God, guns, and freedom U.S. Politics |
Starting arguments over Thanksgiving dinner |
Persons of interest |
Tulsi Gabbard (1981–) is an American politician, pro-Putin propagandist,[1][2] a charlatan’s charlatan, unabashed grifter, and from 2013 to 2021, was one of two Congressional Representatives from Hawaii. She was always pretty centrist, big on guns and welfare programs for native Hawaiians. Then she jumped headfirst into the culture wars, teaming up with Matt Walsh and frothing at the mouth about trans medicine.[3] It’s amazing what can happen to someone’s views as soon as they have different financiers.[4][5]
Once she became a de facto Republican, she endorsed a number of Republican candidates in that year's midterm elections,[6] including candidates who continue to shamelessly claim that the 2020 presidential election was "stolen" from Donald Trump by the deep state,[7] among them Republican Don Bolduc in the New Hampshire Senate race as well as Kari Lake.[8]
By 2024, Gabbard was regularly appearing on Fox News and was regularly a speaker at CPAC. Gabbard fully endorsed Trump for the 2024 U.S. presidential election and even appeared alongside Trump at a campaign event.[9][10] (Six years earlier, she called him "Saudi Arabia's bitch".[11])
Gabbard is of European and Samoan ancestry. She was the youngest woman to be elected to a U.S. state legislature, serving in the Hawaii House of Representatives from 2002 to 2004. Directly following this, she served in an Iraq combat zone from 2004 to 2005, and was later deployed to Kuwait from 2008 to 2009.
Gabbard was elected to represent Hawaii's 2nd congressional district in 2013, succeeding Mazie Hirono after she was elected to the Senate.[12] Gabbard was the first Hindu to serve in Congress. She was the vice-chair of the Democratic National Committee from 2013 until 2016, when she resigned to endorse Bernie Sanders for President. She was a relatively moderate Democrat[13][14][15] in a heavily left-leaning district, and her support for Sanders was a convenient way to counter a primary challenger from the left.[16] As a result, her reputation as a progressive was quickly called into question.[17] By 2020, it was essentially destroyed.
It would, perhaps, be instructive to review a variety of voices that have, in the past, praised Ms Gabbard. Steve Bannon, President Trump’s former chief strategist, expressed admiration for her political talent. Mr. Bannon is a former chair of Breitbart News L.L.C., the parent Company of Breitbart News, which he declared "the platform of the alt-right."[18] Richard B. Spencer and David Duke, the white nationalist leader and former KKK leader, endorsed her candidacy.[19] Former Representative Ron Paul, whose son Senator Rand Paul has inherited his father's seat at the libertarian crazy car, praised her “libertarian instincts,”[20] and wingnut evangelist Franklin Graham is a fanboy.[21]
She announced on January 11, 2019 that she was running for President of the United States in 2020.[22] In March 2020, Gabbard ended her campaign (after winning no contests and remaining in the single digits for polling) — while Bernie Sanders, whom she ostensibly supported in 2016, was still running his campaign — and endorsed Joe Biden[23] (whom she would later compare to Adolf Hitler).[24] Before then, she announced that she would not seek reelection to the House of Representatives.
In October 2022, she posted a video to Twitter announcing that she had officially left the Democratic Party, stating that the party was an "elitist cabal of warmongers" and registering as an Independent.[25] Despite her status as an Independent, however, she then immediately went on to endorse several far-right Republican candidates in that year's elections, including Don Bolduc,[26] who supported having the CIA fight the Russians in Ukraine.[27] But then it’s like she almost realized she could make more money grifting as a pathetic 'pick me' and all of her opinions changed overnight. Weird.
Gabbard opposes the Trans-Pacific Partnership, calls for a restoration of the Glass-Steagall banking regulations, wants to stop mass surveillance of Americans by repealing the PATRIOT Act, supports raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour,[28] and favors single-payer healthcare like many Democrats after the passage of Obamacare.[29] She supports marijuana legalization.[30]
In 2014, Gabbard said she was "conflicted" on the CIA's use of torture, saying that the "debate carries on" as to whether torture leads to accurate intelligence, and although she would not like to see any person being treated inhumanely she would do everything in her power to keep Americans safe in a ticking time bomb scenario.[31]
Gabbard supports "sensible"[32] gun control.[33]
Gabbard's base of support comes from Indian expatriates, many of whom are BJP sympathizers or supporters. She's networked with plenty of them.[34] She thinks that it is important to identify the enemy by using the phrase "radical Islamist terrorism."[35] She has recently moved much further to the right, for instance comparing the vague concept of "cancel culture" to ISIS and Al-Qaeda.[36]
“”To try to act as if there is a difference between 'civil unions' and same-sex marriage is dishonest, cowardly and extremely disrespectful to the people of Hawaii who have already made overwhelmingly clear our position on this issue… As Democrats we should be representing the views of the people, not a small number of homosexual extremists.
