Tulsi Gabbard

It appears as though Moscow Center has reactivated their asset Tulsi Gabbard in the service of the Russian war on Ukraine. Tulsi is a regular on Fox, reliably spouting Moscow's line. It is rather difficult to know what to make of her, as today we are rather at a loss of words for her apparent role.

Mitt Romney on 13 March 2022 wrote : "Tulsi Gabbard is parroting false Russian propaganda. Her treasonous lies may well cost lives." Tulsi Gabbard attacked Mitt Romney on Tucker Carlson's show, after the Utah Senator called her a traitor for querying US funding given to Ukrainian biolabs - now at the mercy of Russia. Gabbard called for Romney's resignation for calling her a traitor.

During the Cold War, anti-Communists had a rich vocabulary to describe the various flavors of their opponents. A fellow traveler was a person who sympathized with and often furthered the ideals and program of an organized group (such as the Communist party) without membership in the group or regular participation in its activities. In the old days there were many other terms used to describe those Americans who did the bidding of Moscow: comsymp [coined by John Birch Society founder Robert Welch from a blend of Communist + sympathizer], useful idiot [seemingly Lenin's phrase for a person propagandizing for a cause without fully comprehending the cause's goals, long in circulation to describe naive revolutionary tourists and other ignorant dupes of foreign powers], stooge, dupe, pink [to describe anyone perceived to have leftist or socialist sympathies, but not full blown Red Bolshevik], pinko [coined in 1925 in the United States to describe a person regarded as being sympathetic to communism], parlor pink [a not-quite-Bolshevik who acts like they don't really mean it], left winger, red fellow, commie, comrade, red, lefto, leftist, lefty, linkydink, radical, bolshie, bolshevik, cardcarrying, radish, or knee-jerk lefty.

Russian-American national Elena Branson a/k/a “Elena Chernykh,” was indicted 08 March 2022 for lobbying for pro-Kremlin policies while not registered as a foreign agent. She gave to one U.S. politician - whopping $59.95. Branson made two donations in 2019 to Gabbard’s presidential campaign.

Gabbard responded that the media is blatantly lying to the American people, and responded to the accusations of her campaign receiving funds from supposed Russian agents, saying: “You saw headlines a couple of days ago: ‘Tulsi Gabbard Paid Off By Russian Agents.’

“What the media is lying about is the fact that an American citizen gave my campaign a $59 contribution coming from a woman I’ve never met, someone I don’t know, I don’t know anything about, but somehow they feel justified in saying, ‘Tulsi Gabbard is being paid off.’”

Gabbard highlighted the dangers that come from the media deceiving the public so blatantly, saying these “so-called journalists have a responsibility to the public,” and if they keep getting away with these lies with no accountability, it poses “a direct threat to our democratic republic... They continue to parrot and propagate these lies and they need to be held accountable. They need to be exposed,” she said.

The "Manchurian Candidate" is available in a book and two movie versions, and remains a potent theme. The dramatic arc of the plot involves the effort of the protagonist to expose a plot by hostile foreign powers to place a stooge who will do their bidding in the Oval Office. There are many take aways here, but surely one is that such plots are hard to unravel and expose.

The criminal justice system deals with proof "beyond reasonable doubt", a fundamental concept that does not easily lend itself to refinement or definition. There are very few things in this world that are known with absolute certainty, and in criminal cases the law does not require proof that overcomes every possible doubt. Although legal professionals are inclined to avoid specific values to the standards of proof, “beyond reasonable doubt” is often considered to be upwards of 98% confidence.

The matter of Tulsi Gabbard's relationship to Moscow Center, if any, is primarily a counter-intelligence matter, not a criminal justice question. In the realm of intelligence and counter-intelligence, statements of estimative probability range from possibly [50%], to probably [75%], to almost certainly [80-100%].

