When it comes to partisan politics, few states sit quite as firmly on the democratic side of the aisle as Hawaii. With a State Senate consisting solely of Democrats and a House of Representatives where only 6 of 51 seats belong to the Republican Party, the state really bleeds blue. It should be no surprise that all four of Hawaii’s national representatives, two senators and two members of the House, are members of the Democratic Party. And yet, you shouldn’t be too quick to lump them together, because one of these Democrats, Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, is not like the others.
For a so-called liberal, Gabbard has an unprecedented amount of support from the right. From frequently appearing on Fox News, to having a meeting with Trump shortly after his win, this “progressive champion” has no issue jumping across the aisle whenever possible. This is not an inherent issue, though I know her Democratic constituents back home in Hawaii would be less than pleased with a few of her partnerships.
The case can be made that partisanship is a dividing issue here in America, and one that needs to be addressed through bipartisan projects. No matter whose party they’re in, the vast majority of Americans can safely say that they have a strong distaste for authoritarian figures who preach hate. Unfortunately, it seems as though Tulsi Gabbard does not have such qualms.
There is a growing contingent of Hawaiian voters who have begun to question the actions and sentiments of Gabbard after her recent trip to Syria, and the criticism has not hailed from her home state alone. Major papers have recently attacked her trip to Syria, in which she visited authoritarian leader and internationally recognized dickhead, Bashar Al Assad.
Articles and op-eds published by “The Washington Post,” “The Daily Beast” and “The Atlantic” have all raised questions concerning the issues surrounding her “fact-finding” trip to Syria. One of the most glaring of these is the fact that she was accompanied by Elie and Bassam Khawam, both of whom are officials in the Syrian Social Nationalist Party, a party actively engaged in the Syrian civil war on the side of the Assad regime. To visit an authoritarian regime, while accompanied by two gentlemen who greatly support it, in front of a global audience, can serve to legitimize authoritarian rule.
If this were her first time stepping into the realm of dictators, hardliners and alt-right leaders, perhaps I would be inclined to cut her some slack. She could have had the best intentions but naively miscalculated the consequences of her actions. Perhaps she didn’t realize that she was setting herself up to be the mouthpiece of Assad. Unfortunately for her, history would indicate that this Hawaii Democrat has a taste for authoritarian politics.
Bashar Al Assad was not the first authoritarian leader with whom Gabbard has had a questionable relationship. Over the course of her career in Congress, Gabbard, as the first Hindu in the House, has spent a fair amount of time garnering support and making connections with Indians, both in America and in India. Strangely enough, this “progressive Democrat” chose to align herself with the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and their party leader, India’s current prime minister, Narendra Modi.
Modi has been accused of a multitude of human-rights abuses, including attacks against Muslims and homosexuals. Despite these accusations, in 2013, when members of the House introduced HR 417, a bill that called on India to improve its human-rights abuses, Gabbard publicly opposed it. The congresswoman argued that the timing of the bill would have an effect on the Indian election, the election in which Modi was running for prime minister. The bill was never voted on, and Modi became prime minister of India.
These examples of authoritarian world leaders buddying up and sharing values with a progressive congresswoman is disturbing, yet it doesn’t stop there. The support that questionable Americans have shown her presents more food for thought.
Ever heard of David Duke? He’s a man most famous for cross burnings, dancing around in a white hood and working his butt off to keep racism alive in the 21st century. The dude was a former grand wizard of the Klu Klux Klan. And guess what? In a 2016 radio interview, this racist relic from a bygone era spoke up and said that he was a huge fan of Congresswoman Gabbard. Now hold the fuck up. If this doesn’t make your spidey senses tingle, I don’t know what will.
Tulsi Gabbard is a mixed race, progressive woman, who hails from one of the most liberal and ethnically tolerant states in the Union. Why on earth would a racist, misogynistic, alt-right, former-KKK grand wizard support her? If I had to guess, I’d wager it may have to do with her admiration for the intolerant hardliners that I mentioned earlier. Though Gabbard quickly renounced the Klansman’s support, such an endorsement should raise more than a few eyebrows and just as many questions.
So, why does this matter? Who really cares about the off-color allies and supporters that a congresswoman from Hawaii might curry? Sure, she’s a political figure, but do her actions really affect Americans outside of Hawaii?