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—Tulsi Gabbard in 2004.[37][38] |
Her record on LGBT issues is poor.[39] The Gabbards started in politics as homophobic activists.[40] In 2016, the Hawaii Democratic Party's LGBT Caucus issued strong support for Gabbard's primary opponent, Shay Chan Hodges.[39] A decade earlier, Gabbard was an anti-abortion opponent of same-sex marriage, just like her Republican father, Mike Gabbard. In her early 20s, Gabbard protested against a bill that would have legalized civil unions for same-sex couples and delivered a speech in the Hawaii State House against a resolution that was meant to target homophobic bullying in public schools.[41] Gabbard objected to teaching students that homosexuality is "normal and natural" and worried the resolution would be "inviting homosexual-advocacy organizations into our schools to promote their agenda to our vulnerable youth."[41]
When Honolulu magazine emailed Gabbard's father to clarify his former relationship with Chris Butler's Hare Krishna group, Tulsi Gabbard responded "it’s clear to me that you’re acting as a conduit for The Honolulu Weekly and other homosexual extremist supporters of Ed Case."[40] Despite being followers of Siddhaswarupananda Paramahamsa (a.k.a. Chris Butler), whose cult was founded after breaking away from the Hare Krishnas,[42] Mike Gabbard publicly claims to be Catholic while Tulsi Gabbard identifies as Hindu.[43] He and Tulsi Gabbard have been running a nonprofit called Stand Up for America, with the mission of promoting patriotism and unity of the US.[44]
To her credit, Gabbard later apologised and said her "views have changed significantly since then."[45] By 2017, she had a 100% rating from the Human Rights Campaign.[note 1] While she rebuffed a 2013 offer for a meeting with the Hawaiian LGBT Caucus, she was a member of the Congressional LGBT Equality Caucus.[45] Gabbard herself once cited her time in the military, seeing the dangers of theocratic rule, that made her change her mind on her public position on marriage equality.[39] But alas, she would later reveal her views hadn't changed much after all.
In December 2020, Gabbard introduced a bill that would "clarify Title IX protections to be based on biological sex," meaning transgender athletes would effectively be barred from participating in women's sports.[46] In 2022, she spoke at an anti-trans rally hosted by Matt Walsh.[3]
“”In short, when it comes to the war against terrorists, I'm a hawk. When it comes to counterproductive wars of regime change, I'm a dove.
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—Gabbard in 2016.[47] |
Gabbard's perspective on war is that it is terrible but sometimes necessary:
Kim Iversen: You definitely feel strongly about sending our troops off to battle for regime change wars.
Gabbard: Yeah.
Iversen: That it’s clearly an unnecessary cost, often of which is their life. Are you against all wars?
Gabbard: Look, wars are terrible. Unfortunately they are sometimes necessary to keep our people safe. This is the reality of the world that we live in and we have to look at this world as it exists rather than try to exist in a world that doesn't. So the reality is that there are those that seek to do us harm. Unfortunately war is sometimes necessary.[48]
Gabbard voted for the Iran nuclear deal, albeit while still being critical of Iran.[49] She opposes allowing the US to go to war with Iran without explicit congressional authorization. She opposes the US military support for Saudi Arabia's intervention in Yemen.[50] She also said the US has to stand up for Israel, whom she considers to be America's strongest ally.[51] She opposes the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel's occupation of Palestine and cosponsored a bill establishing support for an independent 'demilitarized' Palestinian state without the ability to raise a military force for its defense.[52]
In a 2015 press release, Gabbard was quoted saying that Egypt's Abdel Fattah el-Sisi had shown "great courage and leadership" in taking on "extreme Islamist ideology".[53] Gabbard has also described India's Narendra Modi as "a leader whose example and dedication to the people he serves should be an inspiration to elected officials everywhere."[34]
In 2015, Gabbard criticised the United States for not bombing al-Qaeda in Syria and said it was "mind-boggling" to protest Russia's military intervention.[54] Gabbard was also in favour of directly supporting and arming Kurdish fighters in Syria and Iraq.[55] Gabbard voted to add extra investigation of Syrian and Iraqi refugees coming into into the US, even though the screening process already took between 1.5 and 3 years.[56][57] This would essentially block Syrian and Iraqi refugees from resettling in the United States.[58]
In March 2016, Gabbard was one of only three members of Congress, and the only Democrat, to vote against a resolution condemning violence against civilians by Assad's forces.[59] In January 2017, she went to Damascus and got wined and dined by the regime.[60][61][62][63] Democratic leaders in Congress were not notified of the trip in advance.[58][60] While she has called Assad a "brutal dictator",[64] she does not believe he is an enemy of the United States.[65] She has stated that Syria "would be in a far worse situation if al-Qaida took charge" and is therefore against a regime-change war.[66]
