Mondoweiss
Tulsi Gabbard’s screw-the-neocons meeting with Trump sparks anger, derision,
encouragement
US Politics
Philip Weiss on November 24, 2016 15 Comments
HI Rep. Tulsi Gabbard
During his round of interviewing potential job applicants, Donald Trump had one
meeting with a Democratic politician: Hawaii Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, a
leading antiwar figure, an Iraq war veteran and Bernie Sanders ally and former
rising star in the party.
The Monday meeting is important because of what Gabbard said about foreign
policy: screw the neoconservatives and dump the idea of regime change in Syria,
which Hillary Clinton had supported. The meeting thus contains seeds of
ideological convergence between the antiwar left and right. It has been read as
misguided, tragic, or hopeful– depending on the observer’s point of view.
Here’s a short tour.
First off, Gabbard filed her own report, titled “My meeting with Donald Trump.”
She said the meeting was all about Syria; and she called out the
neoconservatives and others advocating intervention.
This was an opportunity to advocate for peace — and I felt it was important to
take the opportunity to meet with the President-elect to counteract neocons’
steady drumbeats of war, which threaten to drag us into an escalation of the
war to overthrow the Syrian government.
This war has already cost hundreds of thousands of lives and forced millions of
refugees to flee their homes in search of safety for themselves and their
families. It has also strengthened al-Qaeda and other violent, extremist groups
in the region. It would have been irresponsible not to accept this invitation.
I feel it is my duty to take every single opportunity I get to advocate for
peace, no matter the circumstances of those meetings.
I shared with him my grave concerns that escalating the war in Syria by
implementing a so-called no fly/safe zone would be disastrous for the Syrian
people, our country, and the world. It would lead to more death and suffering,
exacerbate the refugee crisis, strengthen ISIS and al-Qaeda and bring us into a
direct conflict with Russia–potentially resulting in a nuclear war. We
discussed my bill to end our country’s illegal war to overthrow the Syrian
government and the need to focus our precious resources on rebuilding our own
country, and on defeating al-Qaeda, ISIS, and other terrorist groups who pose a
threat to the American people.
The New York Times published a report that characterized Gabbard as defensive
and delusional. “The report was slanted and pejorative, in a way so easy to
penetrate you wonder if they’ve lost their wits,” David Bromwich writes. “How
deeply she has offended against the new Cold War consensus.”
Bromwich revised the Times piece by putting its prejudicial phrasing in double
brackets, and including his amendments and commentary in boldface:
Ms. Gabbard, an Iraq war veteran [[and former Bernie Sanders supporter]] whose
endorsement of Bernie Sanders over Hillary Clinton partly stemmed from her
rejection of Clinton’s interventionist foreign policy, [[defended her visit
Monday to the office of the president-elect, saying she needed]] said that she
felt it was imperative to talk foreign policy with Mr. Trump “before the
drumbeats of war that neocons have been beating drag us into an escalation of
the war to overthrow the Syrian government.”
Her statement [[,lengthy and somewhat defensive, allowed,]] went out of its way
to answer anticipated criticism from party loyalists: “While the rules of
political expediency would say I should have refused to meet with
President-elect Trump, I never have and never will play politics with American
and Syrian lives.”
She then made the case against any intervention in a war that has [[pulled in
Russia and left hundreds of thousands slaughtered.]] NB: The Times is drawing a
syntactical connection between Russia and the slaughter whose victims came
mostly beforehand and from other causes….
Her case is a break from the position that her fellow Democrat, Hillary
Clinton, campaigned on. It [[fits nicely with Mr. Trump’s reluctance to
engage]] fits nicely with Mr. Trump’s reluctance to continue and expand the
slaughter— and with warnings against American involvement from the president of
Russia, Vladimir V. Putin.
Jonathan Tasini, former Sanders surrogate, slammed Gabbard for normalizing
Trump’s bigotry and racism.
Neoconservative Bill Kristol at first had a hopeful reading of the meeting:
“Tulsi Gabbard for VA?”
