Tulsi Hasn't Changed. Democrats Have. Just Ask Bernie Sanders
#10 President Trump chose her for Director of National Intelligence for the same reasons a President Sanders might have.
U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Harley Thomas/Public Domain
Tulsi Gabbard once said about the upcoming election, “There is a clear contrast between our two candidates with regard to my strong belief that we must end the interventionist, regime change policies that have cost us so much. This is not just another ‘issue.’ This is THE issue, and it’s deeply personal to me.”
She also said, “As a veteran and as a soldier I’ve seen firsthand the true cost of war. I served in a medical unit during my first deployment, where every single day I saw firsthand the very high human cost of that war.”
“I think it’s most important for us, as we look at our choices as to who our next commander in chief will be, is to recognize the necessity to have a commander in chief who has foresight, exercises good judgment, who looks beyond the consequences, looks at the consequences of the actions they’re looking to take, before they take those actions, so we don’t continue to find ourselves in these failures that have resulted in chaos in the Middle East and so much loss of life.”
Gabbard was endorsing her candidate of choice that year.
Bernie Sanders.
It was 2016 and Gabbard was endorsing Sanders in his Democratic presidential primary challenge against Hillary Clinton. She even resigned as the Democratic National Committee vice chair to support him.
When Hillary Clinton was screwing Bernie in the primaries, Tulsi had his back.
Tulsi Endorsed Bernie, Tulsi Endorsed Trump… for the SAME Reasons
You might think that what Gabbard said about Sanders nine years ago, particularly on war and peace - LONG Gabbard’s primary issues - might have sounded like what she would say today about Donald Trump.
You would be correct.
Here’s Tulsi’s endorsement of Trump for president in August (sound familiar?):
This is personal for me as I know it is for so many of you here. This is real. It's not just words. I first deployed to Iraq in 2005 with the Hawaii Army National Guard as a member of Charlie Med. As those of you who were deployed during that time know, it was at the height of the war, and sadly, we took many casualties…
So, I mean what I say when I share with you that I know that President Trump understands the grave responsibility that a president and commander in chief bears for every single one of our lives, whether you're a soldier, you're an airman, a Marine, sailor, or a Coastie, he keeps us in his heart and the decisions that he makes.
We saw this through his first term in the presidency when he not only didn't start any new wars, he took action to de-escalate and prevent wars. He exercised the courage that we expect from our commander in chief in exhausting all measures of diplomacy, having the courage to meet with adversaries, dictators, allies, and partners alike in the pursuit of peace, seeing war as a last resort.
As an antiwar congresswoman, Gabbard endorsed one of the most leftwing members of Congress in Bernie Sanders, and later endorsed one of the most right-leaning populist members of the Republican Party in Donald Trump.
So what happened? Who changed?
WHAT changed?
Because it wasn’t Tulsi.
Why Trump Chose Gabbard for Director of National Intelligence
The Director of National Intelligence oversees 18 intelligence communities agencies, the National Security Agency (NSA), Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) among them.
These agencies play vital roles in both America’s foreign and domestic policies, which can affect the country and even the world significantly on matters of war, peace, and basic civil liberties.
Remember the false “intelligence” from the George W. Bush administration about Saddam Hussein having weapons of mass destruction, and where that led?
Remember when then Director of National Intelligence James Clapper lied to Congress, saying that the NSA was not collecting Americans’ private data en masse, and they were?
That lie prompted Edward Snowden to blow the whistle on the NSA.
Here’s a Slate headline from 12 years ago, back when many progressives still thought the unwarranted mass collection of citizens data by the government was bad.
President Trump wants to give Tulsi Gabbard James Clapper’s old job. The NSA, the DIA and the CIA and other intelligence agencies would all report to her.
Top boss.
It’s not hard to understand why permanent Washington is terrified of this happening.
But it is hard to understand why progressive Democrats are worried.
Democrats and Republicans Have Flipped on War and Civil Liberties
Centrist Republican and Democrat congressional members are typically bipartisan supporters of America’s wars. In other words, there was never much daylight on foreign policy between, say, the late Republican Senator John McCain and Democrat Hillary Clinton.
If there was a war America was looking to get involved in, they were for it.
It is the far-left where you will find antiwar voices in the Democratic party (think Reps. Ilhan Omar or Ro Khanna), and it is the hard libertarian and populist right where you will find antiwar sentiment in the Republican party (think Sen. Rand Paul and Rep. Thomas Massie).
Gabbard has been both. As a representative of Hawaii, Gabbard was once firmly part of the left flank of her Democratic Party. Today she is perceived as being right-wing for aligning herself with Trump, but she hasn’t budged an inch on her foreign policy and civil liberties views.
Democrats, on the other hand, now make common cause with the neoconservatives that used to dominate and define the GOP, and over time simply cared less about the issues so central for Gabbard.
In short, neocon godfather Bill Kristol is a Democrat now, and should be.
They are the party of war, mass surveillance and the Deep State.
Bill’s people!
Donald Trump ran against this version of the Democratic Party in 2024, denouncing “endless wars,” calling for the government to stop censoring speech, vowing to end government spying on citizens, and Gabbard joined him for all the obvious reasons.
And he won.
There are still plenty of warmongering Republicans, But Trump’s Republican Party at the base, grassroots level up to his White House level, is now firmly the major American political party less inclined to begin wars or prolong them.
And Tulsi’s there for it.
***
This will be published right before the confirmation vote for Tulsi Gabbard for Director of National Intelligence, currently scheduled for Tuesday, February 4th.
It will be curious to see which way Sen. Sanders votes. Does he stick up for an old antiwar ally and supporter who stuck up for him?
Or does he go along with the rest of the pro-war, pro-Deep State Democratic Party?
Here’s what Bernie said of Tulsi after she endorsed him nearly a decade ago:
"Congresswoman Gabbard is one of the important voices of a new generation of leaders. As a veteran of the Iraq War she understands the cost of war and is fighting to create a foreign policy that not only protects America but keeps us out of perpetual wars that we should not be in."
Bernie Sanders was right.
And a senator with an ounce of integrity or principle would take his own advice on Tulsi Gabbard before his vote.
Democrats left Tulsi. Not the other way around.
He would know better than anyone.
This an excellent summary and exposes both Tulsi’s continued honesty and the essential dishonesty of the claim by other Democrats, former or current, to be the party that opposes war, militarism and forms of State oppression at home or abroad. Tulsi has actual principles she continues to advocate. Sanders has spent a lifetime pretending to be the leftwing conscience of his party, only to illustrate that loyalty to the Party is the only real feature of that and he will go wherever they direct, in the end.
Praying.