Allegedly, she’s a spy, a promoter of disinformation, and my favorite, guilty of ‘traitorous’ parroting of Russian propaganda. 
‘Traitorous’ Parroting of Russian Propaganda
NBC wins the blue ribbon for stupidity Trump’s pick for top intel job has been accused of ‘traitorous’ parroting of Russian propaganda
Then again, look at Hillary Clinton Clinton’s 2019 claim Russians are ‘grooming’ Tulsi Gabbard for third-party run
That’s actually much stupider but it’s a bit stale. So, I am going to award two blue ribbons.
Question of the Day
Glen Greenwald asks “If Tulsi Gabbard is a Russian asset, why has the US military allowed her to serve in it for 26 years, up to and including today as a Lt. Col. in the Army Reserve?”
Greenwald Answers: “It’s rather to difficult to explain that except with the conclusion that the accusation is utter baseless bullsh*t.”
Russian Asset Explained
“Russian Asset” today means someone trying to avoid nuclear war.
Hat tip to @ggreenwald, @RudyHavenstein, @MaxAbrahms, @gmanndo for the Tweets.
If you think it is just the Left promoting WWIII you are seriously mistaken.
The Wall Street Journal editorial board, and Senator Lindsey Graham are two of the biggest.
Bolton Chimes In
In 2017, as a Democratic congresswoman, Gabbard questioned a U.S. intelligence assessment that Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad used chemical weapons against his own people [So do I. Regardless civil wars are none of our business] and, in that same year, made an unannounced trip to Syria to meet with Assad.
She also argued for dropping charges against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and pardoning National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden, both of whom were accused of leaking highly sensitive U.S. secrets.
“I thought it was the worst cabinet-level appointment in history until we then heard about the Matt Gaetz appointment,” former Trump national-security adviser turned critic John Bolton said. He referred both to the choices of Gabbard and of Gaetz, the former Florida congressman whom the president-elect has nominated for attorney general.
My Immediate Vote of Confidence
Anyone seeking to drop charges against Edward Snowden and Julian Assange, coupled with 26 years of active service, and a desire to prevent WWIII has my vote.
Gabbard was a good pick by Trump.
Polymarket thinks Tulsi has an 80 percent chance of being confirmed, RFK, 76 percent, and Matt Gaetz 30 percent.
Those are all high.
I am rooting for Tulsi. Of the three, I think she has the best shot.
Stepping back, let’s not forget Senator John McCain. His hands-on effort in Ukraine led straight to this disaster.
Trump Pushes for Peace in Ukraine as Biden Accelerates War Effort
Here are my comments on McCain from my November 17 post Trump Pushes for Peace in Ukraine as Biden Accelerates War Effort
What Happened in Ukraine?
The mess today in Ukraine has its roots in the 2014 when democratically elected Ukrainian President Yanukovych was toppled in a US-backed coup.
Q: Why did the US want to get rid of Yanukovych?
A: Because he was against Ukraine joining NATO.The current comedian president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, repeated two days ago his desire to join NATO. I use the term comedian because he literally is a comedian who ran for office and won.
McCain dined with Svoboda Party leader Oleg Tyagnibok. The Svoboda Party is a group of neo-Nazis.
The citizens of Ukraine were used as pawns in yet another US mission that backfired. Well who cares about Neo-Nazis as long as they want Ukraine in NATO. And that’s the rest of the story US media will not discuss.
This no way absolves Putin, but US meddling backfires again, and again, and again.
Take away abortion, and McCain and Hillary were two peas in a pod. He praised her as Secretary of State.
The war in Ukraine will end the way I said, right from the start: a negotiated settlement. See above link for discussion.
Stepping back, let’s not forget Senator John McCain. His hands-on effort in Ukraine led straight to this disaster.
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Such a short memory you have. It is as if things started in 2014. You really need to study up on how long Putin has been doing this to Ukraine.
Putin owns Trump. I predict Trump caves to everything and gets nothing in return. And then Putin doesn’t stop there. Trump is such a sucker.
In the first detailed reporting of what President Putin would accept in any deal brokered by Trump, the five current and former Russian officials said the Kremlin could broadly agree to freeze the conflict along the front lines.