In a press release following the 2017 Khan Shaykhun chemical attack and Shayrat missile strike, Gabbard stated:
If President Assad is indeed guilty of this horrible chemical attack on innocent civilians, I will be the first to call for his prosecution and execution by the International Criminal Court.[67]
She made similar comments on CNN, adding that she would call Assad a war criminal if he were found responsible after an independent investigation:
If President Assad is found to be responsible after an independent investigation for these horrific chemical weapons attacks, I'll be the first one to denounce him, to call him a war criminal, and to call for his prosecution in the International Criminal Court.[68]
After an investigation, the OPCW-UN Joint Investigative Mechanism[note 2] confirmed Assad's forces were responsible for the Khan Shaykhun attack.[69] However, rather than calling for Assad's "prosecution and execution", according to Gabbard's official website, her position is that "there is evidence to suggest that the attacks [in Khan Shaykhun and Douma] may have been staged by opposition forces".[70] Both attacks occurred after her visit with Assad.
Her website also states that "there is evidence that both the Syrian government of Bashar al-Assad as well as the armed opposition groups aligned against him have used chemical weapons (CW) during the Syrian war",[70] apparently in reference to previous chemical attacks. The evidence shows that Assad's regime carried out almost all — 98 percent — of the chemical weapon attacks.[71] As a guest on The View, Gabbard said "there is no disputing the fact that [Assad] has used chemical weapons and other weapons against his people."[72] Despite this, she has refused to say Assad is a war criminal:
Questioner: Do you remain skeptical, as you were in 2017, that Bashar al-Assad used chemical warfare against Syrian civilians?
Gabbard: I want to correct that because there's been some misunderstanding. There have been reports showing that chemical weapons have been used in Syria, both by the Syrian government as well as different terrorist groups on the ground in Syria.[73]
[...]
Dana Bash: This week, Syrian refugees in Jordan, they requested that the first International Criminal Court case against the Syrian government commence. You met Bashar al-Assad in 2017, do you believe that Assad is a war criminal?
Gabbard: I think that the evidence needs to be gathered and as I have said before, if there is evidence that he has committed war crimes he should be prosecuted as such.
Bash: But you’re not sure now?
Gabbard: Everything that I have said requires that we take action based on evidence. If the evidence is there, there should be accountability.[74]
Bret Baier: In 2017, you visited Syria. You met with Bashar al-Assad. Recently you were asked if he was a war criminal and you couldn’t really say. Can you say it tonight?
Gabbard: Look, like I said earlier, we have to be willing to meet with people who may be adversaries, or potential adversaries or dictators or others, in the pursuit of peace and security. What’s more important than the question that you're asking right now is to focus on the cost of this regime change war on our country.[75]
[...]
Baier: There are people inside the US military, many of them, and inside the US intelligence agencies that believe that Assad was behind the gassing of his own people. You just don’t buy that?
Gabbard: No, what I have said and I have said this numerous times is that the Assad government, the Syrian government, there have been other actors, terrorist groups like al-Qaeda and others, other jihadist groups in Syria, have unfortunately used these chemical weapons in this war that’s currently being waged.[76]
“”Al-Qaeda attacked us on 9/11 and must be defeated. Obama won’t bomb them in Syria. Putin did. #neverforget911
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—Tulsi Gabbard lying on Twitter to praise Putin[77] |
Apparently due to Gabbard's support for Russian military involvement in Syria, she has gained financial campaign support from at least two or three Americans who are Russia sycophants: "Stephen F. Cohen, a Russian studies professor at New York University and prominent Kremlin sympathizer; Sharon Tennison, a vocal Putin supporter"; and "Goofy Grapes", an employee of RT.[78] The actual identity of "Goofy Grapes", who gave $1000, is unknown and would therefore seem to be a violation of the Federal Election Campaign Act.[78][79] In response to the Daily Beast's revelation of these campaign donations, she responded in a most Trumpian manner, by falsely proclaiming "fake news".[80]
On October 18, 2019, Hillary Clinton said that Russia was “grooming” a candidate to run as a third-party candidate who would help President Trump win reelection through the spoiler effect.[81][82] Later that day, Gabbard went Trumpian again, responding in a tweet by attacking Clinton as the "queen of warmongers."[81] Clinton had yet to actually confirm that her remarks were in reference to Gabbard, who nonetheless recognized that Clinton was talking about her.
