Posted on 10/12/2022 8:22:59 PM PDT by jfd1776
Former congressman, veteran, and presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard (D, Hawaii) made news this week by leaving the Democratic Party, with a stinging public rebuke to the corruption and warmongering of its current leadership.
She wins points with reasonable people whenever she's on television, and why not? Tulsi Gabbard is attractive, well-spoken, logical... always a welcome talk show guest because she's willing to call out her fellow Democrats for some of their extreme, destructive positions.
But don't be fooled.
Tulsi Gabbard is NOT one of us.
America may owe Tulsi Gabbard a debt of gratitude for her wonderful takedown of Kamala Harris in the 2020 Democrat presidential debates. Without her, who knows? Harris may have actually won a delegate or two.
And we may think we owe her a debt of gratitude for her frequent appearances, being willing to serve as perhaps the only official Democrat willing to break with the unanimity imposed by Speaker Pelosi and the intersectionalist crowd these past few years.
What Democrat would call out his or her own party today? Only Gabbard, virtually no one else.
This became her calling card, the one tool of her toolkit, and it gave her a national reputation far in excess of what an otherwise unaccomplished junior Hawaiian congressman could reasonably expect.
This tool is gone from her toolkit now, probably for good. Outside the Democratic Party, she can no longer be the sole conscience of the Democratic Party, can she?
No more can she attack from within and get compliments for her courage. From now on, when she attacks Democrats from the outside, she'll just be one more voice among millions of Republicans and independents calling them out.
Nothing special there.
But the message we should take from this is not the message she intended. Her goal was to boost her cred as a prominent independent American politician... and we the public should be suspicious.
In her announcement that she's leaving the Democratic Party, Tulsi Gabbard opposed its warmongering, its anti-police and anti-military aspects... and in a way, she opposed some of its corruption.
So far, so good.
But she's not opposing the fundamental policies of the Democratic Party, is she?
Because she can't.
She hasn't changed... nor should we have expected her to.
Tulsi Gabbard remains what she has always been: A supporter of WEF. An economic socialist and a social issues radical. Tulsi Gabbard remains what she has been described as for years: "Bernie Sanders in a bikini."
Never think she's one of us.
Tulsi Gabbard has a very special talent among Democrats:
She is very adept at only talking about the issues on which she agrees with the general public, and she is equally adept at keeping quiet about the issues on which she is at odds with us.
Amazingly, hardly any other modern Democrats even try to do that.
Talk show hosts tend to facilitate this, because they only bring her on to talk about the issues where she's calling out her fellow Dems. To agree with them wouldn't bring ratings, or go viral on YouTube.
You might say that Tulsi Gabbard is the anti-AOC. Where Rep Ocasio-Cortez and her squad comically talk only about the crackpot socialist positions with which the public disagrees, Tulsi Gabbard only talks about the rational positions that she shares with you and me. Gabbard speaks thoughtfully and articulately, and we nod approvingly. And why shouldn't we?
But a review of her record - both in terms of political campaign speeches and published positions, and her substantial congressional voting record - reveal that the number of issues on which everyday Americans agree with Tulsi Gabbard are surprisingly few indeed. Her lifetime legislative rating with the ACU, for example, is 8%. Yes, that's eight out of a hundred, putting her among the most leftist politicians in America.
All this puts Gabbard in a rather unique position on the American political scene. To a carefully developed national audience, she seems like one of us... but she really isn't.
On the issues that matter... from tax rates to environmental regulation, from healthcare to energy production... in short, on the issues that a legislator votes on, or that a president issues executive orders and directs regulators on... Tulsi Gabbard is much more of a Clinton/Obama/Biden clone than you'd ever expect.
What is her plan?
To run for president as a Republican, having conned so many into thinking she's a conservative? To run for president as a pretend outsider, much as Bernie Sanders himself (ostensibly a Socialist independent, not a Democrat) did? Or perhaps to run as an independent, hoping to build a coalition of leftists who like her policies and conservatives who like her attitude?
Too soon to tell; she probably hasn't decided yet herself. She's a young woman with plenty of time to run, though if a politician's best chance is to strike while the iron is hot, 2024 is likely to be her year.
She'll probably be doing a lot of interesting polling in 2023.
And the lesson for the rest of us? Always beware of wolves in sheep’s clothing.
Leon Trotsky broke with Lenin and Stalin, and even left Russia to retain his principles, such as they were... but that didn't change the fact that he remained a marxist for the rest of his life.
Real converts from socialism are few and far between... and Tulsi Gabbard certainly isn't one of them.
copyright 2022 John F Di Leo
John F. Di Leo is a Chicagoland-based trade compliance trainer and transportation manager, writer, and actor. A one-time county chairman of the Milwaukee County Republican Party, and former president of the Ethnic American Council, he has been writing regularly for Illinois Review since 2009.