There may be room for negotiation over the precise carve-up of the four eastern regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, according to three of the people who all requested anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/putin-ascendant-ukraine-eyes-contours-trump-peace-deal-2024-11-20/
That IS the reality on the ground. Why would a deal including those provisions be a bad thing for the US?
Keep in mind, my preference would be to just pull all US aid from Ukraine & let the Europeans handle the mess.
What do you care other than being apparatchik for the Uniparty and possibly profiting off of the continued war and misery? War only profits those who make the war and the munitions never the people who actually have to fight it, thus the saying “rich man’s war, poor man’s fight”.
All of the worst people oppose Tulsi, so she must be a good choice.
She’s unqualified, period! Take off your partisan hat and try think what is best for your country in a position which is crucial to our national security.
There is one other condition that must be met in addition to the above tweets to be called a Russian asset: Telling the truth.
Droplets of truth are like acid dripping on their skin, holy water sprinkles on vampires.
Regular facts or un-facts don’t elicit vociferous reactions, only the kind that are unremittingly suppressed, because the tiniest gleam of light dispels the dark and awakens doubt.
Couple of years ago as a congresswoman she introduced a bill that would have forbade funding of groups on the official US list of terrorist organizations. It was voted down by virtually the whole congress, save 13 or so votes. Go figure.
russia, russia, russia!
She was on Gutfeld a month or so ago. Came across as a sanctimonious idiot with a serious case of RBF. Appearing on Gutfeld should disqualify her alone, if her total lack of necessary experience in the intelligence arena hadn’t already done so.
Thanks for summarizing the MSNBC talking points
Anybody who is intelligent and thinking what is best for the security of our country would come up with those so-called “talking points.”
Judging by the number of downvotes for this comment, it seems like the “sanctimonious idiot” is you
Since several ex-CIA came out against her, often the same who signed the Russian collusion letter and more which turned out to be false and they knew it was false, I would say that she would be the right one for the job.
Let us not forget it’s been two years since 51 intelligence agents interfered with an election and they still won’t apologize. They stated the Hunter Biden laptop was Russian dis-information. I think Tulsi will do very good job.
She ain’t wrong, but Putin is his big daddy.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tulsi-gabbard-tweet-says-trump-is-saudi-arabias-bitch-twitter-wednesday/
Burl Ives is Big Daddy.
Consider the source.
I’ve come to the realization that the more the media hates a political figure the more likely that person is going to work for something I see as important. Media hate has become a “reverse barometer” for me. Sort of the way Custer thought of Jack Crabb (Dustin Hoffman) in the movie Little Big Man. The more the media hates the Trump picks the more I like them. After listening to Glenn Greenwald discuss Gaetz at length it’s clear that he is far from the one dimensional cartoon character the media portrays him as. I now see him (and of course Tulsi) as necessary change agents.
Saves you all that bothersome critical thinking… handy!
If the media did their damn job of critical thinking, the rest of us wouldn’t need to use them as reverse indicators…
Says a probable Biden voter. Please.
Well, they’ve found their new Trump that’s for sure.
If anyone has studied the Mafia they will find that it was founded so as to avoid Wars between rivals. Killing off each other is Bad Business and unprofitable.
So they came up with the “Sit Down” where Capo heads bought each other out rather then kill each other off.
Now since Gabbard believes in Peace, she is by definition good for Business.
Change the focus to Make Money not War. That can end much of the needless strife that the World is going thru.
Businessman President elect Trump can find a way via Commerce to smooth over what Biden has wrought.
Dump the ideologues and bring on the pragmatists.
The trouble is, so many lawmakers in so many legislatures make money from war.
To me, she has the necessary experience for the position.
I’m curious why she met with President Assad. Usually dictators are handled by the Sec of State, not Congresspeople.
Half of the leaders of countries are dictators.
What experience is that?
I don’t know, actually. Her resume is all over the place – she chases all kinds of causes, changes political parties like they were hats – no cohesive picture of her.
Congress also has foreign policy responsibilities, not just the executive branch. Senators and Congresspeople have been doing overseas visits since forever. I think it’s especially important to do so when the executive branch is peddling BS.