To answer this question, you need only google her name. If Tulsi Gabbard’s name is entered into Google’s search bar, suggestions will pop up, the most frequently searched phrases involving her name. The top two will include words like Trump and Syria, but third or fourth from the top, you will find Tulsi Gabbard’s name followed by the number 2020.
If you do a little research, you will find that there is a large number of Americans across the country who want Gabbard to make a run at the Oval Office, and as a young, mixed race, female veteran, who is capable of garnering support from both the far left and far right, she has a good shot at winning. Though her admiration for hardlining authoritarians may not seem like a pressing issue now, it may prove to be a far more serious issue four years down the line.
Garbage mud slinging
Lol. I really hope you don’t consider yourself a journalist. It would be an insult to those who base their worldview upon facts.
I realize that the article on Congresswoman Gabbard is an opinion piece rather than unbiased journalism, but it seems to cloak itself in a guise of news, aside from calling the president of Syria a “dickhead” which real journalists don’t usually do, even though Assad IS a murderous, dangerous and corrupt dictator. If it were really news, it would have explained Gabbard’s belief that you must meet with your enemies in order to have any chance at resolution. In fact, as she said, “You don’t make peace with your friends. You make peace with your enemies.” (borrowed from the first lady of Afghanistan, Rula Ghani. There is a huge difference between meeting with someone and supporting them.
Which brings up the matter of her meeting with Trump. Meeting with the newly elected President doesn’t mean she supports him. As a matter of fact, she has publicly come out against his travel ban as she came out against Obama’s funding ISIS terrorists in Syria and a regime change that would create a vacuum for Al Qaeda and ISIS to fill.
Also, who follows the congresswoman should not reflect define her. Candidates and politicians can’t control that and she has publicly denounced David Duke.
These and many other facts were noticeable absent from the op-editorial against Tulsi Gabbard. I hope readers take it as opinion and read what Gabbard has to say before making a decision.
I am a Syrian and I absolutely agree with Tulsi’s stance on Syria. Western media and politicians kept lying all the time and reported only the story that suits the agenda of regime change. What happened in Syria is never a civil war or a war for democracy. It was a war by proxy launched on Syria to induce regime change. They injected chaos, thousands of mercenary killers from around the world and tons of weapons. Assad is genuinely supported by most Syrians and that’s why the US and allies never wanted a free and just election in Syria.
Nice try Liam, but I did a little research and found that the notorious ISIS leader, al Hal Aliam, has praised you for your efforts to undermine Tulsi Gabbard’s “Stop Funding Terrorism Act.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKV1sTw8zOc
Hahahaha you call yourself a journalist ? Fuck your smear campaign. Tulsi’s actions for the people speaks louder than your shitty words. She would make an amazing women president.
You do realize that attitudes like this isbthr reason Trump is in the Oval Office, right?
Good piece. Thank you.
I am excited about the prospect of Tulsi taking on greater political responsibility or even running for President. She’s not Bernie Sanders, but she is a progressive who values functional politics and isn’t afraid to tackle the tough topics, including complicated and delicate foreign policy.
Her career is actually founded on her interest in protecting the environment, and she willingly stepped down from her political positions TWICE to support a cause she deemed important. Once from her state representative seat to serve her country in the military, and again from her position as vice chair of the DNC to support Bernie Sanders. Love it or hate it, there’s no denying that she is a progressive with lots of integrity and passion for her country. And bipartisan appeal may be the ONLY thing that can get Trump out of office in 2020. She’s got my vote.
And today we see why it isn’t left to students to write articles for credible news sources. Your arguments are stretched and lack an understanding of politics, a business involved with constant compromises and tug of wars. Representative Gabbard meeting with Trump with regard to the Syrian conflict is a large part of her current platform to stop the US from involving itself in every foreign affair it can. Assad may be harmful, but the people of Syria for the most part support him, and his removal would lead to yet another power vacuum in the region. Lastly, you may want to refrain from using childish words such as “dickhead,” when you are attempting to write an opinion piece, that is if you wish to be taken seriously.
Congratulations, one of the last few real left wing politicians left and you’ve brought a smear campaign against her. Maybe she should be like the mainstream candidates? Like Warren who go missing when they’re needed only to come back out with a few soundbites and pretend they’r Trump’s biggest adversary. We’re at the dawn of Trump’s tenure so you may as well negotiate with him as opposed to standing idly. In case you didn’t realise, Bernie reached across the aisle many a time. Because she’s done it does it make her less liberal?
