������Ƶ

In key ways, Tulsi Gabbard’s professional experience makes her an ideal fit to serve in the second Trump administration.

She is a military veteran and a former congresswoman who is comfortable speaking publicly and with the media. Gabbard is one of the few women appointed to the Trump administration so far, and a woman of color in a party not broadly known for racial and ethnic diversity.

Gabbard became the first Hindu member of Congress, when she was elected to represent Hawaii in 2012, and with her hand on the Bhagavad Gita.

But Gabbard, 43, also has significant baggage, notably her support for autocratic leaders like Vladimir Putin of Russia and Bashar al-Assad of Syria.

The former congresswoman has also been dogged by her long-standing ties to the Science of Identity Foundation and its founder, Chris Butler. The Science of Identity Foundation is an offshoot of Hare Krishna that former members have described as a cult.

Within minutes of the announcement of Gabbard’s nomination, national media outlets like CNN predicted that her selection and the choice of Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz to be U.S. attorney general would set up .

The position Trump nominated her for, , requires Senate confirmation. The director leads the U.S. intelligence community, which oversees and directs implementation of the National Intelligence Program.

The director acts as principal adviser to the president, the National Security Council and the Homeland Security Council for matters related to national security.

Already Democrats are mobilizing against Gabbard’s nomination. The Democratic National Committee issued a press release Wednesday saying Trump’s nomination of Gabbard “puts Americans in danger,” citing news articles about her ties to al-Assad and affinity for Russian talking points.

When asked about Gabbard’s nomination Wednesday, U.S. Sen. Mark Warner, the Democratic chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, pointed to the importance of the chamber’s “” role for confirming presidential nominees.

“These are extraordinarily serious jobs,” Warner said. “I have a lot of questions.”

And, while Republicans will control the White House and both chambers of Congress come January, the Senate is currently projected to have 52 Republicans and 47 Democrats, meaning Gabbard can afford few GOP defections. Vice President-elect JD Vance could be called on to cast a tie-breaking vote.

New To The GOP

Gabbard only joined the Republican Party last month, having endorsed Donald Trump for president in August. Just two years ago, Gabbard was a Democrat before becoming an independent.

To many Democrats, Gabbard is an ambitious, opportunistic turncoat. She was first interviewed by Trump for a possible role in his first administration after his surprise 2016 election.

In December 2019, Gabbard was the only Democrat to vote “present”, which amounts to abstaining from a vote, in the House decision to impeach Trump for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress for his attempts to get Ukraine to investigate Biden.

While Trump praised Gabbard in a statement Wednesday as someone who “has broad support” from both political parties, she fared poorly in her race for president as a Democrat in 2020 and was a harsh critic of Hillary Clinton’s campaign in 2016 and that of Kamala Harris this year.

Gabbard endorsed Joe Biden after dropping her own campaign for president in 2020, but she also opposed many of his administration’s policies, especially its support for Ukraine.

A Rising Star

Gabbard’s career in politics has been meteoric. She was elected to the Hawaii Legislature at the age of 21, but enlisted in the Army National Guard in 2004. Gabbard, currently a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve, was deployed to war zones in Africa and the Middle East.

Two years later, she was a legislative aide for U.S. Sen. Daniel Akaka, a Democrat from Hawaii. She then had a short stint on the nonpartisan Honolulu City Council.

Gabbard next served eight years in Congress representing Hawaii, where she was a member of the Armed Services, Homeland Security and Foreign Affairs committees.

Gabbard distinguished herself for openly criticizing Hawaii-born President Barack Obama over his handling of conflicts in the Middle East, including his refusal to describe certain groups as “Islamic terrorists.” Gabbard upset colleagues on both sides of the aisle when she took a secret trip to Syria to meet with Assad, who at the time had been accused of committing war crimes against his own people.

In 2019 during Gabbard’s presidential bid, Clinton likened her to a “Russian asset,” something that elicited a harsh rebuke from Gabbard along with a defamation lawsuit that ultimately went nowhere.

Religious Ties

In the early years of her political career, local media reported how Gabbard and her family were prominent figures in the Science of Identity Foundation, which has a history of espousing anti-gay rhetoric. But it did not seem to damage her at the polls.

During her time in Congress, national media largely ignored Gabbard’s faith — with the exception of in The New Yorker, which detailed her ties to Butler, someone Gabbard has identified as a guru but some former followers have characterized as a cult leader.

Her ties to Butler continued during her presidential campaign. Gabbard spent hundreds of thousands of dollars with companies affiliated with members of the organization, including one of her top paid consultants who lived in a remote town in Washington state.

Since leaving Congress, Gabbard has been openly skeptical of U.S. support of Ukraine and has even faced criticism for sharing Russian-backed conspiracy theories, , about U.S. funding of biological weapons labs in the country.

Hawaii state Rep. Gene Ward said Gabbard’s appointment is a proud moment for Hawaii, as the state has not had many people in high positions. Ward himself served for five years under the second Bush administration in the United States Agency for International Development.

“I think she’ll do a good job,” said Ward, a Republican. “She’s got her head screwed on. She’s always been precocious, in a sense, as a mover and shaker. And there’s enough checks and balances within the intelligence community, if you will, to make sure the course is clean.”

Ward added the primary reason Gabbard was selected is her allegiance to Trump.

Neal Milner, a former political science professor at the University of Hawaii and a Civil Beat columnist, agreed. But Milner said Gabbard is not qualified to be director of national intelligence.

“She doesn’t have the experience for sure,” Milner said, adding the appointment would make regular professionals in the intelligence community “go bonkers. He rewards her for her loyalty. He gave her a position that is likely to be above her pay grade.”

Democratic Gov. Josh Green was somewhat more enthusiastic about the appointment.

“I’ve known Tulsi for a very long time and hope that she can bring some aloha to the new administration,” he said in a comment on the social media platform X. “This is going to be an era that truly tests humanity and our willingness to treat vulnerable people with compassion.”