A collection of John’s Illinois Review articles about vote fraud, The Tales of Little Pavel, and his 2021 political satires about current events, Evening Soup with Basement Joe, Volumes One and Two, are available, in either paperback or eBook, only on Amazon.
I think good for her in leaving the ‘Rat plantation but as far as electability Gabbard is still below Nikki Haley, and Nikki is dead to me.
Bingo.
We do not need migrants of any kind in the GOP...
They are usually just sleeper agents...
Bernie Sanders in a bikini? LOL - whoever coined that one is a genius... and a wicked sense of humor.
Agreed.
No, Tulsi Gabbard is not MAGA like Reagan or Trump.....but she did very eloquently remind everyone why the Democrat party was immoral and corrupt yesterday. It was a public gut-punch to Leftist America for all to see.
We need more Democrats to start to see the light.
Kudos to Tulsi Gabbard for leading the way.
I can’t claim credit for the line “Bernie Sanders in a Bikini.”
I’ve heard her described as Sanders in a Skirt, Bernie in a Dress, and Bernie Sanders in a Bikini quite a bit over the years.
I use whichever one feels like it fits at the time.
I’d really like to say Sanders on a Surfboard, but I just fear that the visual would be a stretch....
Of all the important issues this columnist chooses to focus upon, Tulsi Gabbard is his choice.
The Dems are getting more desperate, and transparent, by the day.
As an independent and Bernie replacement. She’d siphon more votes from the Dems than Reps.
I like what she did now. Maybe more in 2024 if she splits the Dem vote.
Then again Churchill was in the Liberal party for 20 years then flipped to Conservative.
She would have never been elected in Hawaii had she not taken the positions she did.
Time will tell ... most politicians seem to be liars at best. Corrupt liars next.
BrexitBen, you’re right that every decision to write is a choice... in fact, this is the fundamental issue at the heart of the problem of press bias: that it’s not just about how subjects are covered, it’s about which subjects are chosen.
I write about all sorts of things... my editor is very kind and gives me a broad portfolio. This week, I’ve written one piece on the anniversary of the Battle of Tours, one piece on Tulsi Gabbard, and one piece covering this fall’s election.
Why? Because they were issues that I thought I might have a unique and useful viewpoint on, and that I thought might interest my readers.
Was I right? I don’t know. You never really know for sure until the article is out there and starts getting comments.
But yes, I do think that my message about Tulsi was worth writing. I am shocked at how many conservatives think that she’s one of us, and I think she will pose a serious danger in the future if we don’t educate our side about how much she is in fact dedicated to the other side.
My opinion only; you’re certainly free to disagree.
Cheers,
JFD
No matter how you phrase it, the image of Bernie Sanders does not lead to thoughts of attractive women.
Now do Mitt Romney.
A rat jumping off of a sinking ship. Not profound. We do not need more Rinos pretending to be conservative.
I’ve been voicing my suspicions about Tulsi Gabbard’s political motives for months now, as I don’t trust her any further than I can throw her. My antennae are waiving.
Tucker Carlson is exceedingly enamored of her, and has her on his show frequently. She also announced to the wider public audience via cable TV, regarding her departure from the Dem Party on Tucker’s show that evening.
I’m not sure where Tucker’s love affair about Tulsi comes from, but Tucker himself is not really a conservative; he is and has been for a very long time, a Libertarian of a rather odd sort. Comes on as conservative, but not quite there. I think he hides a lot of his true political beliefs from the public.
I don’t necessarily trust Tucker either. Having some libertarian tendencies are acceptable; being a hardcore Libertarian is another thing and not necessarily good for society as a whole. I think Tucker likes Tulsi because he sees himself as an outsider also, as does Tulsi, at least for this moment in time. Remember, John McCain saw himself as a “maverick” and look at what a disaster he ended up being.
Will be interesting to see where Tulsi’s political career goes from here, how she plays it out. Could change those folks who think she is “one of us” opinions if the true hand she is dealing manifests itself more overtly.
Yes everyone needs to be careful here because her actions could amount to a trick to infiltrate. If she suddenly decides to run for some office under the republican party then I would be very worried.
Evidently Tucker is forbidden to talk about "The Big Steal" of the 2020 election. He is sort of castrated. I guess Tulsi draws in the ratings for the advertisers.
Your choice of topic was excellent. Tulsi has attracted a lot of interest in the Republican community among those who react to her attractiveness in combination with her positions that appear to be superficially pro America. Tulsi is carefully crafted to resonate with those who do not look too carefully at her voting record and positioning on abortion, and other leftist principles.
Her self interest generates a temporary common ground with MAGA but she is the snake in POTUS’ story. She will soon show her poison.
Wariness and a knowledge of her historical positions & voting record are the best defense against blindly embracing an ideological enemy of America first and friend of socialism. Sadly, the enemy of my enemy is not always my friend.
The article is quite good.
I don’t know a single conservative who think that she’s one of us.
Giving her compliments on her stance against the Democrats is not saying she’s “on our side”. The world is not binary.
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