Gabbard announced in January 2020 she would sue Hillary Clinton for suggesting she was a 'Russian asset.' Clinton’s conspiracy theory that Gabbard was in the employ of the Russians went something like this: somewhere deep behind the walls of the Kremlin, the Russians, trembling at the prospect of having to play 4D chess against the likes of old Joe Biden, came to the conclusion that Donald Trump would never emerge victorious in 2020 without a third-party candidate to play spoiler. Thus, as the story goes, the Russians began “grooming” one of the Democratic candidates for the role.

"I'm not making any predictions, but I think they [the Kremlin] have got their eye on somebody who is currently in the Democratic primary and are grooming her to be the third-party candidate," Clinton said in an interview with the Campaign HQ podcast. "She's the favorite of the Russians... They have a bunch of sites and bots and other ways of supporting her."

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton appeared to call Tulsi Gabbard "the favorite of the Russians" in the 2020 elections race. "I think they've got their eye on somebody who's currently in the Democratic primary, and they're grooming her to be the third-party candidate," Clinton said on the "Campaign HQ" podcast that first aired on 17 October 2019. "She's the favorite of the Russians. They have a bunch of sites and bots and other ways of supporting her so far."

The former US top diplomat also described 2016 Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein as "a Russian asset". The Russians know they cannot win without a third-party candidate, Clinton added.

A Suffolk University poll conducted for the Boston Globe in late NOvember 2019 showed Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) at six percent. An Emerson University poll also released the same week showed her with six percent support.

Gabbard said in a statement: “Our campaign is building momentum in New Hampshire and across the country because we are running an independent-minded, people-powered campaign focused on ending regime wars, the new Cold War and arms race and reinvesting in the needs of the American people. Whether it is on the debate stage or a town hall in New Hampshire, our campaign will continue speaking out so we can usher in a 21st century of peace, prosperity and national renewal, and a government that is truly of, by and for the people.”

Trump continued to defend Democratic presidential hopeful Tulsi Gabbard and physician Jill Stein on 01 November 2019, telling supporters at a rally in Mississippi that his former rival Hillary Clinton was continuing to spread a “hoax” which she had originally tried to use against him. “She’s a beauty,” Trump said, commenting on Mrs. Clinton and her email server scandal. “How about last week? Did you hear? I don’t know who Tulsi Gabbard is, but I know one thing: she’s not an agent of Russia." Trump added "And Jill Stein, she’s a greenie, that’s fine. We love the environment, everybody in this room…I don’t know Jill Stein, she ran last time. I don’t know her, but I know she’s not an agent of Russia,”.

“When Hillary made those statements, two statements, both of them – ‘they work for Russia', 'they’re agents of Russia’, I said you know, when she made that statement about me three years ago, it took me two years to get out of that hoax statement! She made it about them, everybody laughed because of what we proved,” Trump said. “But I’ll tell you what, these are very bad people. These are very dishonest people, and the media is worse than all of them,” Trump noted.

Gabbard had taken advantage of Clinton’s attack and the national media attention it brought to engage in fundraising, with a recent USA Today/Suffolk poll showing her increasing in the polls to 4 percent support, overtaking rivals Senator Kamala Harris and entrepreneur Andrew Yang but still far behind the frontrunner, former vice president Joe Biden, as well as senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, and South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg.

Gabbard initially responded "You, the queen of warmongers, embodiment of corruption, and personification of the rot that has sickened the Democratic Party for so long, have finally come out from behind the curtain. From the day I announced my candidacy, there has been a concerted campaign to destroy my reputation. We wondered who was behind it and why. Now we know — it was always you, through your proxies and powerful allies in the corporate media and war machine, afraid of the threat I pose. It’s now clear that this primary is between you and me. Don’t cowardly hide behind your proxies. Join the race directly." Gabbard has a history of aligning herself with Russian talking points.

During her discussion with Fox News host Tucker Carlson, Gabbard framed Clinton’s opposition as being not only against her candidacy, but against “every veteran in this country, every service member, every American, anyone watching at home fighting for peace and who was calling for an end to these regime change wars.” Gabbard said “Ultimately she knows she can’t control me”. Responding to Carlson’s question about why Clinton is taking aim at her. “I stand against everything that she represents and if I’m elected president, if I’m the Democratic nominee and elected president she will not be able to control me. She won’t be able to manipulate me. She won’t be able to continue to work from behind the curtains, to continue these regime change wars that have been so costly.”

