Protesting Anti-White Racism, Tulsi Gabbard, the First Hindu American in Congress, Quits Democratic Party
- The Fox News commentator has a sizable following among those who identify themselves as Hindu Americans and is said to have close ties with Prime Minister Modi.
Tulsi Gabbard, former Hawaii congresswoman, a 2020 presidential candidate and the first Hindu American in Congress, is leaving the Democratic Party. In a video posted on Twitter, Gabbard said she can “ no longer remain in today’s Democratic party that is under the complete control of an elitist cabal of warmongers who are driven by cowardly wokeness, who divide us by racializing every issue and stoking anti-white racism.”
Democrats “demonize the police but protect criminals at the expense of law-abiding Americans,” she said. “And above all, [Democrats] are dragging us ever closer to nuclear war. While she believes in “a government that is of, by, and for the people, unfortunately, today’s Democratic Party does not,” she said in the video. “Instead, it stands for a government of, by, and for the powerful elite. I’m calling on my fellow common sense independent-minded Democrats to join me.”
Gabbard, who served in the House from 2013 to the end of 2020, ran an unsuccessful White House campaign in the 2020 Democratic primary. She has a sizable following among those who identify themselves as Hindu Americans and is said to have close ties with Prime Minister Modi. Gabbard enjoys strong support from several Hindu organizations including the Hindu American Foundation.
In a statement sent to American Kahani, Mississippi-based Republican physician Sampath Shivangi, president of Indian American Forum for Political Education, said it was “a matter of time for her departure from the Democratic Party which is no surprise at all.” He blamed her departure from the party on her “differences of opinions and strategies with the Clintons. “It is unfortunate that Democrats are losing a star of the party and nation. Noting that she was “the was the only Hindu congresswoman and a strong supporter of India and close friend of Modiji and India,” Shivangi said it was his “honor and proud moment for me to introduce and announce her candidacy as a Democratic Party Presidential candidate in Los Angeles, California.” He speculated that she may join the Republicans and “opt for the top post including as a VP if not a Presidential candidate. Time will tell.”
After Gabbard announced her intent to run in the presidential race, she alleged that some media outlets were targeting her and accusing her supporters of being Hindu nationalists. In a January 2019 op-ed for the Religious News Services, she pointed to the accusation against her of being a Hindu nationalist. “My meetings with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India’s democratically elected leader, have been highlighted as ‘proof’ of this and portrayed as somehow being out of the ordinary or somehow suspect, even though President [Barack] Obama, Secretary [Hillary] Clinton, President [Donald] Trump and many of my colleagues in Congress have met with and worked with him.”
Noting that she is “proud to be the first Hindu-American to have been elected to Congress, and now, the first Hindu-American to run for president,” she said “the headlines covering my announcement could have celebrated this historic first, maybe even informed Americans at large about the world’s third-largest religion,” instead of “fomented suspicion, fear and religious bigotry about not only me but also my supporters.”
She has also been a fixture on Fox News, attacking Democrats since long before she left its ranks. And on Friday, Aug. 12, she guest hosted Tucker Carlson Tonight, the highest-rated primetime show on Fox News, which garners nearly 3 million viewers every weeknight. It remains to be seen whether she will now take up a regular gig on the right-wing news network.
She has repeatedly criticized the Democrats, including President Biden, allegedly for escalating tensions with Moscow. Over the weekend she slammed the Biden administration for not caring “about the American people.”
In February, “she appeared at the Conservative Political Action Committee, the largest organizing conservative conference in the world. “Earlier this year, she was criticized by members of the Republican Party, including Rep. Adam Kinzinger (Ill.) and Sen. Mitt Romney (Utah), for spreading Russian misinformation about U.S. Biolabs in Ukraine,” as reported by The Hill.
There were mixed reactions on Twitter as well. Democrats celebrated the news’ some expressed surprise that Gabbard is a Democrat, while others called it an inevitable move. Republicans took it as a sign of trouble brewing on the other side and said it was the beginning of people moving away from the Democrats.
Bad news for Democrats, @TulsiGabbard isn’t the only one leaving the Democrat party.
— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@RepMTG) October 11, 2022
Skyrocketing inflation, terrifying crime, deadly borders, unaffordable gas & energy, and an unwanted war with Russia are all serious issues affecting every single American & caused by Democrats.
Author Wajahat Ali, contributing op-ed writer at The New York Times, tweeted that Gabbard “laundered and promoted war criminal Assad’s talking points, praised Putin, supported a bill that would have made it impossible for refugees to come to the US, is friendly with right-wing Hindu nationalists, and can now live large as a Fox host. Good riddance.”
Neoconservative writer William Kristol, editor-at-large of the center-right publication The Bulwark, in a tweet, said that Gabbard’s decision makes sense. “If you’re pro-Assad and pro-Putin, you join today’s Republican Party.”
Author Don Winslow also took to the microblogging site. He wondered what is funnier: Her “leaving” or that “she ever believed anyone thought she was a Democrat.”
Good Ridance a true BLUE BLOODED ” DINO”.