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tulsi gabbard
Trump Cabinet of Villains Grows With Gabbard for DNI, Gaetz for AG
"The most adept satirist could not create a more shameful lineup of Cabinet secretaries," said one critic.
Nov 13, 2024
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump continued to stoke global fears for the future on Wednesday by announcing more picks for top leadership positions in his next administration: former U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard for director of national intelligence and Republican Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz for attorney general.
The president-elect also confirmed his widely reported plan to name Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) as secretary of state. The Associated Pressnoted that "the choices continued a pattern of Trump stocking his Cabinet with loyalists he believes he can trust to execute his agenda rather than longtime officials with experience in their fields."
The announcements have provoked comparisons to blockbuster villains. One social media user quipped that "Trump's Cabinet is shaping up like Dr. Evil's collection of henchmen," while Justin Jones—a Tennessee Democrat expelled from the state Legislature over a gun violence protest but then reinstated last year—pointed to Voldemort, the leading antagonist in the Harry Potter book and film series.
Gabbard was deployed to Kuwait and Iraq as a member of the Hawaii Army National Guard. She represented the state as a Democrat in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2013 to 2021. During the 2020 cycle, Gabbard launched a longshot presidential bid but ultimately backed President Joe Biden. The "dark horse" ditched the Democratic Party in 2022 and, as Politicoput it, "became a fixture in conservative media." After endorsing Trump in August, she hit the campaign trail.
The ex-congresswoman, who officially joined the Republican Party last month, has been a longtime critic of U.S. foreign policy. Opponents of her selection on Wednesday highlighted her history of being "extremely sympathetic" to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Political commentator Brian Tyler Cohen called her forthcoming nomination "a coup for the Kremlin."
Paul Eaton, a retired U.S. Army major general and a senior adviser to VoteVets, said in a statement that "putting Tulsi Gabbard in charge of our intelligence, which keeps Americans safe here and abroad, is dangerous and reckless. In Gabbard, Trump has a complete and total loyalist who will use and wield our intelligence to Trump's benefit, not to protect America and our Constitution."
"In combination with many of Trump's other appointments and nominations, we see a picture coming together of an administration made up of unqualified, marginal zealots who will constantly be trying to please their leader rather than fulfill their oath to put the Constitution and the safety of the American people above the president's ego," he added. "Many warned that Trump would dispense of all guardrails in a second term, so every whim of his would be carried out without question or protest. We are now seeing exactly what that looks like."
Journalists and other political observers were quick to note that Gabbard and Gaetz would be "tough" nominees to get even a Republican-controlled Senate to confirm.
"Oh, for f*ck's sake," Food & Water Watch managing director of policy and litigation Mitch Jones said of Gaetz's selection. "The Senate should overwhelmingly reject this nomination."
However, there are mounting fears Trump will try to force through his most controversial picks—including Pete Hegseth, the Army veteran, lobbyist for war criminals, and "Fox & Friends" host set to lead the Pentagon—with recess appointments.
Economics reporter Joseph Zeballos-Roig wrote on social media Wednesday that "Trump nominating Gaetz, Gabbard, and Hegseth in a 24-hour period for key government posts suggests he doesn't see limits for what a GOP Senate will swallow."
Recalling a historic lie from one of Trump's former press secretaries, New York Times opinion columnist Ezra Klein said: "Demanding Senate Republicans back Gaetz as attorney general and Hegseth as defense secretary is the 2024 version of forcing Sean Spicer to say it was the largest inauguration crowd ever. These aren't just appointments. They're loyalty tests. The absurdity is the point."
"It also reflects a difference between Trump in 2020 and Trump in 2024: In 2020, Trump didn't have the pull with Senate Republicans... to impose this kind of loyalty test," Klein added. "He didn't even have it with many of his own appointees. Now, well, we'll see."
Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) declared that "Matt Gaetz is unconfirmable, he is the canary in the recess appointment coal mine."
Gaetz is a Trump loyalist known for ousting former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) last year. Some of his critics on Wednesday directed attention to an ongoing House Ethics Committee probe into allegations of sex trafficking. A U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) investigation ended with no charges and the congressman has denied any wrongdoing.
The president-elect is particularly hostile toward the Department of Justice, due to the two federal cases he faced for trying to overturn his 2020 loss to Biden and taking classified materials to Mar-a-Lago, his Florida resident.
"Trump's desire to nominate Gaetz for attorney general marks an effort to simultaneously degrade and weaponize the DOJ, subverting its mission of principled, nonpartisan law enforcement while punishing those who pursued charges against Trump (and, perhaps, against Gaetz himself)," wroteSlate's Mark Joseph Stern.
"It is a shocking choice, surely by design, that reflects an obvious desire to corrupt the agency from the top down," he added. "If Gaetz is confirmed, it's no exaggeration to say that the Justice Department will be permanently damaged, as civil servants flee (or face termination), partisan loyalists take their place, and the entire agency reorients around settling old scores against Trump's perceived enemies."
Robert Weissman, co-president of Public Citizen, similarly warned in a Wednesday statement that the graduate of William & Mary Law School "would lead a vengeful, authoritarian, and lawless Department of Justice."