On the downside, most congressional trips are taxpayer funded junkets aimed more at fleecing taxpayers and bringing home bacon for the pork barrel. But I don’t think Gabbard’s trip would fall into that category.
ever since the fall of the Soviet Union, the US intelligence community has kept Russia in its crosshairs and may have led to the current situation. Russia wanted to join NATO. Russia’s real threat is China and Russia feels they are caught between two threats, Nato and China. There is no easy answer, hopefully when the regime has progressed beyond the current situation, we do not make the same mistake again.
Ever since before the fall of the Soviet Union the KGB renamed FSB has had us in their crosshairs much more on us than China. Why? Because that is what espionage agencies do, that is they identify potential rivals as target them.
America is not a rival to Russia, it’s a threat to Russia.
China, on the other hand, is the other way round – a rival to America, not a threat; similar could be said for the EU, if it wasn’t such a basket case.
If Hillary doesn’t want her, then that is a powerful seal of approval for me.
How many years of military service did Niccolò Machiavelli have? He was ‘diplomat, author, philosopher, and historian’ who happened to have the right kind of brain.
I don’t know about Tulsi G. She may have it, or not. But without it??? Seeing as the position is DNI, the US needs a cougar, not a kitty cat.
Tulsi continues to disguise her Russian accent. She says all the right things and convinced me that she would be a good choice for president. This must be Russian mind control, rendering me a thoughtless lemming. Thank you MSNBC for enlightening me!
One must only listen to her drivel to she that she’s an idiot to incapable for McDonalds.
This isn’t about camel toe.
By your criteria, you too are incapable of employment at the Golden Arches
Thanks Mish
No matter how good some of Trumps picks are –we know the Democrats and most of the M.S.M. will work together again to undermine them. But Trump hopefully is now better prepared to handle these sabotage actors during his last chance for making change. It’s extremely hard to drain the swamp but at least Trump is trying.
Isn’t Tulsi Gabbard also guilty of rape?
Sure, FOX newscasters are the most qualified for important Cabinet roles. LMAO.
Um, working at Fox isn’t the only job they’ve had
What boggles my mind is why folks think it’s important for Ukraine to be a part of NATO. Seems like they’re trying to fix something that wasn’t broke.
Kiev is where the Russian state was founded. No Russian leader is going to allow a Western-oriented Ukraine to exist, it’s considered an existential threat to Russia and there’s some good justification for that. It would be like the east coast becoming part of the Warsaw Pact.
On the other hand, Russia (Putin) would have tolerated a neutralist Ukraine.
What does the West gain in having Ukraine join NATO? Nothing. What does Russia have to lose? Everything, at least in their view. Hillary and Obama created a needless war that can still morph in wwIII.
What do to about it now? I have no idea….. Since Krushchev gave the Crimea to Ukraine in 1954 for “heroic service during WWII”, when it had been part of Russia for 300 years, Russia holding onto it in any deal is reasonable. Beyond that, it’s all a mess analogous to Israel-Palestine.
“it’s considered an existential threat to Russia”
You mean like Tiawan is an existential threat to China?
In both cases, any such thought is complete hyperbole.
I think he means Ukraine in NATO, the organization of which covers most of Europe, as it is, is considered an existential threat by Russia. That is not hyperbole to Russia. Gorbechev was promised by Baker, that NATO would not take one step East of Germany. Look where it is, now, and how large it is.
Taiwan is part of China
It doesn’t matter that Putin or Russia thinks that they have the right to own Ukraine. Since they cannot conquer Ukraine their wishes are fantasies.
Rather bloody fantasies I note.
You may want to take a closer look at the situation on the ground
NATO is broke. It’s now an alliance of nothing but failed, totalitarian, has-been terror states.
In EVERY OTHER WAY than purely militarily. Noone would waste even a minute paying attention to anything any of them are up to, were they not concerned about being ruthlessly bombed for not doing so.
Which is exactly why NATO desperately insist on militarizing everything: They have nothing else. Nothing. Leave the bomb stash out of it and; in every other way, they’re nothing but the runt of the world’s litter.
Russia is Germany 1918.
How so?
Not even close.
Russia is at a demographic dead end. No different from every country to their West. ( And East, for that matter…, it’s only countries to their South which still retain basic fertility. )
There are no masses of kids, which will be coming of military age and demand Lebensraum in the coming decades,in Russia. Just geezers who want to collect pensions funded by selling gas to the only people left in Germany: Geezers who just want to not freeze to death. There is NO natural impetus for war between them. Just drummed up hobgoblin stories invented to scare people into bending ever further over for the scum casting themselves as their respective Dear Leaders. Dump the “Leaders”, whom noone ever needed in the first place; and their MIC clients wholesale, and it’s all a complete non-issue.
