Will Hawaii’s voters and observers of Tulsi Gabbard, the former Hawaii state legislator, congresswoman and unsuccessful presidential candidate, ever draw the curtains on the 41-year-old politician?
Gabbard is out of office but not out of the public’s eye, as she is joining Fox News as a paid contributor. The move was first reported by the Los Angeles Times.
If you look critically at Gabbard’s time since serving as the youngest elected Hawaii state legislator in 2002 to now being hired as conservative commentator, she has been a minor player in national politics. It has been a role with lots of air time stirring the pot, but with little in the way of accomplishments.
Her most recent job as a fill-in for Tucker Carlson on Fox News is a good example. Gabbard’s fame as an articulate conservative from Hawaii has been helped by her unusual biography. Her father, Mike Gabbard, is a Republican-
turned-Democrat in the state Legislature whose prominence was set by his time rallying the public against gay rights issues.
As far as putting a name on Tulsi Gabbard’s brand of politics, it is impossible. There has been little coherence or steadfast principle to it.
In 2020, when Gabbard was running for president as a Democrat, she moved away from the Democratic Party and was mostly seen as a frequent guest commentator on Fox News. By the time the national Democratic convention was held, Gabbard was the only failed presidential candidate not to be invited to the Milwaukee, Wis., convention.
Gabbard was a supporter of Hillary Clinton’s rival, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, in the 2016 race for the Democratic nomination, who then moved over to support Biden in 2020.
Her inconsistent support for Democrats continued as Gabbard charged earlier this year that Biden, according to Associated Press reports, could have prevented the Ukrainian war by giving in to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s demand to rule out the possibility of Ukraine ever joining NATO. Gabbard’s appearances have been used by Russian state-controlled media.
When she announced that she was leaving the Democrats, it was a bitter departure. There was no sense that “we agree to disagree.” It was an in-your-face angry divorce.
“I can no longer remain in today’s Democratic Party. It’s now under the complete control of an elitist cabal of warmongers driven by cowardly wokeness, who divide us by racializing every issue and stoking anti-white racism, who actively work to undermine our God-given freedoms enshrined in our Constitution,” said Gabbard.
Yes, Tucker Carlson and Fox News are a big deal now, but American politics today is all about change, not stability.
You will need to explain to your grandchildren the importance of Lincoln, Hawaii’s Gov. John Burns and The New York Times — but who was Tucker Carlson, or Tulsi Gabbard? I wouldn’t bet on it.
Richard Borreca writes on politics on Sundays. Reach him at 808onpolitics@gmail.com.
