Further flaunting her anti-establishment street credibility, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) has now refused to participate in the next Democratic Party presidential debate even if she were to qualify for it.
“For a number of reasons, I have decided not to attend the December 19th ‘debate’ — regardless of whether or not there are qualifying polls,” Gabbard tweeted on Monday. “I instead choose to spend that precious time directly meeting with and hearing from the people of New Hampshire and South Carolina.”
For a number of reasons, I have decided not to attend the December 19th "debate" — regardless of whether or not there are qualifying polls. I instead choose to spend that precious time directly meeting with and hearing from the people of New Hampshire and South Carolina.
— Tulsi Gabbard (@TulsiGabbard) December 10, 2019
As noted by The Hill, Gabbard previously pledged to boycott the October presidential debate before backing down and participating in it anyway. At the time, she accused the Democratic National Committee (DNC) of “rigging” the 2020 race, a non-frivolous charge considering the DNC’s systemic undermining of the Bernie Sanders campaign in 2016. As a result of her anti-establishment rhetoric, progressives quickly denounced Gabbard as a Trumpian asset, at best — or a Russian stooge, at worst. Former First Lady Hillary Clinton even asserted that Russia is grooming Gabbard for a third-party run.
“I think they have got their eye on someone who is currently in the Democratic primary and are grooming her to be the third-party candidate. She is the favorite of the Russians,” Clinton said. “They have a bunch of sites and bots and other ways of supporting her so far.”
“That’s assuming Jill Stein will give it up, which she might not because she’s also a Russian asset. Yeah, she’s a Russian asset — I mean, totally,” she continued. “They know they can’t win without a third-party candidate. So I don’t know who it’s going to be, but I will guarantee you they will have a vigorous third-party challenge in the key states that they most needed.”
Gabbard immediately took to Twitter to blast Clinton as “the queen of warmongers.”
“Great! Thank you [Hillary Clinton],” Gabbard said. “You, the queen of warmongers, embodiment of corruption, and personification of the rot that has sickened the Democratic Party for so long, have finally come out from behind the curtain.”
“From the day I announced my candidacy, there has been a concerted campaign to destroy my reputation. We wondered who was behind it and why,” she continued. “Now we know — it was always you, through your proxies and powerful allies in the corporate media and war machine, afraid of the threat I pose.”
Tulsi Gabbard has also been credited with helping to tarnish Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) when she publicly called out the former prosecutor for allegedly being over-zealous.
“Sen. Harris says she’s proud of her record as a prosecutor and that she’ll be a prosecutor president. But I’m deeply concerned about this record,” Gabbard said. “She put over 1,500 people in jail for marijuana violations and then laughed about it when she was asked if she ever smoked marijuana. … She kept people in prison beyond their sentences to use them as cheap labor for the state of California.”
In another debate, Gabbard received blowback from Harris for regularly appearing on Fox News.
“It’s unfortunate that we have someone on this stage … who, during the Obama administration spent four years on Fox News criticizing President Obama,” Harris said. “What we need on this stage, in November, is someone who has the ability to win.”