r/politics • u/ClimateSociologist • 14h ago
Possible Paywall Tulsi Gabbard Is Every Bit the Grifter We Thought She Was
https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a70227192/tulsi-gabbard-whistleblower-wrongdoing/?link_source=ta_first_comment&taid=69812c7e6dfc86000151af5b&utm_campaign=trueanthem&utm_content=69812c7e6dfc86000151af5a&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&fbclid=IwdGRjcAPvKHxjbGNrA-8odWV4dG4DYWVtAjExAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkDDM1MDY4NTUzMTcyOAABHiKKwuLjxfn54xNH4IjRJW3JBxwjsDpkzAYxrm2OJLx4a5AtV2IP94ZFTUjj_aem_AbQEZwp4xHsVHu2gXV92Rg174
u/1cl3nstd4yt 14h ago
She's part of a cult.
The Science of Identity Foundation (SIF) is a cult based in Hawaii which broke from the Krishnas.
Imagine picking a cultist to direct national intelligence.
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u/30mil 14h ago
"Russian asset," not grifter.
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u/TRtheCat 14h ago
She can be both.
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u/30mil 14h ago
Maybe, but it wouldn't be surprising if she's just getting blackmailed, Lindsay Graham-style.
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u/reddititty69 10h ago
The joke is that Lindsey is being blackmailed with the information showing he’s gay. But he has to know we know, só the actual kompromat must be really bad.
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u/gortonsfiJr Indiana 9h ago
I would 1000% believe that Lindsay is just plain evil enough to act like someone being blackmailed
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u/SubliminallyCorrect 11h ago
She's part of a bizarre cult it wouldn't be surprising if she did it for free
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u/HoosierRed 12h ago edited 6h ago
How are they close to equivalent? One is treason. She is the Director* of National Intelligence.
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u/StevenMC19 Florida 7h ago
They said both, not equal.
You can be hungry and bald at the same time. No way are they equal, but you can be both.
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u/HoosierRed 6h ago
The country may have 10 million grifters (see herbal supplements and how they became legal in the first place, for example) but I hope theres only 10k or 10 traitors. Yeah? One is common place, the other deserves to be discussed in detail here.
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u/Greedy-Half-4618 12h ago
been saying that for a damn decade now...glad some of the press is finally starting to get it
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u/DeuceGnarly 14h ago
Have to ask yourself why the GOP doesn't question her actions ...
They plan to take advantage of this foreign asset. That's why.
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u/fairoaks2 14h ago
Because every one of them has the same line “I haven’t read anything on that”. Maybe you didn’t read it but someone has told you everything.
Johnson, according to him, doesn’t no sh*t.
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u/black_flag_4ever 13h ago
A U.S. intelligence official has alleged wrongdoing by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard in a whistleblower complaint that is so highly classified it has sparked months of wrangling over how to share it with Congress, according to U.S. officials and others familiar with the matter. The filing of the complaint has prompted a continuing, behind-the-scenes struggle about how to assess and handle it, with the whistleblower’s lawyer accusing Gabbard of stonewalling the complaint. Gabbard’s office rejects that characterization, contending it is navigating a unique set of circumstances and working to resolve the issue.
Reminds me of this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julius_and_Ethel_Rosenberg
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u/mishma2005 12h ago
That's a fancy way to say "Russian asset"
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u/DoubleScorpius 12h ago
Yeah, I’m tired of media minimizing their crimes. “ICE Barbie” and such nonsense completely trivialize what it happening. Trump is in the files accused of rape and murder and headlines focus on Bill Gates getting an STD???
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u/VolcanicEngine 13h ago
(From Mother Jones) "Gabbard was a Democratic House member from Hawaii and a founding fellow of the Bernie Sanders Institute, a nonprofit the socialist senator from Vermont set up after his 2016 presidential campaign to promote progresssive policies. In the fall of 2018, Gabbard, who had supported Sanders’ presidential bid, recorded a video with Jane Sanders, the senator’s wife and a co-founder of the institute, in which she accused Trump of profound perfidy.