No, it means she knows what she stands for and what she believes is right regardless of the actors involved. Granted, Assad is a dictator and has blood on his hands but the Clinton option of arming and empowering Al-Qaeda spin-offs like Al-Nusra and ISIS is far more deadly. Has Tulsi ever spoken of support for Assad? No, she took a trip there to see another side of the spectrum away from the crass oversimplification of the mainstream media, which loves to tout American exceptionalism.
If you are to confuse meetings with “admiration” (as you seemed incapable of distinguishing in this article), then how the fuck do you expect any form of international diplomacy to work? Or shall we just arm “the rebels” and unleash belligerent drone strikes without question, regardless of the consequences? Yes because that worked so well in Iraq, Libya and Afghanistan, didn’t it?
P.s. Liam note how in this short paragraph and previous comments there’s more actual examples than your whole article? That’s called research and writing. Don’t be disheartened, keep writing but stop toeing the elitist Clintonite machine, just cos you call yourselves left-wing and progressive doesn’t mean you are ; )
I live in her district and have voted for her (honestly there has been no real alternative). I’ve yet to be hugely disappointed in her D.C. but I’ve never fully trusted her and have always kept a wary eye on her.
Ms. Gabbard was a thorn in the side Wasserman-Shultz as the Party’s deputy chair. Her parting of the ways with the DNC and endorsing Bernie shows she is a progressive. The David Duke “endorsement” was probably intended as no favor. I certainly think she should take on a Party Leadership role. Democrat old guard is going to have to accept that finessing Clinton into the Nomination was a disastrous example of putting Party before Country. Instead of trying to hang on, the Clintonites need to apologise to the people they let down and then disappear.
Tulsi Gabbard, maybe with Bernie as a running mate (Harry Truman chose a much older Alvin Barkley in 1948), would demolish the Republicans.
James Wagner – Retired British Public Servant (dual nationality)
Go tulsi!
What kind of a shill piece is this? Tulsi has done what any decent statesperson should have, which is to go to Syria and meet with the people there, as well as the leaders. She was accompanied, I believe by Dennis Kucinich, who must be another one of those KKK loving Democrats, right?
FYI, not everyone is buying into the incessant propaganda in the uS about Syria. I know for a fact that the vast majority of Syrians regard Assad’s efforts to beat back the mercenary Jihadis unleashed upon his country, with the utmost respect.
And the Syrian Army has performed a truly amazing and heroic job fighting back against the Saudi Arabia/Qatar/US/NATO supported extreme mercenaries, including ISIS, by itself a widely believed US/KSA/Turkish creation. Now even Turkey recognizes that it’s time to pick its battles wisely and has chosen to increasingly align with Russia, the only country actually invited into Syria by its legitimate government.
This being said, I hope Saudi Arabia – that bastion of democracy and human rights, is paying you handsomely for this piece. It’s a nice hit, as hits go, though frankly, I’ve seen better.
Disclosure: Liam is the son of Shay Chan Hodges. Shay was the opponent of Gabbard in the 2016 Democratic Party primary for Hawaii’s 2nd Congressional District, which Gabbard overwhelmingly won by 84.5% of the vote, compared to Chan Hodges’ 15.5%. (ballotpedia.org/Shay_Chan_Hodges)
This article is clearly a hit piece by the son of Gabbard’s political opponent. Liam uses faulty arguments (guilt by association for example) to smear Gabbard for not towing the Clintonian line. Unlike Liam’s unsubstantiated claims, Gabbard is very popular among Hawaiian voters.
The publications Liam cites criticizing Gabbard for going to Syria (WaPo, Daily Beast, Atlantic) support the Islamist rebels and demand the US Military overthrow Assad. Their editorial stances are consistently Neoliberal. They also support the interventionist concept of Responsibility to Protect (R2P): using military force to overthrow governments opposed to corporate globalist hegemony under the guise of saving their people (humanitarian bombardment).