In February 2019 NBC News published a report charging that "the Russian propaganda machine that tried to influence the 2016 U.S. election is now promoting" Gabbard based on an analysis of the main English-language news sites employed by Russia in the Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections.[83] In October 2019 the New York Times reported that "an independent analysis of the Russian news media found that RT, the Kremlin-backed news agency, mentioned Ms. Gabbard frequently for a candidate polling in single digits, according to data collected by the Alliance for Securing Democracy."[84]
In 2017 Christopher Cooper, a media consultant with the Potomac Square Group, worked as a consultant to Gabbard. Cooper, a figure in the investigation of the Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections, has been involved in Russian-sponsored lobbying; during Congressional testimony his lobbying work was referred to as "one the best examples of Putin’s propaganda."[85][86][87][88][89]
In 2022 it was revealed that Gabbard had accepted money from Elena Chernykh, who was at the time under indictment for illegally acting as an unregistered Russian agent on U.S. soil.[90]
Gabbard has a number of ties to the Science of Identity Foundation (SIF), a religious sect in Hawaii that has been described as a cult.[91][92] The sect is led by Chris Butler (aka Siddhaswarupananda Goswami), who had been a member of the Hare Krishna movement (ISKCON) since 1970 but later split with the organization to found SIF. SIF has sufficient similarities to ISKCON (Vaishnava branch of Hinduism, teaching of Bhakti yoga, similar taboos), that it should probably be regarded as a schism of ISKCON. Former members who were critical of the sect described being forced to worship Butler - up to the point of eating his nail clippings and sand that he had walked on.[91] His teachings were also described as misogynistic and - perhaps foreshadowing Gabbard's future - homophobic and Islamophobic.
Gabbard's father, Mike Gabbard, said in 2004: "Although I'm not a member of the Science of Identity Foundation, I'm eternally thankful to Chris Butler;" however, both he and Gabbard's mother served on the board of the Science of Identity Foundation, and his sister Sinavaiana told The Independent in a 2022 interview that he had joined the group 40 years prior.[93] Gabbard was raised in part with the group's teachings, and went to a boarding school in the Philippines run by the SIF.
In 2015, Gabbard referred to Butler as her "guru dev" or spiritual master.[91] Gabbard's husband, Abraham Williams, has strong family connections to Butler. His mother, Anya Anthony, works with Wai Lana Productions LLC, a company associated with Butler’s wife; Anthony runs Gabbard's political office in Honolulu. Gabbard has not answered questions about her ties to the sect, claiming that it is an attack on her Hindu faith.[94]
Host: Let me ask you in the end, as a soldier how do you respond to the much discussed report on the CIA's use of torture and what some Americans have called a blot on American values. Do you share that opinion or as a soldier do you have a very different perspective on the use of torture?
Gabbard: Very bluntly, I'm conflicted. I'm conflicted on this report. There are-- I think the jury is still out on the report itself. There have been comments that there are things missing or it was incomplete and there are differing opinions on the report itself. But as I think about it myself, clearly we would not like to see any human, any person around the world being treated inhumanely. On the other side, I can also understand that any of us, if we're in a situation where our family, or our community, our state, or our country is in a place where, let's say in an hour, a nuclear bomb or an attack will go off unless this information is found. I believe that if I were the president of the United States that I would do everything in my power to keep the American people safe. So this is an area that I have conflicting feelings on.
Host: Although of course there are questions about whether torture actually leads to the correct intel, right? That debate carries on.
Gabbard: That debate carries on. There are those who are in the position of conducting these interrogations. Some who have said...
Host: ...it does work...
Gabbard: ...it does and others who have said it doesn't.
I've introduced resolutions, introduced amendments, to the defence bill in Congress to say "hey, we need to directly support and arm these Kurdish fighters both in Iraq as well as in Syria."
Gabbard: There is no disputing the fact that Bashar al-Assad in Syria is a brutal dictator. There is no disputing the fact that he has used chemical weapons and other weapons against his people.