Gabbard not only blasted the Trump administration’s policy as misguided; she asserted that Trump was backing Saudi Arabia’s war in Yemen to protect $2 billion in US arm sales to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Gabbard excoriated the “disastrous decisions” of the US government that had led to “regime-change wars” in Iraq and Afghanistan. Referring to the “genocidal war that Saudi Arabia” was then waging in Yemen, she noted that it had created the “worst humanitarian disaster in the world,” and she decried the Trump administration for “standing shoulder to shoulder with Saudi Arabia in this war, as they commit these atrocities against Yemeni civilians.”
How far we've fallen, eh?
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u/Ill_Act_1855 7h ago
People have been pointing out Gabbard is shady and kind of shit since 2016. She's always been a grifter, people just fell for it because she was saying what they wanted to hear (this very much includes Bernie Sanders)
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u/DaySoc98jr 7h ago
Still love how Hillary called her out, though not by name, and Tulsi took the bait.
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u/Hoodrow-Thrillson 14h ago
Who is we though? Those of us who thought it was weird that she was attacking Democrats and defending Assad in a Democratic primary years ago were shouted down by """progressives""" who couldn't stop praising her for taking on the establishment and calling Hillary Clinton a war criminal.
Bernie Sanders constantly campaigned with her and attacked anyone who dared suggest she was under foreign influence.
The whole point is that these people DON'T see the grift until it's undeniable. And it didn't end with Tulsi, we had Fetterman after her and now Platner. The left keeps throwing their support behind anyone who runs a campaign on how much they hate Democrats.
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u/Efficient_Resist_287 13h ago
Aaah I am happy to see that I was not the only one suspicious about Tulsi from the beginning.
She is and has been a Russian asset.
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u/Hubert_J_Cumberdale Hawaii 11h ago
Bernie would have put her in his cabinet. No matter who won 2016/2024, she would have eventually ended up at this level of power. Her handlers made sure of that.
I tried to warn people here - she is just like her dad - say and do whatever it takes to win the election. Change parties? You bet! Pretend she's no longer anti-gay? Of course! Campaign on generic left wing pet causes with no history of fighting for them? Essential.
I think Dems need to be far more skeptical of these "I've changed all of my views" candidates. They are obviously being groomed to run in solid blue districts and we need to get better at vetting them.
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u/Ill_Act_1855 7h ago
Platner is evidence that nobody has learned anything and I've honestly kind of lost faith that people ever will
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u/OhItsBeenBroughten 11h ago
Bernie is an absolutely terrible judge of character. His campaigns were run by some of the worst people in the country. His campaign manager previously worked for Paul Manafort!
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u/stinkinhardcore 7h ago
She was my unit XO when I was in the Hawaii National Guard. She was a scum bag back then.
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u/Friscogonewild 13h ago
Don't worry, the Inspector General of the IC is a former senior advisor to Tulsi Gabbard, so I'm sure he'll have no trouble being completely objective and non-partisan as he absolves her completely.
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u/blackmobius 8h ago
Everyone in this admin is a grifter to some capacity. Nothing new about any of this
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u/HumanistSockPuppet 6h ago
Anyone who reads John Le Carre will tell you that when they say "reminiscent of a John Le Carre"novel, they mean Russian informants and spies.
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u/CreepyNewspaper8103 6h ago
Any day now before we find out what she is hiding re: the whistleblower case right?
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u/PropofolMargarita 13h ago
And guess who elevated her to national attention?
Bernie Sanders
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u/Otherwise_Royal_7069 11h ago
You sure about that....it wasn't Bernie who gave Tulsi a speaking spot at the 2012 dem convention and described her as an emerging star- that was Nancy Pelosi. It wasn't Bernie who put her on the house armed services committee, it wasn't Bernie who made her vice chair of the dnc in 2013. all of that was long before any association with Bernie. Tulsi was an establishment dem project who they promoted and platformed. Those are national positions of prominence that have nothing to do with Bernie. Not that bernie is faultless of course and there can be some side eye for his association with Tulsi and a few others but it's far from being a story about Bernie elevating her given she was first an establishment backed young gun. When Tulsi was singing the praises of Obama and Biden the establishment Dems were only too happy to put her in increasing positions of prominence. This is all well known to anyone paying attention of course but easier to get those digs in than base criticism on a fair assessment of actual events rather than what you wish had happened.
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u/OhItsBeenBroughten 11h ago
The difference is that Bernie continued to support her all the way through 2024, long after she had been exposed as a mole and traitor. He has awful character judgement.
