Tulsi Gabbard To Keynote Mar-a-Lago Fundraiser
India-West News Desk
TAMPA, FL – Former Democratic Congresswoman, Tulsi Gabbard, is firmly now in the Donald Trump camp. Earlier this week, the GOP presidential candidate had said he was considering her on his ticket as vice president.
Latest reports say Gabbard will now be the keynote speaker at a fundraiser to be held on March 7 at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort.
The fundraiser is technically not for Trump but for the 917 Society, a nonprofit that promotes education about the Constitution.
The Daily Beast said tickets for the soiree range from $1,250 to $25,000. An endorsement from Gabbard, whose embrace of America First-style foreign policy and “anti-woke” politics has defined her rightward drift, could boost a Trump campaign that is trying to build a broad coalition for 2024, it said.
A friend of Gabbard’s and a former senior campaign staffer from her 2020 campaign, each of whom spoke on condition of anonymity, told the media outlet that it indicated the current Army Reserve officer is open to a military or veterans’ affairs-focused role in a future Trump administration.
While Gabbard hasn’t decided yet on whether to endorse Trump, the friend said, she’s not ruling it out.
The event happens to be scheduled on the same night as President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address.
When Gabbard burst onto the political scene in 2012, it seemed like a matter of time before she’d end up in a Democratic administration. But her falling out with the Democratic Party began in earnest in early 2016, the Daily Beast pointed out citing how she teamed up with Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) on a bill calling for the U.S. to drop all charges against NSA leaker Edward Snowden, followed by a similar one with Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) on Wikileaks founder Julian Assange. Also, Gabbard’s sister, Vrindavan Bellord, has been serving in a high-paid security gig for Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ).
Pradeep Srivastava
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According to an article in newsnationnow.com, dated February 22, 2024, “ Who are Donald Trump’s picks for potential vice president?” written by Katie Smith, “ the former president (Trump) named some of the Republicans he may consider as a running mate. The list includes three former GOP candidates: Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R). He also confirmed Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.), South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R) and former Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, who served in Congress as a Democrat but has since shifted to more conservative views, are in the running. Other names have been floated as well, including New York Rep. Elise Stefanik and Arkansas Gov. Sara Huckabee Sanders.”
So, yes, Gabbard did make the list of Trump’s potential running mates. My guess is that he would pick Kristi Noem because in order to compete with Kamala Harris, he has to pick a female candidate and since he values glamor, loyalty, and experience of handling TV exposure, Noem sounds like a logical pick, but considering how mercurial Trump is, it would be foolhardy to bet on any candidate.
Usually, presidential candidates keep secret who their running mates would be but Trump is no typical presidential candidate, therefore, I am unsurprised that in order to keep himself under the media radar and to broaden his base he would keep this issue alive as long as he can. Besides, he still hasn’t yet won the nomination.
“An endorsement from Gabbard, whose embrace of America First-style foreign policy and “anti-woke” politics has defined her rightward drift, could boost a Trump campaign that is trying to build a broad coalition for 2024, it said.“
America First-style for foreign policy while living in a “ global village” may sound attractive in the short term, but would turn out to be disastrous nationally as well as globally, in the long term. For example, I don’t know any foreign policy expert who would agree with the idea of the U.S. withdrawing from NATO, as Trump has hinted.
And I am sick and tired of the anti-woke politics of the Republicans. Either they don’t understand what the word “woke” means or they love to misuse it to make political points. The main meaning of this word, according to the dictionary, is “aware of and actively attentive to important societal facts and issues (especially issues of racial and social justice)”
So, as far as I am concerned, the world needs more “woke” folks than folks who are not “woke”. The corollary of this statement is that “The US needs more Democrats and less Republicans to run its government” so as to have a fair, just, and equitable society.
February 22, 2024