Tuberville brings campaign to Demopolis

Tommy Tuberville brought his campaign for the U.S. Senate to Demopolis Tuesday, speaking to members of the Marengo County Republican Party at Rooster Hall in the morning and holding a meet-and-greet at Mr. G’s at noon.

Tuberville, former Auburn University coach, began his remarks by saying the country is troubled. Most of the politicians in Washington, D.C., he continued, “haven’t had a job” but have lived off taxpayers in one elected governmental position or another.

He, on the other hand, has been out in public life for 40 years.

“I know people,” he said. “We’ve got to do things to help every part of the state.”

 “We’ve got to get back to the basics,” he said. “This country was built on the Constitution…It was built on God, family and education. Those three things we’ve got to get back to. We have no choice.”

A staunch supporter of the President, Tuberville said, “I believe Donald Trump was given to us by God.” He promised he would not be politically correct.

Capitalism is what has made this country, he continued, and Trump stands between the demise of capitalism in the United States and the rise of socialism.

Tuberville also supports building a border wall between the U.S. and Mexico, believing that such a barrier would end the proliferations of drug smuggling into the country and prevent terrorists and criminals from overtaking it.

“Drugs are killers,” he said. “It’s going to get worse and worse.”

Although he supports the military, he also backs Trump’s move to take $3.5 billion from military programs, upgrades and construction to build the wall.

“The wall is the most important thing we can do in this country.” Without the wall, he explained, the U.S. will need a huge military, and it won’t be stationed in Europe or other countries.

“I don’t care how much we take out of the military to build that wall.”

During the questions that followed Tuberville’s comments, Demopolis Mayor John Laney asked about helping rural areas of the state that have lost out on the economic growth that has gone to major metropolitan areas.

The candidate said education and infrastructure are necessary for the growth of rural Alabama along with “continuing to try to get people to come here.”

The next 10 years will see a phenomenal growth in the country, he continued. “They’ve got to go somewhere.”

He encouraged the community to do all it can to keep Whitfield Regional Hospital open, one of the major attractions to businesses.

Workforce development is going to be a huge part of economic growth, beginning in high school, he continued.

When asked about the health care situation in the country, Tuberville rejected the idea of healthcare for all. He said the U.S. has health care by the government now in the form of the Veterans Administration, “and it stinks.”

He believes more competition between insurance companies and a brake on the cost of prescription drugs is needed. He also said there needs to be more investment in training doctors, nurses and setting up a mental health program.

People with mental health issues+ are “now put in jail or put on the street.”

When asked how he would propose to eliminate the nation’s debt, Tuberville said he is a “Rand Paul fan.” He believes in taking one cent out of every dollar spent on social services. “In five years, we’d have a balanced budget.”

Tuberville said he has paid for most of his campaign out of his own pocket. If elected he promised his salary as a senator would be donated to the veterans in Alabama.