Gabbard said the blood of her “brothers and sisters in uniform” killed in Iraq, a “war she championed,” is “on her hands.” “I am calling for an end to these regime change wars. This is why she’s speaking out strongly and smearing my character and trying to undermine my campaign,” she said. “Just as she is doing this to me, this is what will happen to anybody who is doing the same.”

Responding to a question from the Fox News host about the massive media and political opposition from both parties to her foreign policy positions, Gabbard took a swing at the Clinton legacy: "And now we know exactly why. It’s because I am standing up and speaking out strongly against the Hillary Clinton legacy, the warmongering legacy of waging these regime change wars, continuing to escalate these tensions between the United States, nuclear armed countries like Russia, China, this nuclear arms race bringing more profits to the military-industrial complex."

Former George W. Bush senior adviser Karl Rove admonished Hillary Clinton for accusing Democratic presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard of being a Russian asset, saying Clinton should present proof of her claims or "go away." Rove said on "The Story with Martha MacCallum" - "Put up or shut up". Rove continued "She's either got to come forward with the evidence of the bots in the platforms or the sites that are being used on behalf of Gabbard. She has to come up with the evidence of Jill Stein was a Russian asset. Tell us who proved that that was the case. Or better yet, just shut up or go away. This is just appalling."

Clinton's remarks apparently weren't significant enough for CNN and MSNBC to feature during primetime hours, known for maximized viewership. There was no mention of Clinton's controversial statements during CNN's "Anderson Cooper 360," "Cuomo Prime Time," and the entire first hour of "CNN Tonight with Don Lemon." There was an even lengthier blackout of the controversy on MSNBC as "The Beat with Ari Melber," "All In with Chris Hayes," "The Rachel Maddow Show," "Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell," and "The 11th Hour with Brian Williams" made no mention of the clash.

Center for American Progress President Neera Tanden said she didn't understand "why major media outlets aren't more concerned about Russian bot support of Tulsi than Hillary's statement." Democratic presidential candidates, like Beto O’Rourke and Andrew Yang, chided Clinton for her remarks. Marianne Williamson defended Gabbard, accusing Clinton of “the character assassination of women who don’t toe the party line,” and Yang commending Gabbard’s military service (In the US military, not Russia’s). “Tulsi is not being groomed by anyone," Texas Representative Beto O’Rourke added on Saturday, while South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg told CNN’s Jake Tapper on 20 July 2019 that "statements like that ought to be backed by evidence." Even Tapper called Clinton’s claim an “obvious smear” and a “wild accusation.” Fellow CNN host Van Jones accused the former contender of playing “a very dangerous game,” and denounced her for giving Gabbard “payback hell” for quitting the DNC and supporting Bernie Sanders in 2016.

Democrat presidential candidate Andrew Yang defended fellow White House contender Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI). “Tulsi Gabbard deserves much more respect and thanks than this. She literally just got back from serving our country abroad,” Yang wrote on Twitter.

CNN contributor Van Jones told CNN anchor Erin Burnet that Clinton was “playing a very dangerous game... ...If you’re concerned about disinformation, what the Russians do is spread disinformation, get people divided against each other. That is what just happened, just throw out some information, disinformation, smear somebody. She is Hillary Clinton. She’s a legend. She’s going to be in the history books, she’s a former nominee of our party, and she just came out against a sitting U.S. congresswoman, a decorated war veteran, and somebody who’s running for the nomination of our party with just a complete smear and no facts.”

