The trouble with Tulsi: Why the former Hawaii congresswoman is Trump’s worst choice for vice president
Washington Examiner, April 25, 2024 (excerpts)
..According to a recent New York Times article, after meeting with her at Mar-a-Lago, Trump “made clear to advisers that she should be on his list of options” — a list that otherwise is dominated by more conventional choices, any of whom would be a less farfetched alternative even for someone as unconventional as the 45th president.
… Gabbard, on the other hand, scarcely has any strengths at all. In choosing her, Trump would be choosing someone who is all downside and no upside. …Gabbard’s personal background would also likely become a campaign problem. She was raised in an offshoot of the Hare Krishna movement, which critics have likened to a cult ….She drew bipartisan ire for meeting with Bashar Assad in 2017, a move seen as validating the Syrian dictator’s murderous war against his own people. Gabbard has also taken a decidedly soft stance toward Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, chastising Biden and Western leaders for being insufficiently solicitous of Russia’s “legitimate” security concerns about Ukraine’s possible accession to NATO. ….When it comes to opening Republican donor wallets and checkbooks, Gabbard is surely at the bottom of the list.
The blackest mark against Gabbard from Trump’s perspective is that she squanders one of his strongest advantages: voter fears that a vote for Biden is really a vote for Kamala Harris. Trump and Biden are the two oldest presidential nominees in history. Given this reality, their understudies may be a factor in 2024 in a way they haven’t in decades.
… despite her myriad flaws, Harris is a former state attorney general and U.S. senator — i.e., someone who’s been elected statewide multiple times — and not just in any state but in California, the largest state in the union. As vice president, she’s also been on a winning national ticket. Gabbard fans may no more want to hear it than Harris’s numerous detractors on the Right, but as awful as she is, she is simply a more credible potential president than Gabbard. …
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KeyWiki: Tulsi Gabbard
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