Then when reports came out he reversed course and had a similar take to the
Times. Not very happy.
He added, “Because listening to the drumbeats of peace has worked out so well
in Syria.”
Robert Parry, the former AP reporter and realist, had a hopeful reading of the
meeting, at Consortium News.
By inviting in Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, a Democrat hostile to “regime change” wars,
President-elect Trump may be signaling a major break with Republican neocon
orthodoxy and a big shake-up of the U.S. foreign policy establishment
Parry revisited Gabbard’s antiwar rise:
She starred in one of the strongest political ads of the campaign, a message to
Hawaiians, called “The Cost of War.”
“Bernie Sanders voted against the Iraq War,” Gabbard says. “He understands the
cost of war, that that cost is continued when our veterans come home. Bernie
Sanders will defend our country and take the trillions of dollars that are
spent on these interventionist, regime change, unnecessary wars and invest it
here at home.”
In the ad, Gabbard threw down the gauntlet to the neocons and their
liberal-hawk sidekicks, by accusing them of wasting trillions of dollars “on
these interventionist, regime change, unnecessary wars.” Her comments mesh
closely with Trump’s own perspective…
Parry said that Hillary Clinton might well have appointed Victoria Nuland as
Secretary of State, Nuland whose husband Robert Kagan was one of the
neoconservatives who flocked to Clinton. And he reads even Trump’s Mike Flynn
national security adviser nod as a hopeful departure from a policy of drone
attacks.
Taking on this Saudi-Israel nexus has long been regarded as political suicide,
given Israel’s extraordinary lobbying power and Saudi Arabia’s exceptional
wealth. But Trump may be assembling a team that is “crazy” enough to take on
that mission.
So, while the fight over the future of U.S. foreign policy is far from over –
the neocons will surely flex their muscles at the major think tanks, on the
op-ed pages and inside the halls of Congress – the Trump transition is showing
some creativity in assembling a national security team that may go in a very
different direction.
Here is more on Gabbard’s track record, from NBC:
Gabbard abruptly resigned her spot as vice-chairwoman of the Democratic
National Committee in February to endorse Sen. Bernie Sanders for president,
accusing party leaders of rigging the presidential primary process for its
eventual nominee, Hillary Clinton…
Tim Vandeveer, a Sanders supporter elected this year as chairman of the Hawaii
Democratic Party, defended Gabbard’s decision [to meet with Trump].
“Given the reality that we’re facing now with President-elect Trump, and an
administration that we’ve already seen is going to lean heavily on
neoconservatives who are going to rattle the sabers of war, I think it’s a good
idea for Democrats to engage and stand up for our values
She’s also a surfer, who is proud of her Polynesian heritage. From her twitter
feed:
Tulsi Gabbard, from her twitter feed
CNN reported that Gabbard was under consideration for Secretary of State or
Secretary of Defense. The NYT said she was under consideration for Ambassador
to the U.N.
Gabbard dismissed the speculation:
I did not meet with Pr
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Tulsi Gabbard’s screw-the-neocons meeting with Trump sparks anger, derision,
encouragement
US Politics
Philip Weiss on November 24, 2016 15 Comments
• Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.Error! Hyperlink reference not
valid.
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valid.
• Adjust Font Size
HI Rep. Tulsi Gabbard
During his round of interviewing potential job applicants, Donald Trump had one
meeting with a Democratic politician: Hawaii Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, a
leading antiwar figure, an Iraq war veteran and Bernie Sanders ally and former
rising star in the party.
The Monday meeting is important because of what Gabbard said about foreign
policy: screw the neoconservatives and dump the idea of regime change in Syria,
which Hillary Clinton had supported. The meeting thus contains seeds of
ideological convergence between the antiwar left and right. It has been read as
misguided, tragic, or hopeful– depending on the observer’s point of view.
Here’s a short tour.
First off, Gabbard filed her own report, titled “My meeting with Donald Trump.”
She said the meeting was all about Syria; and she called out the
neoconservatives and others advocating intervention.
