Tulsi Gabbard: A Democratic enigma
“What was Hillary Clinton thinking?” asked Tom Nichols in The Atlantic.com. Unprovoked, Clinton started “conspiracy theorizing” on a podcast last week, claiming Russia is “grooming” Democratic presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard—the 38-year-old Hawaiian congresswoman who “barely registered in polls”—to run as a third-party spoiler. It was a characteristic “clumsy, self-absorbed move” by Clinton, who probably wanted to get back at Gabbard for endorsing Clinton’s rival Bernie Sanders in 2016. In response, an irate Gabbard called Clinton “queen of warmongers” and the “personification of the rot that has sickened the Democratic Party.” Gabbard is no Russian asset, said Jeet
Heer in TheNation.com, but she certainly is “an exotic figure.” A mixed-race Hawaiian whose Samoan father belonged to a religious offshoot of Hare Krishna, she’s a combat veteran with an Islamophobic streak and inexplicably favorable views of Russia. By attacking her, Clinton gave Gabbard “an enormous amount of free publicity.”
Sadly, many Democrats echoed Clinton’s “conspiratorial madness” about Gabbard, said Michael Brendan Dougherty in NationalReview.com. For today’s liberal establishment, any break from their foreign policy orthodoxy “is evidence of treason.” Gabbard, however, is a daringly “independent” thinker who has been consistently skeptical of “regime-change wars” and mocked President Obama’s refusal to say “radical Islamic terrorism.” And yes, she also breaks from her party by refusing to demonize Russia. But despite her attacks on Clinton, Gabbard is no conservative, said Cheryl Chumley in Washington Times.com. She supports Medicare for All and has endorsed bans on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. In other words, Gabbard’s domestic agenda is on the “far-left fringe.”
Gabbard may not be a Russian plant, said Philip Rotner in TheBulwark.com, but “there is evidence” she’s the Kremlin’s preferred candidate. Russian TV and news agencies have been covering her heavily and positively. “She has adopted some distinctly Trumpian postures,” like vilifying the press. Gabbard’s roster of avowed fans includes former Trump chief strategist Steve Bannon, farright conspiracy theorist Mike Cernovich, rightwing provocateur Ann Coulter, Fox News host Tucker Carlson, and a slew of online neo-Nazis. Gabbard has no chance to win the Democratic nomination, but she could launch a third-party bid if she feels spurned by her party and siphon off a critical number of Democratic votes. Nobody should question her patriotism, “but at the same time, let’s keep an eye on Tulsi Gabbard.”