She was a surrogate for the democratic socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders. She voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016. She endorsed Joe Biden in 2020. And now, in 2022, she’s campaigning for…Kari Lake?
Last week, former Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard announced she was leaving the Democratic Party because it had become “an elitist cabal of warmongers driven by cowardly wokeness.” Now nominally an independent, she promptly endorsed and campaigned for Republican politicians like New Hampshire GOP Senate candidate Don Bolduc and Arizona GOP gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake.
It’s worth asking: When exactly did the Democratic Party become woke warmongers? Was it before or after Gabbard backed Clinton and Biden?
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To the degree that “wokeness” is the 2022 update of “political correctness meets identity politics,” Dems have been trafficking in that for decades. And if Democrats are too warlike, why back Republicans, who (as a consensus) haven’t opposed any major military intervention the U.S. has undertaken in modern memory (including Donald Trump’s decision to strike Syria).
Speaking of which, it’s not unfair to ask why the “anti-war” Gabbard’s peacenik punches are more likely to be directed at members of what was (until very recently) her own party, and not at authoritarian dictators like Syrian President Bashar al-Assad or Russian tyrant Vladimir Putin (in a recent interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity, Gabbard struggled to answer whether the U.S. should help Ukraine).
So why did Tulsi decide to break up with the Democrats, and why now? Gabbard may want to take a page from ex-Democrat Ronald Reagan who famously said, “I didn’t leave the Democratic Party, the party left me,” but the two are hardly analogous.
I struggle to find any coherence in Gabbard’s political philosophy or strategy but, as a lifelong conservative, one possible answer may be that the Republican Party has left us. It has become the kind of MAGA party that is attractive to people like Lake (a former Obama voter), Donald Trump (a former Clinton supporter), Kanye “George Bush doesn't care about black people” West, Dr. Mehmet Oz (of Oprah fame), and now, the ex-Bernie-booster Tulsi Gabbard.
Prior to getting involved in politics, these people had a tenuous relationship with the GOP, a dubious commitment to conservative philosophy, and—for many of them—a lifestyle that ran counter to what typically might be considered conservative values.
But in these reactionary times, ambitious right-wing newbies just have to make the right enemies, and they are parlaying their fame into taking over not just the GOP, but the conservative movement (see Kanye’s likely pointless plans to purchase the Parler social media company).
In the past, a disaffected quasi-isolationist politician might have lamented the Democratic Party’s bellicose policies, but supporting Republican candidates would have been a non-starter. That, of course, was before Trump hijacked the GOP.
A common thread among the MAGA upstarts is that they are opportunistic and attention-starved. Politics, once dreary and boring to the general public, is now a gateway to widespread attention, and the far right has by far the lowest barrier to entry. In this regard, Gabbard is merely the latest celebrity brand to hop on the conservative entertainment wing’s wagon in pursuit of even more clout.
Seen in that light, Gabbard’s conversion, seemingly timed to coincide with the launch of a new podcast, is less confusing. Perhaps it’s worth quickly recapping her convoluted trajectory.
Gabbard is an Iraq War veteran who got elected to Congress in Hawaii as a member of the Bernie wing of the Democratic Party. She rose quickly, but abruptly left her role as vice chair of the DNC in 2016, in a public display of support for Sanders (and against Hillary Clinton). Then, she took a secret four-day trip to Syria in 2017 where she met with Assad (you know, the guy who used chemical weapons on his own civilians). This looked like a deliberate troll of Democratic leadership. And in 2019, Gabbard announced she wouldn’t run for re-election, in favor of a quixotic presidential run where she garnered a fraction of 1 percent of support in most state primaries. (Disclosure: My wife previously worked as a consultant for Tulsi’s father, Mike Gabbard. I’ve never met either Gabbard.)
Failing forward, Gabbard dropped out of the presidential race, became a fan favorite on The Joe Rogan Experience and among his intellectual dark web cohort, and began making frequent appearances on Fox News.
With no political allegiances to the people who share most of her professed left-wing principles, she’s now openly embracing a party that has historically stood in complete opposition to her past stated beliefs. In that sense, she’s the perfect star for YouTube and podcasts—an ironic right-wing star, a martyr who fled the evil Democrats.
Tulsi didn’t have to pay her dues or show her conservative credentials—all she had to do is slam her own party. Instant MAGA stardom!
Rather than being a detriment, her status as an “ex-lefty” can now be employed as a cudgel to attack Democrats. It’s an increasingly common trope, where also-rans (and complete nobodies) on the left flip to the other side—and no one on the right ever thinks to ask, “If all of your ideas and allies from three seconds ago are so wrong, why should I trust you or listen to anything you say now?” They don’t cautiously welcome the converts to the back pew, they fully embrace and elevate them to the pulpit.
Having used her perch in Congress to establish a platform, she is now transitioning into her new role as celebrity influencer. It’s the political version of the Kardashians. And make no mistake, image is everything. Megyn Kelly recently suggested Gabbard should run for president with South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, saying it would be “the best-looking ticket ever.”
I couldn't have summed up the Republican Party’s current platform priorities any better. Welcome aboard, Tulsi. You’ll fit right in!