This was an opportunity to advocate for peace — and I felt it was important to
take the opportunity to meet with the President-elect to counteract neocons’
steady drumbeats of war, which threaten to drag us into an escalation of the
war to overthrow the Syrian government.
This war has already cost hundreds of thousands of lives and forced millions of
refugees to flee their homes in search of safety for themselves and their
families. It has also strengthened al-Qaeda and other violent, extremist groups
in the region. It would have been irresponsible not to accept this invitation.
I feel it is my duty to take every single opportunity I get to advocate for
peace, no matter the circumstances of those meetings.
I shared with him my grave concerns that escalating the war in Syria by
implementing a so-called no fly/safe zone would be disastrous for the Syrian
people, our country, and the world. It would lead to more death and suffering,
exacerbate the refugee crisis, strengthen ISIS and al-Qaeda and bring us into a
direct conflict with Russia–potentially resulting in a nuclear war. We
discussed my bill to end our country’s illegal war to overthrow the Syrian
government and the need to focus our precious resources on rebuilding our own
country, and on defeating al-Qaeda, ISIS, and other terrorist groups who pose a
threat to the American people.
The New York Times published a report that characterized Gabbard as defensive
and delusional. “The report was slanted and pejorative, in a way so easy to
penetrate you wonder if they’ve lost their wits,” David Bromwich writes. “How
deeply she has offended against the new Cold War consensus.”
Bromwich revised the Times piece by putting its prejudicial phrasing in double
brackets, and including his amendments and commentary in boldface:
Ms. Gabbard, an Iraq war veteran [[and former Bernie Sanders supporter]] whose
endorsement of Bernie Sanders over Hillary Clinton partly stemmed from her
rejection of Clinton’s interventionist foreign policy, [[defended her visit
Monday to the office of the president-elect, saying she needed]] said that she
felt it was imperative to talk foreign policy with Mr. Trump “before the
drumbeats of war that neocons have been beating drag us into an escalation of
the war to overthrow the Syrian government.”
Her statement [[,lengthy and somewhat defensive, allowed,]] went out of its way
to answer anticipated criticism from party loyalists: “While the rules of
political expediency would say I should have refused to meet with
President-elect Trump, I never have and never will play politics with American
and Syrian lives.”
She then made the case against any intervention in a war that has [[pulled in
Russia and left hundreds of thousands slaughtered.]] NB: The Times is drawing a
syntactical connection between Russia and the slaughter whose victims came
mostly beforehand and from other causes….
Her case is a break from the position that her fellow Democrat, Hillary
Clinton, campaigned on. It [[fits nicely with Mr. Trump’s reluctance to
engage]] fits nicely with Mr. Trump’s reluctance to continue and expand the
slaughter— and with warnings against American involvement from the president of
Russia, Vladimir V. Putin.
Jonathan Tasini, former Sanders surrogate, slammed Gabbard for normalizing
Trump’s bigotry and racism.
Neoconservative Bill Kristol at first had a hopeful reading of the meeting:
“Tulsi Gabbard for VA?”
Then when reports came out he reversed course and had a similar take to the
Times. Not very happy.
He added, “Because listening to the drumbeats of peace has worked out so well
in Syria.”
Robert Parry, the former AP reporter and realist, had a hopeful reading of the
meeting, at Consortium News.
By inviting in Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, a Democrat hostile to “regime change” wars,
President-elect Trump may be signaling a major break with Republican neocon
orthodoxy and a big shake-up of the U.S. foreign policy establishment
Parry revisited Gabbard’s antiwar rise:
She starred in one of the strongest political ads of the campaign, a message to
Hawaiians, called “The Cost of War.”
“Bernie Sanders voted against the Iraq War,” Gabbard says. “He understands the
cost of war, that that cost is continued when our veterans come home. Bernie
Sanders will defend our country and take the trillions of dollars that are
spent on these interventionist, regime change, unnecessary wars and invest it
here at home.”