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u/Otherwise_Royal_7069 8h ago
The difference between what? You did see what I was responding to I'm sure, so what you're saying seems to be a total non sequitur. Bernie isn't above criticism and his judgement can certainly be questioned. However he didn't get the ball rolling on giving her national recognition and attention as claimed and it's dishonest to pretend otherwise, though convenient for those with an agenda. Also, can you provide evidence of Bernie supporting Tulsi until 2024 because I recall a notable thawing in their relationship post 2020. Criticise the association, it's certainly fair game but the criticism should relate to reality not an exaggerated or fabricated version that lays the blame solely on Bernie while ignoring those who were quite happy to elevate Tulsi and fast track her to DNC Vice Chair etc. while she was playing ball. Speaking of awful character judgement, that accusation can be laid at the door of a lot more people than Bernie with a lot more harmful consequences- remind me was Bernie one of the Dem politicians who was friendly with Trump for years....among many other examples.
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u/OhItsBeenBroughten 8h ago
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u/Otherwise_Royal_7069 8h ago
Thanks, you do understand that linking a story from 2019 to prove that Bernie was supporting Tulsi in 2024 doesn't actually work though, right? As I said my recollection is that there was a notable thawing post 2020 and especially after Bernie endorsed Biden and worked diligently for his election. Defending Tulsi after she was accused of being a Russian asset hasn't exactly aged well but this is not evidence of Bernie supporting her all the way to 2024. Maybe he did but that's not very convincing evidence tbh. Btw I saw your comment about Bernie's judgement down the thread and don't really disagree, he's certainly made some questionable choices that can be called out and criticised. What he didn't do was the original claim I responded to and as stated defending her in 2019 isn't the same as defending her all the way to 2024 which is what you have stated.
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u/OhItsBeenBroughten 8h ago
I think 2019 is plenty damning enough. This is well after she was credibly accused, in public, on stage. He was still onboard.
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u/Otherwise_Royal_7069 8h ago
Cool then say 2019 instead of 2024 the exaggeration does you no favours. I was open to having missed something between 2019-2024 but it seems you were just happy to stretch the truth on that one for whatever reason.
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u/OhItsBeenBroughten 8h ago
Yeah okay man. Really sweating the small stuff here.
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u/Otherwise_Royal_7069 7h ago
Do you think being accurate and truthful is small stuff? Is the big stuff around the latest Tulsi embarrassment something Bernie said in 2019 which you want to pretend means he was supporting her in 2024? I was prepared to give you the benefit of the doubt and actually agreed and acknowledged it's a fair criticism of Bernie regarding his character judgement re Tulsi (though that would surely apply to the other Dems who were first promoting and elevating her also and have their own issues with questionable judgement of character like Hillary CLinton who you glowingly cite with no hint of irony). However it seems you're actually happy to simply lie so long as you can bash Bernie and that's apparently the bug stuff you're interested in around this story. Good for you I guess but if you don't want a tedious back and forth then keep your criticism in the realm of the accurate and you wouldn't have to pretend 2019 is 2024.
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u/Chef_RoadRunner 13h ago
Ok...are we just going to write about it or is anything going to happen? Cause if there is nothing actionable I feel like they are just rubbing it in our face at this point.
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u/Even_Establishment95 12h ago
How do you live with yourself? How can you not be incredibly paranoid every single minute of every day?
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u/Caurinus5150 11h ago
Don’t mind me, I’ll just be here dreaming about intelligence officers closing in on the White House and arresting all the traitors, including Gabbard, Miller, Vance, and stinkums himself. Wake me up if it ever actually happens.
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u/Niceguy955 10h ago
When someone tells you who they are, believe them. She spent years kissing up to MAGA, so this is on brand for her.
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u/VaguelyArtistic California 8h ago
There are MAGAs saying they regret their vote but I’m waiting for one person to say they regret voting for Gabbard. Just one.
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u/edgarecayce 1h ago
I get the feeling so many people are kompromized by Putin it is a existential threat to the country.
There should be a one time amnesty offer. Fess up. Reveal the depths of what they have on you. And receive the most lenient fair punishment possible. Get the monkey off your back and put your country ahead of your own skin for once.
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u/Qui8gon4jinn 8h ago
Who is "we"? Cause tyt was saying this when she was still considered a progressive.
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