Trump defended Gabbard. "I don’t know Tulsi, but she’s not a Russian agent," Trump said. He did not explain how he knows this but did go off on a rant. "These people are sick. There’s something wrong with them," he said inreference to Clinton and her supporters. He also argued that Gabbard, who is at the bottom tier of the polls with 1 or 2 per cent of support, would be helped by Clinton's charge. "I think that Tulsi Gabbard probably got helped quite a bit by this there," Trump said. "Hillary Clinton, I don’t know if you’ve heard of her, she’s the one accusing everybody of being a Russian agent. Anybody that is opposed to her is a Russian agent," he said. "That’s a scam that was pretty much put down."

Gabbard, for her part, claimed Clinton is attacking her because she endorsed Bernie Sanders in the 2016 presidential election. In a two minute video posted to her Twitter account, that had 2 million views wihin hours, Gabbard charged a 'corrupt elite' with trying to 'destroy my reputation' because I stood up to them.'

'I’m not afraid to openly express my love for our country. But if they can falsely portray me as a traitor, then they can do it to anyone. And, in fact, that is exactly the message that they want to get across to you, that if you stand up against Hillary and the party power brokers, if you stand up to the rich and powerful elite, and the war machine they will destroy you and discredit your message...'

Tulsi dropped out of her Congressional race because she didn’t want to get beaten in the April 4th Hawaii primary. She was in New York City attending a private gathering with Wall Street executives. The executives, absolutely terrified of a Warren presidency, are gunning for a spoiler. Tulsi was on Hannity at Fox News 24 October 2019 agreeing with Matt Gaetz’ security-violating stunt, and earlier went on Tucker Carlson to bash Democrats while giving him a pass for his blantant brand of white supremacism.

Russian President Vladimir Putin poked fun 03 October 2019 at the ongoing political crisis in the US by joking about election meddling. When asked about concerns the Russia might interfere in the 2020 US elections, he replied: "I'll tell you a secret: Yes, we'll definitely do it," Putin said. "Just don't tell anyone," he added, in a stage whisper.

A bipartisan panel of US Senators 08 October 2019 called for sweeping action by Congress, the White House and Silicon Valley to ensure social media sites aren’t used to interfere in the coming presidential election, delivering a sobering assessment about the weaknesses that Russian operatives exploited in the 2016 campaign. The Senate Intelligence Committee said that in the 2016 election the Russians worked to damage Democrat Hillary Clinton while bolstering Republican Donald Trump — and stated that another round of interference was likely in the 2020 vote.

In the 2000 presidential election, Ralph Nader votes in two states — Florida and New Hampshire — to give the states to Bush rather than Gore. Nader won 97,488 votes in Florida, which would have given the state’s 25 electoral votes to Gore. Even without Florida, Nader’s 4 percent of the New Hampshire vote made the different with Gore’s 47 percent, which would have given Gore a 270 to 267 electoral college victory.

THE question “Are you now or have you ever been a member of the Communist Party?" defined the decade of the 1950s. In 1950, the Communist Party USA had fewer than 50,000 members [many of who were FBI assets] out of a total US population of 150 million American. Yet in the late 1940s and early 1950s, American fears of internal communist subversion reached a nearly hysterical pitch. The postwar Red Scare is often called “McCarthyism,” derived from one of the era’s most notorious anti-Communists, Senator Joseph McCarthy. But the anti-Communist crusade of the late 1940s and 1950s extended both in time and scope well beyond the activities of the junior senator from Wisconsin.

McCarthy discredited anti-Communism. Like many other red hunters, McCarthy vastly exaggerated the domestic communist threat. The prominent convictions of a few suspected spies fueled a frenzy by many who saw communists everywhere. By 1954 when Senator McCarthy began to investigate Communists in the Army, the Senate voted overwhelmingly to censure McCarthy and his influence evaporated. Thereafter, anti-communism - aka McCarthyism - lacked all credibility.

Today very few Americans have direct memory of actual McCartyism. Most of what people think they know about the Red Scare is derived from films such as Tail Gunner Joe (1977 TV Movie), Reds (1981), Guilty by Suspicion (1991), Trumbo (2015). These films generally take a sympatheic view of the alleged "communists", who are frequently portrayed as harmless liberal social activists. And the anti-Communists generally receive a rather luridly unfavorable treatment. Hence the ease with which a charge of "McCarthyism" is flung about today.