In the ad, Gabbard threw down the gauntlet to the neocons and their
liberal-hawk sidekicks, by accusing them of wasting trillions of dollars “on
these interventionist, regime change, unnecessary wars.” Her comments mesh
closely with Trump’s own perspective…
Parry said that Hillary Clinton might well have appointed Victoria Nuland as
Secretary of State, Nuland whose husband Robert Kagan was one of the
neoconservatives who flocked to Clinton. And he reads even Trump’s Mike Flynn
national security adviser nod as a hopeful departure from a policy of drone
attacks.
Taking on this Saudi-Israel nexus has long been regarded as political suicide,
given Israel’s extraordinary lobbying power and Saudi Arabia’s exceptional
wealth. But Trump may be assembling a team that is “crazy” enough to take on
that mission.
So, while the fight over the future of U.S. foreign policy is far from over –
the neocons will surely flex their muscles at the major think tanks, on the
op-ed pages and inside the halls of Congress – the Trump transition is showing
some creativity in assembling a national security team that may go in a very
different direction.
Here is more on Gabbard’s track record, from NBC:
Gabbard abruptly resigned her spot as vice-chairwoman of the Democratic
National Committee in February to endorse Sen. Bernie Sanders for president,
accusing party leaders of rigging the presidential primary process for its
eventual nominee, Hillary Clinton…
Tim Vandeveer, a Sanders supporter elected this year as chairman of the Hawaii
Democratic Party, defended Gabbard’s decision [to meet with Trump].
“Given the reality that we’re facing now with President-elect Trump, and an
administration that we’ve already seen is going to lean heavily on
neoconservatives who are going to rattle the sabers of war, I think it’s a good
idea for Democrats to engage and stand up for our values
She’s also a surfer, who is proud of her Polynesian heritage. From her twitter
feed:
Tulsi Gabbard, from her twitter feed
CNN reported that Gabbard was under consideration for Secretary of State or
Secretary of Defense. The NYT said she was under consideration for Ambassador
to the U.N.
Gabbard dismissed the speculation:
I did not meet with Pr
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Tulsi Gabbard’s screw-the-neocons meeting with Trump sparks anger, derision,
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Philip Weiss on November 24, 2016 15 Comments
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HI Rep. Tulsi Gabbard
During his round of interviewing potential job applicants, Donald Trump had one
meeting with a Democratic politician: Hawaii Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, a
leading antiwar figure, an Iraq war veteran and Bernie Sanders ally and former
rising star in the party.
The Monday meeting is important because of what Gabbard said about foreign
policy: screw the neoconservatives and dump the idea of regime change in Syria,
which Hillary Clinton had supported. The meeting thus contains seeds of
ideological convergence between the antiwar left and right. It has been read as
misguided, tragic, or hopeful– depending on the observer’s point of view.
Here’s a short tour.
First off, Gabbard filed her own report, titled “My meeting with Donald Trump.”
She said the meeting was all about Syria; and she called out the
neoconservatives and others advocating intervention.
This was an opportunity to advocate for peace — and I felt it was important to
take the opportunity to meet with the President-elect to counteract neocons’
steady drumbeats of war, which threaten to drag us into an escalation of the
war to overthrow the Syrian government.
This war has already cost hundreds of thousands of lives and forced millions of
refugees to flee their homes in search of safety for themselves and their
families. It has also strengthened al-Qaeda and other violent, extremist groups
in the region. It would have been irresponsible not to accept this invitation.
I feel it is my duty to take every single opportunity I get to advocate for
peace, no matter the circumstances of those meetings.
I shared with him my grave concerns that escalating the war in Syria by
implementing a so-called no fly/safe zone would be disastrous for the Syrian
people, our country, and the world. It would lead to more death and suffering,
exacerbate the refugee crisis, strengthen ISIS and al-Qaeda and bring us into a
direct conflict with Russia–potentially resulting in a nuclear war. We
discussed my bill to end our country’s illegal war to overthrow the Syrian
government and the need to focus our precious resources on rebuilding our own
country, and on defeating al-Qaeda, ISIS, and other terrorist groups who pose a
threat to the American people.