I think it’s a good idea, but I don’t think it’s a strategic necessity of NATO going forward.
If I was Trump, I would call Z & tell him he’s got to give up Crimea and then tell Putin he has to accept Ukraine as a NATO member. You’d probably want to have Russia provide funding to resettle people in Crimea that want to move to Ukraine and vice versa.
Nixon made peace with China to isolate Russia.
Trump wants peace with Russia to isolate China.
Very intelligent but difficult moves.
You nailed it. CIA, and State Dept suffer from Russian-phobia
Without a bogeyman, what are they for?
The McCain family had a penchant for leading the US into military disasters. The grandson was eager for bombing alleged “enemies” in the Middle East and south Asia and was the number one Senate advocate for the idiotic intervention in Ukraine. His father (also John) was CINC of the Pacific during the Vietnam War. His grandfather (also John) was chief of staff to Bull Halsey when they recklessly sailed the 3rd Fleet into the eye of a typhoon in the Philippine Sea, managing to sink three US destroyers and to damage many other ships while drowning 800 sailors and losing 146 aircraft. Aggression is often valued among military leaders, but it also must be leavened with common sense.
In a parallell universe if the Democrats had nominated Gabbard she would have beaten Trump.
TDS trolls out in the thread this morning. Losers. Spend more time packing for the gulag.
Well, she’s a Russian asset… which I suppose is a positive for the trump traitor team.
keep spinning…
You’re either trolling or a complete and utter fool.
As is Trump himself.
Debunked long ago, but nice try.
Provide proof when calling someone a traitor, especially when they’ve served honorably in the US military.
I don’t really have an opinion on Gaetz. Other than he would prevent any bogus investigations into Trump, which his past picks failed to do, which handcuffed much of what he wanted to accomplish.
I’m all in on Gabbard and RFK. Spare me that RFK is anti vax. He’s pro truth and wants informed consent. He wants to get rid of the poisons they put in our food (Food dye and other’s). When the research is rigged, that’s something the free market cannot fix. Personally I’d love for the next President to be Tulsi, so I’m hoping this propels her.
I love that you rightly so trash Lindsay Graham and John McCain, but seem to have a soft spot for McConnel. He’s just as much of a war monger as the rest of them. That’s an interesting line you draw…
RFK Jr. told congress that all his children are vaxxed according to the schedule, and that he took the Flu vaccine for 20 straight years. Doesn’t sound at all anti vax.
Since Army basic, i have had a shot just once. Flu, around 2010.
Change is needed. At this point, break the eggs and then remake the omelet. It could not easily be worse than it currently is.
I believe Pharmaceuticals can be cost effective at saving lives, and I believe RFK believes this as well. What we also know is America is sick. Many of the problems start with our food. Unfortunately our current solution is to use Pharmaceuticals to fix the issues caused by our diet, which leads to most of our society reliant upon pills. Ozempic for example. This is a lot of money for something where the money would be better spent on healthy foods and exercise. Many of the pharmaceuticals also have side effects that are then treated with more pills. It’s a vicious cycle. These should be a last resort.
The limited liability protection for vaccines is also a corrupt system. I’m not saying we should do away with it completely, but maybe make some alterations. Like if a company is found to have withheld pertinent i formation to a customer, they should lose that right. All vaccines should be required to undergo the double blind placebo controlled trial. Protections should not be granted for being added to the childhood vaccine schedule. I trust RFK on all of these fronts.
Agreed. Calling RFKJ a ‘nutcase’ is a terrible smear against a man who genuinely seems to care about the health and welfare of the American people. Has anyone else of prominence spotlighted the fact that our foods are filled with harmful chemicals? Is he wrong to question the pharmaceutical industry and vaccine safety? Given the utter corruption at the CDC and FDA I don’t think so. Look at the BS around the Covid vax.
Total capitulation is a settlement negotiated in the battlefield.
I’ll disagree on one point. There’s nothing “stupid” in the smears against Gabbard. The media scum know that it’s repetition that matters. (I still wish Gabbard had been the VP pick–what a revolution we might have had!)