The Soviet Union heavily subsidized the CPUSA from its earliest days; maintained an underground organization in Washington in the 1930s that reported to the CPUSA and in turn to Moscow on US government activities; and placed CPUSA members in the wartime OSS and OWI, the government's major intelligence and propaganda agencies.

Moscow center remains actively attempting to influence American politics. A successful clandestine influence operation should not be readily detectable. If it were a fact, it would not be intelligence. Considereation of Russian intervention in the 2020 election must deal in statements of estimative probability familiar to the intelligence worlds - such as "probably" - rather than the criminal justice ironclad “beyond reasonable doubt”.

Meet Tulsi Gabbard

Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) was the ideal candidate for president. She is youthful, poised, energetic, a decorated war veteran, a compelling television presence, and so on down the checklist of candidate qualifications. The outspoken anti-war advocate said that she was thinking of how she can “best be of service” to the US in a meet-up in New Hampshire. Speculation had been rife that Gabbard, who backed Bernie Sanders in 2016, was contemplating a presidential bid of her own. However, the popular Hawaii Democrat was tight-lipped about the prospect, despite making a series of appearances at high-profile progressive events, firing up her base in Iowa and New Hampshire, the first and the second states to host nationwide party primary elections.

In the “First in the Nation” New Hampshire Primary, the Emerson Poll conducted 6-9 September 2019 found Tulsi Gabbard, who did not qualify for the third Democratic debate,in sixth place with 6% in the Granite state. The poll by HarrisX was conducted Sept. 6-11 for No Labels, a nonpartisan political group committed to ending partisan gridlock, found Gabbard in fourth place at 6 percent, virtually tied with Sen. Kamala Harris and Mayor Pete Buttigieg, who received 5 percent each.

Gabbard, along with more than 10 other Democratic 2020 hopefuls, didn't make the cut, due to the Democratic National Committee's (DNC) more stringent requirements. In order to be part of the third DNC debate broadcast by ABC News and Univision 12 September 2019, candidates had to get contributions from 130,000 donors in at least 20 states, with at least 400 contributions from each of those states. To make the cut, candidates also had to poll at 2 percent or higher in four DNC-approved polls conducted between the end of June and late August. According to the DNC, the representative from Hawaii didn't meet the 2 percent threshold.

Tulsi Gabbard was born in Leloaloa, American Samoa. An advocate for environmental policy, Tulsi ran for the Hawaii State Legislature in 2002 and became the youngest person ever elected. A year later, Tulsi joined the Hawaii National Guard. In 2004, Tulsi voluntarily deployed to Iraq with her fellow Soldiers of the 29th Brigade eventually serving two tours of combat duty in the Middle East. Tulsi was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal during Operation Iraqi Freedom, was the first female Distinguished Honor Graduate at Fort McClellan's Officer Candidate School, and was the first woman to ever receive an award of appreciation from the Kuwaiti military on her second overseas tour. Tulsi is one of the first two female combat veterans and the first Hindu to ever serve as a member of the U.S. Congress.

She is married to Abraham Williams, a cinematographer who has worked on a series of shorts in Hawaii. He filmed a few campaign videos for Gabbard. According to a New Yorker article from 2017, Williams and Gabbard enjoy paddleboarding on an unmarked beach as the sun rises. Gabbard also has a great relationship with her mother-in-law, who was brought on to work as her office manager in Washington.

Gabbard was in New Hampshire to drum up support for her progressive cause in December 2018, when she was asked whether she had already set a date for the big announcement. Short of providing an unequivocal response, Gabbard said that she has been “seriously thinking of how I can be best of service to our country.” If she ventures to join what is expected to become a crowded field of Democratic contestants, Gabbard might have to face off with Sanders, who also recently signaled another run.

Asked whether the Vermont Senator’s decision would influence hers, Gabbard made clear a possible clash is not on the list of her concerns. “I think you’d better ask him what his plans are, I’m thinking about how I can be best of service to our country,” she doubled down.