The New York Times published a report that characterized Gabbard as defensive
and delusional. “The report was slanted and pejorative, in a way so easy to
penetrate you wonder if they’ve lost their wits,” David Bromwich writes. “How
deeply she has offended against the new Cold War consensus.”
Bromwich revised the Times piece by putting its prejudicial phrasing in double
brackets, and including his amendments and commentary in boldface:
Ms. Gabbard, an Iraq war veteran [[and former Bernie Sanders supporter]] whose
endorsement of Bernie Sanders over Hillary Clinton partly stemmed from her
rejection of Clinton’s interventionist foreign policy, [[defended her visit
Monday to the office of the president-elect, saying she needed]] said that she
felt it was imperative to talk foreign policy with Mr. Trump “before the
drumbeats of war that neocons have been beating drag us into an escalation of
the war to overthrow the Syrian government.”
Her statement [[,lengthy and somewhat defensive, allowed,]] went out of its way
to answer anticipated criticism from party loyalists: “While the rules of
political expediency would say I should have refused to meet with
President-elect Trump, I never have and never will play politics with American
and Syrian lives.”
She then made the case against any intervention in a war that has [[pulled in
Russia and left hundreds of thousands slaughtered.]] NB: The Times is drawing a
syntactical connection between Russia and the slaughter whose victims came
mostly beforehand and from other causes….
Her case is a break from the position that her fellow Democrat, Hillary
Clinton, campaigned on. It [[fits nicely with Mr. Trump’s reluctance to
engage]] fits nicely with Mr. Trump’s reluctance to continue and expand the
slaughter— and with warnings against American involvement from the president of
Russia, Vladimir V. Putin.
Jonathan Tasini, former Sanders surrogate, slammed Gabbard for normalizing
Trump’s bigotry and racism.
Neoconservative Bill Kristol at first had a hopeful reading of the meeting:
“Tulsi Gabbard for VA?”
Then when reports came out he reversed course and had a similar take to the
Times. Not very happy.
He added, “Because listening to the drumbeats of peace has worked out so well
in Syria.”
Robert Parry, the former AP reporter and realist, had a hopeful reading of the
meeting, at Consortium News.
By inviting in Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, a Democrat hostile to “regime change” wars,
President-elect Trump may be signaling a major break with Republican neocon
orthodoxy and a big shake-up of the U.S. foreign policy establishment
Parry revisited Gabbard’s antiwar rise:
She starred in one of the strongest political ads of the campaign, a message to
Hawaiians, called “The Cost of War.”
“Bernie Sanders voted against the Iraq War,” Gabbard says. “He understands the
cost of war, that that cost is continued when our veterans come home. Bernie
Sanders will defend our country and take the trillions of dollars that are
spent on these interventionist, regime change, unnecessary wars and invest it
here at home.”
In the ad, Gabbard threw down the gauntlet to the neocons and their
liberal-hawk sidekicks, by accusing them of wasting trillions of dollars “on
these interventionist, regime change, unnecessary wars.” Her comments mesh
closely with Trump’s own perspective…
Parry said that Hillary Clinton might well have appointed Victoria Nuland as
Secretary of State, Nuland whose husband Robert Kagan was one of the
neoconservatives who flocked to Clinton. And he reads even Trump’s Mike Flynn
national security adviser nod as a hopeful departure from a policy of drone
attacks.
Taking on this Saudi-Israel nexus has long been regarded as political suicide,
given Israel’s extraordinary lobbying power and Saudi Arabia’s exceptional
wealth. But Trump may be assembling a team that is “crazy” enough to take on
that mission.
So, while the fight over the future of U.S. foreign policy is far from over –
the neocons will surely flex their muscles at the major think tanks, on the
op-ed pages and inside the halls of Congress – the Trump transition is showing
some creativity in assembling a national security team that may go in a very
different direction.
