Another Win for Coach

Plus the best queso dip on earth just in time for the big game

As published by Daily Caller

It was the most cynical and fraudulent scheme in Washington… until Friday.

For the past two years, the U.S. Department of Defense funded all-expense paid trips for service members or their dependents who wanted an abortion for any reason, at any point in a pregnancy. No questions asked. No ethical guardrails. No worries about the morality of using taxpayer dollars to fund what many Americans find morally reprehensible.

Thankfully, President Trump and Secretary Pete Hegseth crushed the illegal power-grab this week. (RELATED: MORGAN MURPHY: Woke DC Bishop Who Lectured Trump, Vance Overlooked Several Biblical Lessons In Sermon)

The change was a resounding victory for one man who dared to fight the Pentagon, Biden’s White House, the D.C. media morass and nearly every wannabe general in the swamp: Tommy Tuberville.

For two years, Tuberville stood in the breach against the Biden White House. He was ridiculed, harassed and shunned, all of which he took with his usual affability. “Awe hell,” he told me one afternoon after being jeered in the halls of the Senate Russell building, “Try losing an SEC game one Saturday. I’ve been called worse. At least nobody’s thrown a beer bottle at my head here in the Senate.”

When Tuberville came to Washington in January 2021, the former Auburn football coach was well regarded and even liked by many Democrats behind closed doors. I should know, as he brought me on as his National Security Advisor soon after taking office.

We weren’t smiling when Biden’s Department of Defense started trying to write laws from the Pentagon

I saw firsthand how Tuberville’s fame and general affability was hard for most people to resist. When the man walks down the hall, he greets every janitor, security guard, and staffer along the way, often by name. When people asked me what it was like working for “Coach,” as he prefers to be called, I’d often compare him to another coach, the lovable Ted Lasso.

That all changed in June of 2022.

After the leaked U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization that summer, the Department of Defense magically deduced that overturning Roe v. Wade would “have significant implications for…the readiness of the Force.”

To anyone who knows the military, that just didn’t make sense. Until 2022, the Pentagon funded less than 20 abortions per year in cases of rape, incest or life of the mother. Under Austin’s new policy, the Pentagon told me it estimated taxpayer-funded abortions would zoom to 4,100 per year, an increase of 20,500%.

Tuberville saw straight through the ruse for what it was: an illegal power grab by the executive branch. He repeatedly warned the Department of Defense in letter after letter to change course. He reached out to the Secretary of Defense again and again, and even offered to come meet him at his Pentagon office. What makes this more remarkable is that Tuberville voted to confirm Austin and sat on the Pentagon’s oversight committee.

Coach’s outreach went unanswered by Lloyd Austin, who seemed more interested in helping Democrats nab suburban female swing voters than, oh, little things such as the Constitution, Congress, and the DoD’s own rules.

After being ignored for months, Coach directed me to warn the Pentagon in no uncertain terms: implement this illegal order, and Senator Tuberville would place a hold on all generals and admirals, gumming up promotions for the military’s most senior ranks. Austin ignored that warning, too.

🧀 A Super Bowl: Chile con Queso

I learned to make the best queso from a joint called Salsa Fuego in Fort Worth, Texas back when I wrote Second Helpings. If you’re serving chips for the big game this weekend, I promise it won’t disappoint. The secret? Don’t try substituting milk for water in this creamy and delicious dip or it will come apart.

• 1 poblano pepper

• 16 oz. package of pasteurized and prepared queso cheese, cubed

• 1/4 cup chopped ripe tomato

• 1 Tbsp. chopped onion

• 1/4 tsp. ground red pepper

• 1/8 tsp. Salt

• 1/8 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

• 1 Tbsp. vegetable oil

• 1/2 cup chopped roasted Hatch chiles or 1 (4-oz.) can chopped green chilies, undrained

• 1/4 cup dry white wine

METHOD: broil poblano pepper on an aluminum foil-lined baking sheet 5 inches from heat 10 minutes on each side or until pepper looks blistered. Placed pepper in a zip top plastic freezer bag; seal and let stand 10 minutes to loosen skins. Peel pepper; remove and discard seeds. Dice pepper to measure 1/4 cup. Combine cheese and 2/3 cup water in a medium sauce pan over medium low heat, and cook, stirring, constantly, five minutes or until cheese melts and mixture is smooth. Sautée tomato, onion, ground red pepper, salt, and pepper in hot oil in a large skillet over high heat 1 to 2 minutes. Stir in green chilies and diced poblano pepper; cook two minutes or just long enough to warm through. Add wine, and cook one minute. Stir tomato mixture into cheese mixture. Serve with tortilla chips. Makes 3 cups.

🐙 From the Archives: Calamari Salad

This weekend, my son and I watched Pirates of the Caribbean and got a good laugh when Capt. Jack Sparrow blew the kraken into a heap of grilled calamari. But unlike the young man who wrote this article 30 years ago, these days I enjoy calamari (especially fried). And yes, I really did go to La Goulue, which still exists albeit no longer in its fine Madison Ave. form.

It is also true that I went out with a stunner from the Netherlands named Rebecca and asked my friend Hein Vingerling about some phrases to use. Recall these were the days before Google existed, so learning Dutch phrases was no small feat. I did bend the truth a bit though. Hein actually taught me to say “We moeten de liefde bedrijven” syllable by syllable, but I cleaned it up a bit for a family newspaper. Later, when I said, “Hein, how could you tell me to say that!” he replied, “Well, I knew there were only two possibilities for you. Either (a) she would know you didn’t have a clue what you were saying and laugh or (b) she’d say ‘okay!’ I figured either was a win for you!”

We all need friends like Hein.

🥃 Parting Shots

If you’re new to Tastes of Victory, you can access all the ToV newsletters right here on Substack. You can also jump to:

🥓 My opinion pieces on America’s National Security, including my past work in Newsmax, The Washington Times, and other outlets.

🥧 Favorite stories from the archives from my writing for Southern Living, Vanity Fair, Forbes, and Esquire.

🧂 And if you really want to dive into what’s going on with national security in Washington, don’t miss my work as a senior fellow with America First Policy Instituteand as a weekly columnist for the Daily Caller News Foundation.

🥃 Did you want try some of my books? Warning: just reading them might cause unexpected weigh gain. But if you fancy diving into my food trapezoid of bourbon, salt, bacon, and pie they’re right here on Amazon.