"As a member of Congress, Gaetz has demonstrated contempt for the rule of law, truth, and decency," Weissman asserted. "He is singularly unqualified to lead an agency that enforces civil rights laws and environmental protection statutes. Under Gaetz, we'd have every reason to expect an America where corporate criminals walk free but immigrants and people of color are harassed or rounded up with minimal pretext."
Drop Site News' Ryan Grim acknowledged that Gaetz is "good" on some issues—like press freedom and surveillance—but critics like Common Cause President & CEO Virginia Kase Solomón stressed that he "has consistently worked against democracy and accountability."
On January 6, 2021, Gaetz "supported efforts to overturn the 2020 election and has since continued to shield those who attempted to subvert our democratic processes," Kase Solomón said. "His anti-voter agenda includes pushing legislation that would strip eligible voters from the rolls, even threatening government shutdowns to enforce voter suppression. Beyond that, his rhetoric and actions reveal a troubling history of encouraging violence against racial justice protesters and promoting dangerous white supremacist ideologies. This is not a candidate who values equality, justice, or the rights of all Americans."
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) announced that Gaetz resigned from Congress Wednesday evening, allegedly due to concerns over accumulating too many absences. AP 's Farnoush Amiri reported that "the House Ethics Committee's ongoing probe into allegations of child sex trafficking ends as does his tenure, and no report will be issued."
In addition to Gaetz, Gabbard, Hegseth, and Rubio, Trump has chosen GOP South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem for homeland security secretary, former Congressman John Ratcliffe (R-Texas) for Central Intelligence Agency director, Congresswoman Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) for United Nations ambassador, and ex-Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-N.Y.) for Environmental Protection Agency administrator.
Trump has also selected multiple people whose posts don't require Senate confirmation: former U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Tom Homan for "border czar," first-term adviser Stephen Miller for deputy chief of staff for policy, Rep. Mike Waltz (R-Fla.) for national security adviser, and longtime GOP strategist Susie Wiles for White House chief of staff.
The president-elect further announced Tuesday that billionaire campaign surrogates Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy will lead the yet-to-be-created Department of Government Efficiency to gut regulations and federal agencies.
Meanwhile, to track and challenge the incoming administration's attacks, the watchdog Accountable.US on Wednesday announced the Trump Accountability War Room and two Democrats launched Governors Safeguarding Democracy.
This post has been updated to include Rep. Matt Gaetz's resignation from Congress.
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If Tulsi Gabbard Falls in the Woods, Should It Make a Sound?
Given that Gabbard no longer has any position or particular role in the party to resign from, why is her change of party registration newsworthy at all?
Oct 22, 2022
The announcement by former Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard that she was leaving a Democratic Party driven by "cowardly wokeness," under the "control of an elitist cabal" which is stoking "anti-white racism," was met with mixed media enthusiasm. While the New York Times and Washington Post passed on the story, other major centrist media (NPR, 10/12/22; CNN, 10/11/22; USA Today, 10/11/22; Guardian, 10/11/22; LA Times, 10/11/22) thought it worth a headline.
"There is simply no evidence that Gabbard's exit moves the dial on the upcoming midterm elections in any significant way."
For right-wing media, Gabbard's leave-taking was a more significant story. Fox News, where Gabbard has appeared as pundit and occasional fill-in host (HuffPost, 8/13/22), celebrated her departure with coverage painting the Democratic Party as an out-of-touch social justice machine (10/11/22, 10/12/22, 10/13/22), while promising that Gabbard would actively support Republican election efforts (10/12/22) and attack the Biden administration (10/12/22).
Other conservative outlets likewise trumpeted her announcement (National Review, 10/14/22), even talking of (another) presidential run to challenge the Democrats from the right (New York Post, 10/14/22). An op-ed at The Hill (10/16/22) propped her up as a voice of reason against "socialism."
Because Gabbard had supported Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders' bid for the presidency in 2016 (Washington Post, 2/28/16), and eventually endorsed Joe Biden in 2020 (NBC, 3/19/20), the right-wing press found in useful to present her as a disillusioned progressive who, as Ronald Reagan claimed, didn't leave the Democratic Party, but rather was ideologically left behind by an increasingly socially liberal party platform.
Echoing the right
But for many of her critics on the left, Gabbard's leaving the party, and the anti-"woke" rhetoric she used to announce it, was hardly a surprise. She has sponsored anti-trans legislation (Hill, 12/11/20), and said Florida's "Don't Say Gay" law didn't go far enough (Advocate, 4/5/22).
After she introduced anti-abortion legislation (Yahoo, 12/16/20), an op-ed in the Mormon Deseret News (12/20/20) said Gabbard could "build a bridge between the two major parties on abortion."
Lately she has tried to make friends in the Donald Trump camp, echoing right-wing talking points about the FBI raid on Mar-a-Lago (National Review, 8/13/22) and comparing Biden to Hitler (Daily Beast, 10/17/22). Previously, she voted "present," a kind of non-vote, in the first impeachment of Trump--the only Democrat to do so (Politico, 12/20/19).