Here is more on Gabbard’s track record, from NBC:
Gabbard abruptly resigned her spot as vice-chairwoman of the Democratic
National Committee in February to endorse Sen. Bernie Sanders for president,
accusing party leaders of rigging the presidential primary process for its
eventual nominee, Hillary Clinton…
Tim Vandeveer, a Sanders supporter elected this year as chairman of the Hawaii
Democratic Party, defended Gabbard’s decision [to meet with Trump].
“Given the reality that we’re facing now with President-elect Trump, and an
administration that we’ve already seen is going to lean heavily on
neoconservatives who are going to rattle the sabers of war, I think it’s a good
idea for Democrats to engage and stand up for our values
She’s also a surfer, who is proud of her Polynesian heritage. From her twitter
feed:
Tulsi Gabbard, from her twitter feed
CNN reported that Gabbard was under consideration for Secretary of State or
Secretary of Defense. The NYT said she was under consideration for Ambassador
to the U.N.
Gabbard dismissed the speculation:
I did not meet with Pr
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Tulsi Gabbard’s screw-the-neocons meeting with Trump sparks anger, derision,
encouragement
US Politics
Philip Weiss on November 24, 2016 15 Comments
• Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.Error! Hyperlink reference not
valid.
• Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.Error! Hyperlink reference not
valid.
• Adjust Font Size
HI Rep. Tulsi Gabbard
During his round of interviewing potential job applicants, Donald Trump had one
meeting with a Democratic politician: Hawaii Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, a
leading antiwar figure, an Iraq war veteran and Bernie Sanders ally and former
rising star in the party.
The Monday meeting is important because of what Gabbard said about foreign
policy: screw the neoconservatives and dump the idea of regime change in Syria,
which Hillary Clinton had supported. The meeting thus contains seeds of
ideological convergence between the antiwar left and right. It has been read as
misguided, tragic, or hopeful– depending on the observer’s point of view.
Here’s a short tour.
First off, Gabbard filed her own report, titled “My meeting with Donald Trump.”
She said the meeting was all about Syria; and she called out the
neoconservatives and others advocating intervention.
This was an opportunity to advocate for peace — and I felt it was important to
take the opportunity to meet with the President-elect to counteract neocons’
steady drumbeats of war, which threaten to drag us into an escalation of the
war to overthrow the Syrian government.
This war has already cost hundreds of thousands of lives and forced millions of
refugees to flee their homes in search of safety for themselves and their
families. It has also strengthened al-Qaeda and other violent, extremist groups
in the region. It would have been irresponsible not to accept this invitation.
I feel it is my duty to take every single opportunity I get to advocate for
peace, no matter the circumstances of those meetings.
I shared with him my grave concerns that escalating the war in Syria by
implementing a so-called no fly/safe zone would be disastrous for the Syrian
people, our country, and the world. It would lead to more death and suffering,
exacerbate the refugee crisis, strengthen ISIS and al-Qaeda and bring us into a
direct conflict with Russia–potentially resulting in a nuclear war. We
discussed my bill to end our country’s illegal war to overthrow the Syrian
government and the need to focus our precious resources on rebuilding our own
country, and on defeating al-Qaeda, ISIS, and other terrorist groups who pose a
threat to the American people.
The New York Times published a report that characterized Gabbard as defensive
and delusional. “The report was slanted and pejorative, in a way so easy to
penetrate you wonder if they’ve lost their wits,” David Bromwich writes. “How
deeply she has offended against the new Cold War consensus.”
Bromwich revised the Times piece by putting its prejudicial phrasing in double
brackets, and including his amendments and commentary in boldface:
Ms. Gabbard, an Iraq war veteran [[and former Bernie Sanders supporter]] whose
endorsement of Bernie Sanders over Hillary Clinton partly stemmed from her
rejection of Clinton’s interventionist foreign policy, [[defended her visit
Monday to the office of the president-elect, saying she needed]] said that she
felt it was imperative to talk foreign policy with Mr. Trump “before the
drumbeats of war that neocons have been beating drag us into an escalation of
the war to overthrow the Syrian government.”
