Gabbard Abruptly Decides To Drop House Reelection Bid, Arousing Suspicion

Authored by talkingpointsmemo.com and submitted by PoliticallyFit
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Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) announced early Friday morning that she would not seek reelection for her House seat, arousing immediate suspicion that she intends to launch a third-party presidential bid after all.

I’m so grateful to the people of Hawaiʻi for allowing me to serve you in Congress for the last 7 years. Throughout my life, I’ve always made my decisions based on where I felt I could do the most good. In light of the challenges we face, I believe I can… https://t.co/cNcjSNSoZl pic.twitter.com/h3wM6AZLMs — Tulsi Gabbard (@TulsiGabbard) October 25, 2019

Gabbard is an extreme long shot for the White House, already failing to make one of the still-sprawling debate stages. She’s never broken through in the polls and has cobbled together a strange coalition of supporters that includes unsavory elements like former KKK leader David Duke.

Recently, Gabbard responded bombastically to Hillary Clinton’s intimation that she’s a Russian asset being groomed to run as a spoiler, unloading video after video and calling Clinton “queen of the warmongers.”

She also went on Fox News’ “Hannity” Thursday night where she bizarrely defended Republicans’ specious complaints about the impeachment inquiry taking place behind closed doors. In reality, there are many Republicans on all the committees overseeing the inquiry, all of whom are allowed into every hearing.

Gabbard spouts Republican talking points on impeachment inquiry pic.twitter.com/Jzo1F3pYaH — TPM Livewire (@TPMLiveWire) October 25, 2019

Suspicion that Gabbard may use some of her rightwing appeal to launch an independent bid has long been rampant, though the candidate denied any intention of doing so back in September.

She was facing a serious challenger for her House seat, and her recent proclamation that she’d carry her presidential candidacy all the way to the convention — requisite delegates be damned — did make her chances of holding onto the House seat look more shaky.

But still, this is an incredibly odd move. Most presidential candidates hedge their bets for as long as possible, keeping the option of their old seat open as a contingency plan.

Gabbard is not going to be a representative from Hawaii. And she’s almost as certainly not going to be the Democratic candidate. Thus, despite her protestation, this decision begs the question — what is she trying to be?

Seebeeeseh on October 25th, 2019 at 13:24 UTC »

Not originally my post but here are some things people need to know about Tulsi Gabbard:

Tulsi Gabbard comes from a family of conservative activists, most famous for their opposition to gay marriage in Hawaii: https://www.jacobinmag.com/2017/05/tulsi-gabbard-president-sanders-democratic-party

Tulsi Gabbard has said her personal views on LGBT equality haven't changed as recently as 2015: https://www.ozy.com/rising-stars/tulsi-gabbard-a-young-star-headed-for-the-cabinet/62604

Tulsi Gabbard is rated "F" by Progressive Punch for voting with Republicans, despite the strong progressive lean of her district: https://imgur.com/wDhVNKq

Tulsi Gabbard was nearly a part of Trump's cabinet at Steve bannon's suggestion: https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/democratic-rep-tulsi-gabbard-consideration-trump-cabinet/story?id=43696303 https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/307106-bannon-set-up-trump-gabbard-meeting

Tulsi Gabbard has also been praised multiple times by Steve Bannon, Trump's former strategist and prolific white nationalist propagandist: http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/story/36352314/bannon-name-drops-hawaii-congresswoman-in-national-interview/

Tulsi Gabbard declined to join 169 Democrats in condemning Trump for appointing Steve Bannon to his cabinet administration: https://mauitime.com/news/politics/why-didnt-rep-tulsi-gabbard-join-169-of-her-colleagues-in-denouncing-trump-appointee-stephen-bannon/

Tulsi Gabbard isn't anti-war. She's a self-described hawk against terrorists. Her narrow objections center around efforts to spread democracy: "In short, when it comes to the war against terrorists, I'm a hawk," Gabbard said. "When it comes to counterproductive wars of regime change, I'm a dove.": https://www.votetulsi.com/node/27796

Tulsi Gabbard copies the rhetoric of Republicans: Gabbard voted against condemning Bashar al-Assad, president of Syria, and was praised by conservative media for publicly challenging President Barack Obama over his refusal to use the term "Islamic extremism" when discussing terrorism: https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/jan/28/tulsi-gabbard-slams-obamas-refusal-to-say-islamic-/

Tulsi Gabbard also copies the policy of Republicans, voting with them to block Syrian refugees: https://medium.com/@pplswar/tulsi-gabbard-voted-to-make-it-virtually-impossible-for-syrian-refugees-to-come-to-the-u-s-11463d0a7a5a

Tulsi Gabbard has multiple connections to Hindu nationalists: https://www.alternet.org/civil-liberties/curious-islamophobic-politics-dem-congressmember-tulsi-gabbard

Tulsi Gabbard frequently repeats Russian talking points and works to legitimize Assad: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jan/26/tulsi-gabbard-bashar-al-assad-syria-democrats

Tulsi Gabbard was one of only 3 representatives to not condemn Assad for gassing Syrian civilians and the only Democrat: https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-concurrent-resolution/121/text https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/nov/20/house-democrats-refugee-bill-social-media-backlash

Tulsi Gabbard has introduced legislation pushed by GOP-megadonor, Sheldon Adelson: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-politics-adelson-idUSBREA2P0BJ20140326

Tulsi was later awarded a "Champions of Freedom" medal at Adelson's annual gala in 2016: https://www.thedailybeast.com/tulsi-gabbard-the-bernie-endorsing-congresswoman-who-trump-fans-can-love

Senator Mazie Hirono from Hawaii did not endorse Tulsi's 2020 bid due to concerns of Tulsi's lack of a progressive record. Senator Hirono said she would be "looking for someone who has a long record of supporting progressive goals" when asked if she will support Gabbard in the Democratic primary.

Tulsi Gabbard was born into a cult called the Science of Identity. It was created in the 1970's and is led by a white man named Chris Butler, but he calls himself Jagad Guru Siddhaswarupananda Paramahamsa. Tulsi's own aunt has come forward and called it the “alt-right of the Hare Krishna movement”. To this day she is an active member and some of her campaign staff come directly from that cult. https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/06/tulsi-gabbard-2020-presidential-campaign.html

brasswirebrush on October 25th, 2019 at 12:31 UTC »

She also went on Fox News’ “Hannity” Thursday night where she bizarrely defended Republicans’ specious complaints about the impeachment inquiry taking place behind closed doors.

There is no excuse for any actual human being to not be able to see through what she is doing at this point.

TwilitSky on October 25th, 2019 at 12:28 UTC »

She went on Hannity last night to complain about the closed door impeachment hearings.

I mean... come on.