey, you hate them because of who they are, where they're from, what skin color they are.
14:51Absolutely a crime.
14:54Schools help children secretly transition genders behind the parents' back.
14:59Oh, you want to transition?
15:01You're eight years old.
15:02Don't tell your parents.
15:03We'll get it all set up for you.
15:06Mind-boggling.
15:08The woke mind virus has struck again.
15:11All of this, by the way, on the taxpayer's dime.
15:15You're paying for it.
15:17Meanwhile, we're 26th in the world in math.
15:20We're 6th in reading.
15:22That's simply not good enough for the most powerful country in the world.
15:27When I coached and recruited, I was shocked if anybody was over a 9th grade reading level.
15:32That's everybody.
15:33I don't care what color, where they're from, urban, rural.
15:37If you can't read, you can't learn.
15:39You're going to end up working for somebody or just scraping to try to make a living.
15:45But instead of teaching our kids to read and write,
15:48the Department of Education under Joe Biden became ground zero for woke indoctrination.
15:56All they were concerned about was bowing to the teachers' unions.
16:01You heard that, teachers' unions.
16:04Teaching our kids to hate this country, its government, our Constitution,
16:08and each other.
16:10What are we doing?
16:13Thankful President Trump is sending education back to the states where it belongs.
16:19I've advocated this for the last 20 years.
16:23Just this week, the Department of Education announced it was firing more than 1,000 people right down the street.
16:29Thank goodness.
16:31They haven't been doing anything.
16:32They've been working from home.
16:34And what they do, we can do it back in the states a lot better,
16:38and we can use that money to educate kids.
16:41What an idea.
16:43Good, the federal Department of Education needs to be completely shut down.
16:46It's not done yet, but we just got started.
16:49I've been saying it for a long time.
16:51We can have a one-size-fit-all, top-down approach to education.
16:54You know, I'm from Alabama.
16:56We teach kids a little bit different because we're a different environment.
17:00Rural area, 60 percent, farmers, agriculture, all those things.
17:05We don't teach the same things that you would teach in Chicago or New York.
17:10Send it back to the states.
17:12Let them control it.
17:13Let them teach our kids to have a chance in the future.
17:17Each child is totally different.
17:21You know, the fellow government can't do that.
17:23I haven't figured out in my four years here yet what we can do.
17:28But at least we're figuring out, hey, it's not working here, close it down,
17:33quit spending money and send it back to the states,
17:38which is why President Trump's plan to empower the states makes all the sense in the world.
17:45But, of course, Democrats don't believe in common sense.
17:48They're only concerned about we have to control this.
17:59Because they know that if they don't control education,
18:04education is the number one thing we have in this country going forward.
18:07If you take that away, everything else goes.
18:11If they can't control education,
18:13they won't be able to infect the minds of all these young kids across the country.
18:18They want them to think that the Constitution is bad,
18:22that government is really bad,
18:25that their parents are bad,
18:27that you ought to listen to us.
18:30You know, a spoonful of common sense goes a long way.
18:33So let me sum this up for you.
18:34Merit-based hiring is the only way to make a business successful, merit-based.
18:40I had to win games or I was gone.
18:43I didn't care who they were when they played for me.
18:46I didn't care whether rich, poor, rural, urban, black, white.
18:50It didn't make me a dime of difference.
18:53Put the best ones on the field.
18:55They were going to earn it.
18:56That's how this country should be run.
18:58But that's the difference between my Republican side and my colleagues on the left.
19:04They want everything given.
19:06It ain't going to work, folks.
19:08We're not going to have the country we had the opportunity to grow up in
19:11if we continue down that path.
19:15So merit-based.
19:17Men are men.
19:18Women are women.
19:20Men cannot get pregnant, by the way.
19:22They can tell you that all they want.
19:24But I learned that very, very young in life.
19:28But evidently my Democratic colleagues didn't learn that.
19:31Protecting women and girls in sports is the right thing to do.
19:35Allowing elementary schoolers with undeveloped brains
19:38to get irreversible sex change procedures makes absolutely no sense.
19:42It's evil and sadistic.
19:44Teaching kids to hate each other based on what they look like, folks, that's racist.
19:49And that's exactly the direction that the Biden administration was going.
19:54Children shouldn't be forced to watch drag shows.
19:57If you're an adult, you can do what you want in this country,
20:00but forcing this woke agenda on kids is downright wrong.
20:04Making taxpayers pay for abortions in the military, wrong, against the law.
20:10But they did it anyway.
20:12I fought it for a year.
20:13I lost out in the end.
20:14But you know what?
20:15It was worth the fight.
20:17Pedophilia is straight from the pit of hell.
20:22And no, these aren't minor attractive persons.
20:25These creeps, they're criminals, and they're sick in the head.
20:29And I thank God every day for President Trump and the return of common sense in this country.
20:35Hope some of our Democrat colleagues will wake up to how the past four years
20:39of this woke ideology has poisoned our country, and especially our young people.
20:44Folks, we've got a long way to go.
20:46Long way to go.
20:47Our future is in the hands of our kids.
20:50Let's give that future back to our kids.
20:53Let's educate them.
20:54Put them on the right track.
20:55Teach them the Constitution.
20:57Teach them that we have a higher being in God.
20:59Put that back in our schools.
21:01Would have thought that would be.
21:03But stay away.
21:04Stay away from our young kids and let them have a chance to develop.
21:10I yield four, Mr. President.