Her statement [[,lengthy and somewhat defensive, allowed,]] went out of its way
to answer anticipated criticism from party loyalists: “While the rules of
political expediency would say I should have refused to meet with
President-elect Trump, I never have and never will play politics with American
and Syrian lives.”
She then made the case against any intervention in a war that has [[pulled in
Russia and left hundreds of thousands slaughtered.]] NB: The Times is drawing a
syntactical connection between Russia and the slaughter whose victims came
mostly beforehand and from other causes….
Her case is a break from the position that her fellow Democrat, Hillary
Clinton, campaigned on. It [[fits nicely with Mr. Trump’s reluctance to
engage]] fits nicely with Mr. Trump’s reluctance to continue and expand the
slaughter— and with warnings against American involvement from the president of
Russia, Vladimir V. Putin.
Jonathan Tasini, former Sanders surrogate, slammed Gabbard for normalizing
Trump’s bigotry and racism.
Neoconservative Bill Kristol at first had a hopeful reading of the meeting:
“Tulsi Gabbard for VA?”
Then when reports came out he reversed course and had a similar take to the
Times. Not very happy.
He added, “Because listening to the drumbeats of peace has worked out so well
in Syria.”
Robert Parry, the former AP reporter and realist, had a hopeful reading of the
meeting, at Consortium News.
By inviting in Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, a Democrat hostile to “regime change” wars,
President-elect Trump may be signaling a major break with Republican neocon
orthodoxy and a big shake-up of the U.S. foreign policy establishment
Parry revisited Gabbard’s antiwar rise:
She starred in one of the strongest political ads of the campaign, a message to
Hawaiians, called “The Cost of War.”
“Bernie Sanders voted against the Iraq War,” Gabbard says. “He understands the
cost of war, that that cost is continued when our veterans come home. Bernie
Sanders will defend our country and take the trillions of dollars that are
spent on these interventionist, regime change, unnecessary wars and invest it
here at home.”
In the ad, Gabbard threw down the gauntlet to the neocons and their
liberal-hawk sidekicks, by accusing them of wasting trillions of dollars “on
these interventionist, regime change, unnecessary wars.” Her comments mesh
closely with Trump’s own perspective…
Parry said that Hillary Clinton might well have appointed Victoria Nuland as
Secretary of State, Nuland whose husband Robert Kagan was one of the
neoconservatives who flocked to Clinton. And he reads even Trump’s Mike Flynn
national security adviser nod as a hopeful departure from a policy of drone
attacks.
Taking on this Saudi-Israel nexus has long been regarded as political suicide,
given Israel’s extraordinary lobbying power and Saudi Arabia’s exceptional
wealth. But Trump may be assembling a team that is “crazy” enough to take on
that mission.
So, while the fight over the future of U.S. foreign policy is far from over –
the neocons will surely flex their muscles at the major think tanks, on the
op-ed pages and inside the halls of Congress – the Trump transition is showing
some creativity in assembling a national security team that may go in a very
different direction.
Here is more on Gabbard’s track record, from NBC:
Gabbard abruptly resigned her spot as vice-chairwoman of the Democratic
National Committee in February to endorse Sen. Bernie Sanders for president,
accusing party leaders of rigging the presidential primary process for its
eventual nominee, Hillary Clinton…
Tim Vandeveer, a Sanders supporter elected this year as chairman of the Hawaii
Democratic Party, defended Gabbard’s decision [to meet with Trump].
“Given the reality that we’re facing now with President-elect Trump, and an
administration that we’ve already seen is going to lean heavily on
neoconservatives who are going to rattle the sabers of war, I think it’s a good
idea for Democrats to engage and stand up for our values
She’s also a surfer, who is proud of her Polynesian heritage. From her twitter
feed:
Tulsi Gabbard, from her twitter feed
CNN reported that Gabbard was under consideration for Secretary of State or
Secretary of Defense. The NYT said she was under consideration for Ambassador
to the U.N.
Gabbard dismissed the speculation:
I did not meet with President-elect Trump seeking a job, nor did he offer me
one.
