BannonGabbard
© AP/Scott Applewhite/Meet the Press/KJNFormer Trump strategist, Steve Bannon • Democratic presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard
Tulsi Gabbard is running in the wrong party. No one will hear her views in the Democrat primaries because of the precise reasons that Steve Bannon gave.

As the Democrat field for 2020 goes through its gyrations and swan songs to the farthest left of Americans, one candidate consistently gets ignored by both the mainstream media and the rest of the progressive Democrat field - Tulsi Gabbard, the US Representative from Hawaii. On November third, she received a surprising* endorsement from none less than Steve Bannon, who was, is and will continue to support Donald Trump in his work as President.

*(Mr. Bannon acknowledges in Rep. Gabbard what you have been reading about here on The Duran for several weeks, even months now): that this woman has a foreign policy acumen second to none on the Middle East, and he also notes that she originally made some sort of approach to working with the president elect on his foreign policy team. Have a look [12:31]:


Mr. Bannon characterized Rep. Gabbard's foreign policy expertise not only as just "good" or even "excellent." He said nothing less than this:
I think she is a rising star... In the transition she actually came up and talked to then-candidate, President-elect Trump for a position potentially in the administration. She didn't take it - she's a Democrat, but I will tell you one thing: she is incredibly impressive. You talk about foreign policy and somebody who knows the details of foreign policy?

And I think, particularly, we're going to have a debate in this nation over the next fourteen weeks about "America First" national security and foreign policy. That is what this impeachment thing is going to be.

And I think the American people are going to sit there and go, 'hey, this is exactly what we should be doing. This is why Trump is President. And Tulsi Gabbard, I think more than anybody, actually understands America First national security policy... She's been a serving... Army officer over the Middle East... She came at the time we were looking for people in the State Department, the UN... potentially the Defense Department. She had such a deep knowledge of national security policy...

I'll tell you one thing: she's at the caliber... she is the type of person as a nation we want serving in the cabinet, whether we have a Democratic President or a Republican President.
This is not the first time Rep. Gabbard has caught the eye of Fox and the retinue of largely conservative journalists and news anchors there. However, contrasted with interviewers, such a ringing endorsement from a truly brilliant political strategist as Steve Bannon is something.

Tulsi appeared later as a guest on Maria Bartiromo's show after Mr. Bannon, and disputed the claim that she had been seeking a position with the President's cabinet: "First of all, I was not there to interview for a job; I was there to discuss my foreign policy views," Gabbard stated. She then made a point to distance herself from Trump after Bannon said that Gabbard was "the type of person as a nation we want serving in the Cabinet" due to shared foreign policy principles.

Granted, of late Mrs. Gabbard's press to campaign for president has actually overshadowed the quality of person she is, and sadly so. She complained about being passed over by the Democrat party in the debates, but she has two problems here:
  • She is arguing from a point of weakness when she complains (at least if she hopes to win)
  • She misses the sign that the Democrat electorate itself is not able to get out of "snowflake" mode enough to listen to reasoned facts, which she has stated well in the past.
In other words, Tulsi Gabbard is running in the wrong party. No one will hear her views in the Democrat primaries because of the precise reasons that Steve Bannon gave. Given the rhetoric coming from all the other candidates in the Democrat field, including former VP Joe Biden, Rep Gabbard is the only candidate who speaks reason on foreign policy issues. The fact that she "converted" to support of pro-choice and same-sex marriage appears to be nothing more than fealty to the Party, rather than her own viewpoint. After all, swinging to the opposite stance is a big move.

"I want to be very clear, I'm running for president to defeat Donald Trump," she said. Gabbard joined nearly every House Democrat Thursday in voting in favor of a resolution supporting the Trump impeachment inquiry.

In addition to opposing Trump, Gabbard has been battling her own party, claiming that they have been working against her in her Democratic primary race. She vowed to change how the party is run if given the opportunity.
"What I plan to do as the Democratic nominee and as president is to rebuild a new Democratic Party. One that truly represents the interest of the people of this country that is fighting for them, fighting for their well-being, fighting for the well-being of our country and protecting our national resources on this planet."
Gabbard accused the Democratic National Committee of not having voters' interest in mind by "implementing their own pre-primary election before voters get a chance to vote." In other words, what happened in 2016 to Bernie Sanders, who got shut out of the nomination because "it was Hillary's turn" is happening again, though with different dynamics. In this cycle the contest is "snowflakes versus the sane" with the Democrats being the soft delicate sensitive things that only equal danger when millions of them pile up faster than they melt.

Tulsi Gabbard is fighting a losing battle. This may give lie to the woman's formidable foreign policy acumen, because she picked the wrong side to be on at home. However, the language she used in her refutation of Steve Bannon's remarks is a bit "coded", meaning that if / when Donald Trump wins re-election, it would be still an open door for her to serve as an adviser of some sort in his second administration.

We have probably not addressed this deeply enough, but Tulsi's problems are only partly from her own attempts to politically triangulate to the "center" of her party's policy / social views. This is a strike against her, because in an election field where the dominant candidate does not care at all about political pandering, every other candidate is doing just that. Some are more obvious about it, and fortunately or unfortunately, Gabbard is one of the more transparent in this area. We have seen this as she tries to use every interview to campaign for herself, instead of just being herself and nuts to the results, which is what now-President Trump did. Speculating though, it is possible that this experience may be very beneficial for Mrs. Gabbard later. Having seen that trying to campaign by politicking, rather than by leading, maybe that Army Major will learn that Americans appreciate a leader, not a politician, in our present times. This is why President Trump is both loved and reviled, and it is why he has absolute dominance over the media news cycle no matter what he does. Every Republican lost in 2016 because they would not engage this set of facts.

It remains to be seen if Major Gabbard will recognize this dynamic and do what she must. Indeed, her gifts are of far greater worth than her present political party is. Perhaps along the way those magical liberal values would come in line with the thoughts of an Army Major, too.