And in the Senate …

If you don’t want to call it an abuse of power, it’s at least an abuse of privilege.

Tommy Tuberville, the former Auburn Tigers coach, Arkansas native, and current U.S. senator from Alabama, is the abuser.

Tommy Tuberville is no stranger to taking fire from the other side of the aisle for his ultra-conservative policy positions, but now he’s increasingly hearing it from inside his own huddle. According to the Associated Press, Republican senators angrily challenged him on the floor of the Senate last week over his game plan to block all military promotions that require Senate approval.

As a result, approximately 400 high-level positions in the strongest military force in the world are unfilled.

Sen. Dan Sullivan, Republican of Alaska and colonel in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserves, called it a “national security suicide mission.”

And for what?

Senator Tuberville has picked this battle over a new policy of paying for travel when a military service member has to go out of state to get an abortion if they live in a state that prohibits such. But surely there are other ways to move the ball down the field to achieve such an objective rather than risk national security.

Lindsey Graham of South Carolina,

a Republican in good standing, told his colleague that if he thinks the policy is illegal, he should sue the military. “That’s how you handle these things.” As Senator Tuberville objected to a vote on a two-star general, Graham said, “You just denied this lady a promotion. You did that.” As far as we know, the lady in question did not create the policy, yet she suffers the consequences just the same.

So how is it that one senator can deny the appointments and/or promotions of 400 members of the military?

It’s the same reason why a single member of the 435 member U.S. House of Representatives could line up with just seven more members and carry out a plot to oust the speaker and throw the House into turmoil for three weeks: rules and responsibility. (Or rules and a lack of responsibility.)

Someone needs to explain reality to Tommy Tuberville. (George Will recently said the senator had “an unfurnished mind.”) Coach, not every one of your plays needs to be a Hail Mary to the end zone. Sometimes the better strategy is to make incremental progress to put the team in a position to win.

And as you know, Coach, when your team turns against you, your prospect of winning dims.