Addressing a packed audience at Rockingham County on Sunday, Gabbard covered many nationwide issues, such as the dominance of big corporate money in US politics and the “counter-productive” interventionist policy of the successive US administrations. “I’ve been meeting with progressive leaders and activists who are doing the work that’s necessary on the ground to make the kind of change that we need to see across the country at the local level and the national level,” she told Honolulu Civil Beat in the wake of the meeting.

Rumors of Gabbard’s anticipated run have been circling for several months. In September, she headlined a summit of several hundred progressive and grassroots activists in New Hampshire. In October 2018, Gabbard was one of the keynote speakers in the annual Johnson County Democrats fundraiser in Iowa, where she was reportedly cheered on by supporters to consider a presidential campaign.

Gabbard resigned as Democratic National Committee (DNC) vice-chair in early 2016 to endorse Sanders and has long since fallen out with the Democratic establishment. She angered the mainstream left by going on a private fact-finding mission to Syria in 2017, during which she met with President Bashar Assad and other officials. Gabbard, an Iraq War veteran, argues that the US’s primary goal in Syria is to topple the Assad government through terrorist proxies on the ground.

The anti-interventionist congresswoman, known for speaking her mind, drew a massive backlash for pointing out that the Trump administration acts “as protectors of AQ [Al-Qaeda] in Syria/Idlib.” Gabbard also called Trump “Saudi Arabia’s b*tch” for his decision to stand with Saudi Arabia in the aftermath of the killing of Washington Post contributor Jamal Khashoggi.

She is viewed as one of the new wave progressives who are promising to shake up the Democratic Party establishment. Supporters rally behind Gabbard because she is not afraid to speak out against vested interests, even when that puts her on the out with party bosses. During the Obama administration, she frequently went on national TV shows to denounce his policy of military intervention in Syria and Washington’s support for anti-government militant groups. She has consistently condemned US overseas wars and regime-change intrigues.

As a veteran of the Iraq War, twice deployed, Gabbard’s criticism of American military adventurism has an authority that few can dispute. In one congressional hearing, Gabbard schooled former NATO Commander Philip Breedlove about American hypocrisy over claims of Russian meddling in US elections. She reminded the general that the US has interfered in elections in over 80 countries, including Russia, going back several decades.

Her calls for campaign finance reform and tougher regulation of Wall Street, as well as for slashing Washington’s gargantuan year-on-year military spending, may well rally progressives inside and outside the party. But for Democrat grandees in congress, many of them are generously financed by lobby groups tied to the military-industrial complex. Gabbard’s rising star means their setting sun as career politicians. Given the control of party machinery, as seen in the debacle over Clinton and Sanders in 2016, the scales could be tipped against Gabbard going forward as the presidential candidate in 2020.

The Manchurian Candidate

Gabbard poses a thorny problem for the neocon-neoliberal axis, as she checks all the identity politics boxes – the first Hindu member of Congress, a woman, a veteran – and she has undeniable populist appeal, given her anti-establishment record. But she supports Assad, she’s a Trump pal, she tried to sabotage the DNC from within in 2016, and Russia Today loves her. “Assad’s ‘mouthpiece’ in Washington” — the RNC welcomed Tulsi Gabbard to the presidential race with a moniker that many liberals probably agree with.

Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (HI-02) introduced the Stop Arming Terrorists Act to prohibit the U.S. government from using American taxpayer dollars to provide funding, weapons, training, and intelligence support to groups like the Levant Front, Fursan al Ha and other allies of Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, al-Qaeda and ISIS, or to countries who are providing direct or indirect support to those same groups. The legislation is cosponsored by Reps. Peter Welch (D-VT-AL), Barbara Lee (D-CA-13), Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA-48), and Thomas Massie (R-KY-04), and supported by the Progressive Democrats of America (PDA) and the U.S. Peace Council.