Perhaps the reason Gabbard is admired by those of different political views is that she is not afraid to make informed decisions in the best interest of her constituents and the American people. Her proposed bill reflects that by having co-sponsors and support from Democrats and Republicans, with Senator Rand Paul being the most recent. (http://www.mintpressnews.com/rand-paul-joins-tulsi-gabbard-calling-congress-stop-funding-isis-al-qaeda/225868/)
Fake news hack journalist in training.
How does being opposed to regime change in Syria discredit Tulsi Gabbard’s progressive bona fides? Since when has supporting military aggression and Western imperialism made one a progressive? Assad is a brutal despot, as was Saddam Hussein and Muammar Gaddafi – though would you say that Iraq and Libya are better off without them now? No. They’ve been turned into failed states in perpetual civil war where radicals kill off ethnic and religious minorities; the internal discord found in these nations post-regime change has served to destabilize the Middle East, North Africa and has even spread into West Africa. Is that the fate you want for Syria, for it to become a safe haven for ISIS and for Christians, Jews, Druze, Shiites, and Yazidis to be the victims of genocide; because that is the most likely outcome if you overthrow Bashar al-Assad, who is, for the record, a secularist and does protect religious minorities. The only way to end this tragic chaos is through diplomacy, not through dropping cluster bombs and depleted uranium munitions (which are both war crimes, by the way, and therefore discredit the actions of the US in Syria).
And as for David Duke endorsing her, yes, he did, and so did Richard Spencer. They’re both paleoconservatives, and as the journalist probably knows, paleocons would like to bring the United States back to the early nineteenth century, when the US isolated from global affairs and when slavery was still legal. Due to her experiences serving in Iraq, Tulsi Gabbard is strongly anti-war. Paleocons agree with her on foreign policy issues, as do libertarians, progressives, and socialists – all of these groups are opposed to the US policing the world, though for very different reasons. Foreign policy is all that paleocons, like Duke and Spencer, agree with her on, however. Tulsi had to remind Duke that she is biracial, that her father was not allowed to drink at the “white’s only” water fountain, and that his white nationalism is pure evil.
All in all, this piece is a disingenuous attempt at smearing a progressive politician and a truly decent human being.
Absolute trash hit piece article brought to you by the Dem Party right wing who can see a progressive Sanders backer and leader who could win in 2020 in Sanders stead. I love Tulsi.
Savage. Nice work 🙂
You people are seriously obsessed with Tulsi Gabbard. Get over yourselves. Liam, your mom is a stalker and clearly you’re following in her footsteps. The link I’m about to drop completely debunks this garbage. How does it feel knowing you’re known for being little groupies of the Gabbards, hell bent on marring the image of their Democratic rising star? Seriously, stop with the charade.
HAHAHAHA this is the weakest hit piece I’ve ever seen.
Good try, well not really
Tulsi is too strong for amateurish attacks like this
KKK? REALLY???
What’s next, Hitler comparisons ?
Way to fail
Lol @ StudyBreaks thinking their “journalism” skills are fit for political ideological opinions.
This reads like a trash piece from an MSNBC show, and I’m a fucking Leftist.
That university students aren’t skeptical of regime changes in the Arab world despite the previous 50 years, is a very scary thing.
Looks like the propaganda machine is working hard today to generate this garbage piece!
More b.s. propaganda slandering Tulsi Gabbard by the Chan Hodges family. Give it up, get a life. Your obsession with her is so boring.
“…even though Assad IS a murderous, dangerous and corrupt dictator.” <– Who told you that? CNN? NPR?
People here might not know that because their brains are full of lies told by our corporate/state controlled.media.
Here is an idea Liam, instead of repeating propaganda maybe you should research those claims more carefully. For example the claims against Modi are directly from the opposition parties in India – which then filtered into western media without checking from other sources as to the integrity of those political attacks from non-politically biased sources, mainly because the western media lacks expertise in knowing which journalists support which party and so on. It is like taking the conservative media lies in America about Obama being a communist black nationalist who wanted to destroy America – and then repeat that nonsense as if it is “the truth” to people on the left because you are ignorant of American culture and their media landscape. You just end up looking a fool to people in the know.. You then use guilt by association to vilify Tulsi because she doesn’t attack the leader of America’s largest democratic ally? Repeating the same exact propaganda you mom used in her campaign to unseat Tulsi. How did that work out?
