Tulsi Gabbard, a former Democratic congresswoman from Hawaii and 2020 presidential candidate, has long been more independent-minded and outside of the lockstep mainstream compared to her fellow Democrats, and that difference has grown increasingly obvious over the past few years.
Now, Gabbard has revealed what many observers have thought for some time was inevitable — she has formally left and renounced the Democratic Party as it currently exists, Breitbart reported.
No longer a member of the party
Gabbard made her announcement on Tuesday by way of a thread of tweets on Twitter accompanied by a brief video clip that outlined her reasons for finally exiting the political party that has changed dramatically on numerous issues since she first joined it a couple of decades ago.
I can no longer remain in today’s Democratic Party that is now under the complete control of an elitist cabal of warmongers driven by cowardly wokeness, who divide us by racializing every issue & stoke anti-white racism, actively work to undermine our God-given freedoms, are… pic.twitter.com/oAuTnxZldf
— Tulsi Gabbard 🌺 (@TulsiGabbard) October 11, 2022
“I can no longer remain in today’s Democratic Party that is now under the complete control of an elitist cabal of warmongers who are driven by cowardly wokeness,” Gabbard said, “who divide us by racializing every issue and stoking anti-white racism.
“Who actively work to undermine our God-given freedoms that are enshrined in our Constitution, who are hostile to people of faith and spirituality,” she continued. “Who demonize the police and protect criminals at the expense of law-abiding Americans, who believe in open borders, who weaponize the national security state to go after political opponents, and above all, who are dragging us ever closer to nuclear war.”
“Now, I believe in a government that is of the people, by the people, and for the people,” Gabbard said. “Unfortunately, today’s Democratic Party does not. Instead, it stands for a government that is of, by, and for the powerful elite.
“I’m calling on my fellow common sense independent-minded Democrats to join me in leaving the Democratic Party,” she added. “If you can no longer stomach the direction that the so-called woke Democratic Party ideologues are taking our country, I invite you to join me.”
A more thorough explanation
At the end of that thread of tweets, Gabbard also included a link to a video she posted on YouTube in which she further expounded more thoroughly, and with specific examples, on some of the points that she had raised in the short clip.
To be sure, Gabbard is no conservative, and likely leans more toward the left on many issues than the average Republican Party voter could support — albeit not nearly as far to the left as most other Democrats these days.
That said, her formal announced exit from the Democratic Party should be welcomed, along with her voice and considered views in the national debate on many pertinent topics, and it will be interesting to see whether her move encourages other center-left moderates to follow suit, as well as if Gabbard can parlay this new partisan independence into a future political comeback.
