Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (R-HI) said she was happy to "play a small part" in helping former President Donald Trump get elected president this week, Breitbart reported. Gabbard, previously a Democrat, became a Republican in October and joined Trump on the campaign trail.
During the 2020 presidential election, Gabbard ran as a Democrat against the crowded field. By August of this year, she endorsed Trump as a president who didn't "start any new wars" and "took action to de-escalate and prevent wars."
On Wednesday, Gabbard gushed about her experience campaigning with Trump. She accompanied the heartfelt words on her post to X, formerly Twitter, with a photo of the two smiling together at one of his rallies.
I offer my heartfelt thanks and aloha to President Donald Trump for allowing me to play a small part in his victorious campaign to Make America Great Again. It has been a great honor and privilege to get to know @realDonaldTrump, a kind and courageous person who sincerely desires… pic.twitter.com/mI3JYB5AC8
— Tulsi Gabbard 🌺 (@TulsiGabbard) November 6, 2024
Gabbard thanked the president-elect for the opportunity to help him on his way to victory. "I offer my heartfelt thanks and aloha to President Donald Trump for allowing me to play a small part in his victorious campaign to Make America Great Again," she began in her post.
"It has been a great honor and privilege to get to know @realDonaldTrump, a kind and courageous person who sincerely desires the best for the American people — and indeed for all the people in the world. It is my great hope that the American people will loudly condemn any efforts by those who did everything they could to sabotage his previous presidency to try and do it again," Gabbard added.
In October, Fox News reported that Gabbard had joined Trump on stage in Greensboro, North Carolina, to cement her link to Trump and the GOP. "I'm proud to stand here with you today, President Trump, and announce that I'm joining the Republican Party," she announced from the stage.
"I am joining the party of the people," she added. Perhaps Tulsi's decision to make that announcement in the swing state helped push Trump over the edge.
As of Thursday evening, the New York Times reported that Trump won North Carolina by 200,000 votes. Having a former Democrat switch parties and endorse him was potentially a powerful deciding factor for many voters.
Although the 2024 election was Gabbard's first time officially campaigning for Trump, she indirectly helped him eventually beat Vice President Kamala Harris by reminding the public of her record during the Democratic primary of 2020. Gabbard went after Harris and effectively ended her first presidential run, which almost certainly impacted her second as Harris was shown to be dishonest.
While debating Harris, Gabbard delivered what would be the kill shot to the then-senator's presidential hopes. "Senator Harris says she’s proud of her record as a prosecutor and that she’ll be a prosecutor president," Gabbard began, according to CNN.
"But I’m deeply concerned about this record. There are too many examples to cite, but 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," the then-Democratic senator went on.
“She blocked evidence – she blocked evidence that would have freed an innocent man from death row until the courts forced her to do so. She kept people in prison beyond their sentences to use them as cheap labor for the state of California," Gabbard charged.
There's no doubt that Gabbard's remarks about Harris reverberated through to the 2024 campaign. Now, she gets to bask in the afterglow of a Trump victory that was made possible in part to her help.