Maybe a smarter person would know that doing the same failing attack over and over and getting the same result would engender some new type of propaganda attack on your chosen target. But noooooo. I mean what bizarro world do you live in where official American representatives are supposed to treat the most popular leader of India since Gandhi in the way you seem to think Tulsi should have? I get it that you support your mom, but maybe it is time to wake up to reality instead of living in the bizarro world you guys live in. To wit: Tulsi is arguably the most popular politician in America among the common people – regardless of what corporate toadies or political hacks or mainstream media sell-outs do to change that in their foolish attacks in support of the left-right status quo money people. Tulsi has clearly voiced the ideals of people from all parties since they can sense a real person rather than a mouthpiece for special interest fatcats. Maybe it is time we have a leader who is not a sell-out or moron – or too afraid to do what any mentally sound observer of American political reality can see are the right things to do.
Tragedy is, such piece of ‘journalism’ if I should tentatively call it, end up consuming electrons and protons associated with the internet and digital space. This article doesn’t deserve even the most minute electron space. Ill informed, twisted and self serving. We need more of Tulsi Gabbards in the world. Her contacts and approach to Syria and India are absolutely spot on.
Point taken.
Thank you.
Hey now, everyone needs to back off. It’s not easy being a journalist who researches when you work at a Volleyball store lol
This might be a coincidence but the author of this article shares the exact same surname as the lady who primaried tulsi gabbard. I’m guessing your related and this is a bitter retaliation.
Had to force myself to read through the entire piece, and I regret it. Please do more thorough research and read these comments carefully. Especially Ana Suri’s comment towards the top. It’s sad that this was the first article that popped up when I typed her name into google in hopes of learning about her, she seems very interesting.
Matt Lloyd, there are several posts above that address the author’s mother and her adversarial relationship with Congresswoman Gabbard. They’re worth reading.
David Duke probably likes her because she opposes Zionist Middle East wars. Wow, put the handcuffs on.
What’s wrong with a democrat who is willing to at least consider the viewpoint of the Republicans? It’s the extreme partisanship on both sides that was at least partially responsible for the election of Donald Trump. The other big factor was that Hillary Clinton is a crook who people trusted less than that jerk Trump. Even GW Bush and Bill Clinton managed to get members of the other party on board with selected legislation that they championed.
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t like Trump and was happy Obama passed many social reforms in 8 years, including health care coverage for more people, legalization of same-sex marriage and allowing gays/lesbians to openly serve in military without being kicked out. However, the rift between democrats and republicans during his tenure resulted in a 2 week government shutdown and failure to pass budgets on time.
Unlike Trump, I won’t resort to name-calling like a 6 year old on Twitter. I prefer stating real facts and explaining my position on this issue.
Thank you. You saved me from writing the same thoughts.
The writer fails to disclose a serious conflict of interest – Liam Chan Hodges is the son of Shay Chan Hodges, a Democratic contender that Tulsi trounced in the last election. Of course he is sore about it.
The writer also fails to acknowledge the fact that opposition to Assad takes the US down the road to another regime change war. Hasn’t the government learned it’s lesson with Iraq, Iran and Libya?
Another thing that apparently goes over the writer’s head, Bashar al-Assad is the least bad option. If he falls, Syria will quickly be taken over by ISIS and al Nusra, and that is not good news for anyone. Maybe the writer would prefer that in light of his rabid opposition to Assad.
Regarding Narendra Modi, the writer obviously missed the memo wherein Modi was cleared of all charges by the Supreme Court after months of investigation. Or maybe the writer thinks he know more about India than the Indian Supreme Court.
Also Tulsi was right regarding HR417. Of all the countries that the US government, in its infinite wisdom, chooses to lecture, they choose India? Apparently the author thinks that long term US allies Pakistan and Saudi Arabia aren’t deserving of such honors, and only India needs to be singled out.
And lastly, regarding David Duke, it’s not Gabbard’s fault that some loony tune thinks that they have common ground with her. Taylor Swift is the dream girl of neo nazis. But it isn’t because of something that she did, it’s because they’ve got it into their heads that they share common ground with her. It’s not her fault.
Terrible hit job of an article, and badly written too.
I wanted to leave a reply, but “Dream Walker” up there wrote pretty much what I was going to say. It is a terrible day in the US, when people who actually care about the country are attacked for ideological and not real reasons.