Trump Taps Dr. Oz to Run CMS https://www.medpagetoday.com/publichealthpolicy/medicare/113005?
Trump and Allies Plot Cuts to Medicaid, Food Stamps to Fund Tax Cuts for WealthyPolling shows that most Americans would oppose cuts to either program.https://truthout.org/articles/trump-and-allies-plot-cuts-to-medicaid-food-stamps-to-fund-tax-cuts-for-wealthy/
The sentiment sounds nice, but last i read, Medicare was only 17% funded by taxes.
I’m all for cuts to Medicaid and food stamps to illegal aliens, robbyrob
Nonsense. Nobody from either party is talking about cutting Medicaid or food stamps. More fear mongering from losers.
Tulsi Gabbard’s own words about Trump are damming she called him everything but a human.
Biden invited Trump to the White House for a friendly post election meeting, after all the election vitriol against Trump. After “lock her up,” Trump referred to the Clinton’s as “nice people,” after the election. Hillary didn’t return the favor, though. “Russia, Russia, Russia.”
The main reason Trump selected Tulsi was his ability to trust her. If you have followed her career, she is a natural leader and will be surrounded by very highly qualified intelligence advisors. She will oversee and delegate if not participate.Our military is in shambles and it is prudent to dial down the conflict and regroup at this time. However, the military industrial complex will not be satisfied with that decision.
Tulsi Gabbard and the word intelligence do not belong in the same sentence.
It would be nice to have someone qualified regardless of ideology.
Vlad bats last.
He does not. WE do. Vlad would be wise to kneel and kiss the feet of the USA.
She is showing more intelligence than the Deep State.
What a stupid thing to say. She’s served honorably in the US military and has spoken very clearly about the corruption of Biden’s foreign policy. You’re just a sore loser, emphasis on the loser part.
Media lapdogs, ahem, are attacking nearly all of his picks because #resist2.0 is underway. The Trump Republicans are not the neocons we’ve seen under GWB/McCain/Cheny/Rumsfeld/Wolfowitz and their partners, the entire Democrat party. Despise Trump all you want but on the matter of peace he’s unparalleled in my lifetime–war is only profitable for the ones supplying the weapons and generating results but is detrimental to all other economic, social and cultural success–it destroys. It’s the broken window fallacy such that the MIC/US supplies the objects to break and the windows to replace. He’s the only President I can recall that did not start a new war and talks, cajoles, negotiates and strong arms (without rolling tanks) people into peace.
Breath of fresh air to have peace. Humans engage in conflict but during times of peace we can simulate our desire for war by arguing about other things without destroying means of production, lives, and the future.
I mean look how they(again, ahem) are attacking RFK Jr. who is trying to get to a place where our health infrastructure is focusing on healthy outcomes, reduce autism rates, get toxic chemicals out of our food. All things all of my leftist progressive Minnesota friends, prior to his abdication from the Democratic party upper echelon, would have embraced him for. Now, like others (ahem), he’s too much of a wack job and they want the status quo, net no change. Looking solely at what our food and health in this country looks like, couldn’t a random chimpmunk or decaying toadstool produce equally poor results as the status quo?
Approve them all and let’s get going because this election was a repudiation of “what has been”. Tulsi is qualified and they know it. And in their heart of hearts many of those that normally vote Democrat either sat this one out or have flipped because they know what has been going on throughout our federal government is just plain wrong.
Here’s to hoping #resist2.0 fails through a continual push back via concerted social media pushes to get them to heel, to serve Americans for a change.
The perjoratives sound like the could have come from the president-elect himself. The differences between the two dominant parties is cosmetic at best.
Then why is the establishment attacking Trump’s cabinet picks?
Neocons who have broken the law with their bloody intrigues get free fantasy vacation at Guantanamo. 3 hots, a solitary cot, and waterboarding Wednesdays.
The funny thing is, if you look at the qualifications of the current DNI, Avril Haines, she is utterly unqualified, far less qualified than Tulsi Gabbard. She is merely a John Brennan insertion
But she toes the party line so she is not a Russian asset. She is an Establishment asset
Tulsi’s crime is she acknowledges reality, a great crime among the criminals who run the West
Gabbard as DNI is the most important pick he’s made and the one I most hope gets confirmed.