Alfred Marder, President of the U.S. Peace Council said, “The U.S. Peace Council is honored to endorse and support the ‘Stop Arming Terrorists Bill’ as a major contribution to peace. This legislation will serve to galvanize the anti-war movement and the opposition to regime change policies that characterize our present foreign policy.”

U.S. Peace Council is a front organization of the Communist Party, U.S.A. serving as the American branch of the World Peace Council. The World Peace Council operated under the joint control of the International Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and the Soviet KGB. The WPC had two main functions: To influence public opinion and governmental policies in non-Communist countries along lines favorable to Soviet policy goals, and to provide logistical support to Soviet-supported terrorist groups.

The US Peace Council endorsement is something of a puzzle. No conventional politician would accept such an endorsement. Gabbard's embrace of this well known Soviet front orgnization may reflect naivete, or it may constitute an overt acknowledgment on her part of a willingness to accept the support of Moscow Center.

On the 16 January 2019 episode of Fault Lines [a Sputnik news radio program], hosts Garland Nixon and Lee Stranahan discuss Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard's announcement to run for President and how her decision is being received thus far. While the DNC and Democratic establishment may view this as a potential headache, could public grassroots support turn Gabbard into a legitimate contender? Political activist & broadcast journalist Niko House joined Garland and Lee to talk about Gabbard's prospects as a Presidential candidate in 2020 and the treatment she can expect to receive from the DNC given their tense relationship.

Gabbard first became an in-demand Fox News guest in 2015 after she criticized Barack Obama’s unwillingness to use the label “radical Islamic terrorism.” Her media tour explaining that position earned her positively-tilted coverage in right-wing outlets like Breitbart and The Daily Caller—a trend that continued when she later expressed skepticism of Obama’s Iran nuclear deal.

In May 2015, the National Review implored readers to “Meet the Beautiful, Tough Young Democrat Who’s Turning Heads by Challenging Obama’s Foreign Policy.” The conservative outlet touted Gabbard as having “endeared herself to right-wing hawks” by challenging Obama’s “rudderless” foreign policy.

She was briefly considered as a potential member for Trump’s cabinet. White House chief strategist Steve Bannon reportedly admired Gabbard’s foreign policy, and arranged a meeting with her and Trump shortly after his election. Bannon reportedly considered Gabbard for an administration role, although no job ever materialized. Gabbard has earned substantial praise from many across the right—from Fox News star Tucker Carlson to white nationalists like David Duke. The alt-right groups are flocking to her defense.

Gabbard may not have the national prominence to win the Democratic nomination outright, but she could be a top choice as a vice presidential pick if she can demonstrate the ability to woo pivotal Catholic voters. And a third party candidacy might woo Bernie Sanders supports, drawing votes away from the Democracts, and helping the Republican candidate.

Gabbard (D-Hawaii) surprised her own aides when she announced on CNN that she planned to run for president. Politico reported Tuesday that Gabbard's team was "blindsided" when she made the announcement in an interview with CNN's Van Jones on 11 January 2019. Gabbard's campaign website was not yet ready to go live, social media posts weren't prepared and a launch video hadn't been approved. By February 2019 campaign manager Rania Batrice and Gabbard’s consulting firm Revolution Messaging were set to depart after this weekend’s official kickoff in Hawaii, two sources familiar with the situation told POLITICO. Gabbard was leaning on her sister, Vrindavan, to fill the void.

Rep. Tulsi Gabbard's (D., Hawaii) campaign criticized "media giants ruled by corporate interests" in a fundraising email sent out on 09 February 2019. The email also suggests journalism was being used against her campaign in a manner akin to 1950s-era McCarthyism. " When journalism is deployed as a weapon against those who call for peace, it threatens our democracy as it seeks to silence debate and dissent, creates an atmosphere of fear and paranoia, and stokes the rhetoric that could lead to nuclear war.... This danger is not new – we saw it take hold of our nation during the last Cold War, as McCarthyite hysteria," the email continues.... Russia-baiting propaganda is being deployed against our campaign along with anyone else, on the left or the right, who speaks out against regime change war or the new Cold War. The corporate media is doing everything they can to stop our campaign before it gets started – including using fraudulent journalism and discredited sources to launch their biased attacks..."