The Nation (1/17/19) noted that her "hawkishness on Islamic terrorism has led in strange directions for someone perceived to be on the left," noting that "she has engaged with brutal authoritarians such as Syria's Bashar al-Assad and Egypt's Abdel Fattah el-Sisi in the name of countering 'terrorism.'"
FAIR (10/24/19) extensively covered this last point three years ago, showing how her political rhetoric has been influenced by the far-right Hindu nationalist movement that governs India today. The Intercept (1/5/19) wrote:
Dozens of Gabbard's donors have either expressed strong sympathy with or have ties to the Sangh Parivar--a network of religious, political, paramilitary and student groups that subscribe to the Hindu-supremacist, exclusionary ideology known as Hindutva, according to an Intercept analysis of Gabbard's financial disclosures from 2011 until October 2018....
According to our analysis, at least 105 current and former officers and members of US Sangh affiliates, and their families, have donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to Gabbard's campaigns since 2011. Gabbard's ties to Hindu nationalists in the United States run so deep that the progressive newspaper Telegraph India in 2015 christened her the Sangh's American mascot.
Boosting her brand
This isn't the first time Gabbard has used resignation to boost her image. In 2016, she resigned as vice chair of the Democratic National Committee in order to support the Sanders campaign (NPR, 2/28/16), but even her highly produced ad on the subject (YouTube, 3/24/16), featuring her surfing in gorgeous Pacific water and crying as she remembers her military experience, left questions of whether she was promoting Sanders or herself.
But given that Gabbard no longer has any position or particular role in the party to resign from, why is her change of party registration newsworthy at all? Her presidential run in 2020 was forgettable, winning two delegates and 0.8% of the popular vote (New York Times, 9/14/20). Her legislative accomplishments were thin; former Hawaii Gov. Neil Abercrombie called on Gabbard to resign her House seat because "her missed votes and absence from her district amid her bid for the presidency were unacceptable" (Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 12/23/19).
Having been out of office since January 2021, nearly two years ago, her departure doesn't signify a change in the overall political orientation of Hawaii, which is reliably Democratic.
Compared to other party defectors, her move doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things. Vermont Sen. Jim Jeffords' break from the Republican Party in 2001 was not just a symbolic blow to the administration of George W. Bush, but shifted the balance of power to Democrats in the Senate (Washington Post, 8/18/14). Then-Democratic Georgia Sen. Zell Miller's speech at the Republican National Convention in favor of Bush (CBS, 9/1/04) empowered Republicans in the short term at a critical election moment, and in the long run emboldened the position that Democrats had lost touch with the conservative South.
There is simply no evidence that Gabbard's exit moves the dial on the upcoming midterm elections in any significant way.
Gabbard is getting lots of attention at right-wing Fox News, for a fairly obvious reason. In addition to already being a contributor, as a military veteran she brings a patriotic veneer to a political rhetoric that shifts focus away from the Republicans' rapaciously cruel economic agenda and toward moral panic against the idea that children might be learning that LGBTQ people exist and have rights.
But as FAIR (11/17/21) has shown before, much of the mainstream media are drawn like moths to a flame to any rhetoric against "wokeness"--originally an African-American expression meaning socially aware. By pointing to "wokeness" as a catalyst for her exodus, Gabbard ensured that her stunt would attract attention.
Not only did centrist coverage forward the dubious idea that Democrats have gone overboard with anti-racism and LGBTQ advocacy, it also served to boost her brand as a right-wing talking head. As a pundit, she might have more influence, and will surely make more money, than she did as a politician.
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'You Alone Can Save His Life': Edward Snowden Urges Trump to Pardon Julian Assange
"Mr. President, if you grant only one act of clemency during your time in office, please: free Julian Assange," the NSA whistleblower tweeted.
Dec 02, 2020
National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden on Thursday urged President Donald Trump to pardon WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.
"You alone can save his life," Snowden tweeted.
\u201cMr. President, if you grant only one act of clemency during your time in office, please: free Julian Assange. You alone can save his life. @realDonaldTrump\u201d— Edward Snowden (@Edward Snowden) 1607030495
Assange, who exposed U.S. war crimes, has been jailed at Belmarsh Prison in London since April 2019 and faces possible extradition to the U.S. Facing 17 alleged violations of the U.S. Espionage Act and one for computer fraud, Assange could be hit with a sentence of up to 175 years.
His detention conditions and case have prompted international outrage from human rights and press freedom defenders.
Snowden's appeal to Trump came a week after Stella Moris, Assange's partner, tweeted an image of their two young sons and urged the U.S. president to grant Assange freedom.
"I beg you, please bring him home for Christmas @realDonaldTrump," Moris tweeted.
The plights of Assange and Snowden--who's lived in Russia since his 2013 explosive leak of documents revealing the U.S. government's massive surveillance operations--also drew attention this week from Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawii), who urged Trump to pardon both men.
In her tweet, Gabbard referenced Trump's pardon the day earlier to his former adviser Michael Flynn.
"Since you're giving pardons to people, please consider pardoning those who, at great personal sacrifice, exposed the deception and criminality of those in the deep state," she wrote.
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