US politicians criticizing imperialist US foreign policy interventions, this time in the Middle East, and helpfully excluding other major world powers' own interventions, is exactly the message Russia seeks to amplify through its propaganda channels. On cue, Russia's 24 hour English news channel, RT, serially posted Gabbard's video clip on their YouTube channel with the headline that read: "Speeches that still matter: Rep Gabbard on bringing an end to U.S. interventionism."

Presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard was very clear in opposing sanctions and war in Venezuela, on 04 May 2019 tweeting, “The new Cold War is getting hotter. We need leaders with foresight to see how in Venezuela, Syria & other places, potential military conflict btwn US-Russia can quickly escalate into war—nuclear war, the greatest danger we face today.”

Shiyam Galyon, a member of the Syrian Women's Political Movement, wrote in August 2019 that Gabbard : "... voted for restricting resettlement of Syrian refugees and against condemning the Assad regime for war crimes. She also met with Bashar al-Assad in the name of "truly caring for the Syrian people," and has raised skepticism that the regime was behind the 2017 Khan Sheikhoun chemical weapons attack. She has supported the Syrian and Russian regimes in their bombing campaigns on multiple occasions and espouses a narrative that paints the entire armed Syrian opposition as al-Qaeda terrorists, erasing the legitimate call from Syrians for a regime change of their own, and defining the narrative as a US-driven regime-change war."

Neera Tanden, president of the left-leaning Center for American Progress, predicted in a July 2019 tweet that Gabbard would run as a Green Party candidate “to help Trump win.” David Rothkopf, who served in the Commerce Department during the Clinton administration and later became CEO and editor of the FP Group, responded to Tanden's tweet by saying, "She is 100% right on this."

Gabbard said 29 August 2019 that she had “ruled out” the possibility of launching an independent 2020 presidential bid if she fails to secure the Democratic nomination. “I've ruled that out,” Gabbard said on CNN when asked about a possible third-party campaign. “I’m going to continue to focus on moving our campaign forward, continuing this grass-roots campaign, continuing to deliver our message to the American people.”

Gabbard on 19 March 2020 said she was dropping out of the Democratic presidential primary race and will support former Vice President Joe Biden. After 25 state primary contests, Biden has opened up a nearly insurmountable lead by capturing 1,180 delegates on the road to the 1,191 needed to clinch the party nomination. Sanders has secured 885 delegates while Gabbard has won only two. "Today I am suspending my presidential campaign and offering my full support to vice president Joe Biden in his quest to bring our country together," Gabbard said in a statement.

Gabbard became a well-known figure among conservative figures after she announced she would be leaving the Democratic Party in 2022. Since then, Gabbard joined Fox News as a regular contributor and campaigned for several GOP candidates during the midterm elections.

During an appearance on Watters Primetime, Gabbard compared President Joe Biden to Adolf Hitler, arguing his commitment to making diverse appointments to administration and federal posts follows “the very same geneticist core principles embodied by Nazism". She said, “They are proud to be judging people, hiring people, selecting people based on race, and let’s be clear how serious of a problem this is. It’s based on genetics, race, based on your blood, your genes, and, where do we see that connection? Well, these are the very same geneticist core principles embodied by Nazism and Adolf Hitler. This should be something that is sickening and alarming to every single Democrat and every single American. We have seen where this, uh, philosophy can lead". Even Watters distanced himself from Gabbard’s comparison. “I’m not sure about the German thing..."

In a speech at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference on 04 March 2023 Gabbard accused Democrats of weaponizing identity politics in order to divide the country, claiming the party has devolved into becoming the “racists they claim to hate.” Gabbard decried the Democratic Party for its policies on race that she says promotes “anti-white racism.” Gabbard covered a topics ranging from the Second Amendment, attacks on religion, the campaign to normalize pedophilia by calling pedophiles "minor-attracted persons".