Tulsi is a good choice. We should all wish her well. Looking ahead, I have some interesting ideas.
Meet Your New Intelligence Chief
The Wall Street Journal reports Senate Confirms Tulsi Gabbard as Intelligence Chief
Gabbard, a combat veteran and former Democratic congresswoman from Hawaii, was confirmed by a vote of 52 to 48 in the GOP-controlled Senate. Sen. Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.), the former GOP leader, broke with his party to side with Democrats in voting “no.”
Current Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R., S.D.) called Gabbard a “patriot” in remarks on the Senate floor, praising her “knowledge and leadership capabilities.” Thune also said he is glad that Gabbard has “expressed a willingness to right-size” the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, or ODNI, to cut costs.
Trump’s pick to oversee the intelligence community had faced concerns among some GOP senators over her qualifications, her past favorable comments about foreign leaders including Russian President Vladimir Putin and her refusal to firmly condemn former U.S. intelligence contractor Edward Snowden, who leaked U.S. secrets.
Gabbard committed to Sen. Susan Collins (R., Maine) that she wouldn’t make any recommendation on Snowden’s legal standing, such as a pardon, and Sen. Todd Young (R., Ind.) received a letter from Gabbard in which she pledged to hold accountable anyone who is suspected of making an unauthorized disclosure of any intelligence program.
Some lawmakers said they were relying on Trump’s judgment. Sen. Bill Cassidy (R., La.) said he “will trust President Trump on this decision and vote for her confirmation.”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) said he was proud that every single Democrat opposed Gabbard’s nomination, calling her “someone who echoes Russian propaganda and falls for conspiracy theories.”
Gabbard served on a House Armed Services subcommittee on intelligence and has held security clearances in the military, but she lacks the intelligence-bureaucracy experience of many of her predecessors as head of ODNI. Her ascendance to the role of the country’s spy chief illustrates deep changes that the administration has forecast it will make to a service Trump has maligned since his first term in office.
During the confirmation process, Gabbard said she planned to cut personnel and heighten transparency in the 18 intelligence agencies that are now under her control, while also ending what she described as the agencies’ politicization.
I would have preferred that Gabbard not make commitments to Sen. Susan Collins regarding recommendations on Snowden’s legal standing, such as a pardon.
I support a pardon of Snowden.
And it appears she would have been confirmed without that commitment. But had she failed confirmation, I was hoping she would run for Senator in one of the upcoming Blue State Senate races.
In Michigan, Gary Peters, the Democrat Incumbent is not running for re-election in 2026.
In Georgia, Jon Ossoff, the Democrat Incumbent is running for re-election in 2026.
I would rather have had Tulsi taken one of those Senate seats than be the new Intelligence Chief.
But head of intelligence was the job Trump picked for her, and I can’t argue.
Looking Ahead to 2028
My preference is still possible, just not in 2026. If we wait two more years, Tulsi can do her job now, then elect to take on Arizona’s Mark Kelly or Georgia’s Raphael Warnock.
These are four very vulnerable Democrat Senate seats and I would love to see Gabbard get one of them.
2026 is out of question. But 2028?
Anyone else for Gabbard doing her job here then knocking off Kelley or Warnock in 2028?
Meanwhile, congratulations. Go Tulsi!
Like Trump, and Musk, she does look like a Marvel comic book character…
agree with Snowden pardon and the 2028 idea doesn’t sound like a bad idea.
Read her family history, she is a member of a cult.
Who? the Democrats? I think she was deprogrammed when she escaped from them.
BRAVO!
I am with you, Mish. Snowden, who defied AUTHORITIES and committed the high crimes of TELLING TRUTHS, has had to lead a life on the run. HE SHOULD BE PARDONED. It makes America CLEARLY KNOWN AS BEING DISHONEST about FREE SPEECH.
As a GA resident and voter I don’t think Warnock is as vulnerable as might be generally viewed.
OK. Somebody from the Onion or Babylon Bee snuck this in.
I agree Tulsi would make an excellent senator. We could use her in California although it would be next to impossible the way the corrupt Democratic machine operates here. I have confidence that she’ll do well in her new role..
We are in agreement, this is an EXCELLENT choice. Uncharacteristic of trump. “The first method for estimating the intelligence of a ruler is to look at the men he has around him.”
Niccolo Machiavelli
Even if Snowden got a 100% pardon, I don’t think it would be safe for him to come back to the U.S.
I doubt that he’d be safe in other than a small handful of countries
Say, Mish, I thought you were a 100% law and order guy. Didn’t Snowden break a bunch of laws?
I agree with you on pardoning him, btw. The secrets he revealed were only secrets because they were crimes against the American people. He’s a hero in my book.
Sometimes so-called laws are just coverup schemes put in place so the enemies of free people can continue to rape and pillage without scrutiny.
Spot on. Mish professes devotion to the mechanics of law rather than the quality of law, except when it suits him. And readers who support Trump’s bulldozer are hypocrites?
Law was made to serve man. Man was not made to serve the law.
Depending on what you consider ‘living in exile in Russia’ to be, one could argue that he’s already served his sentence and is just getting a pardon that shortens it.
Lots of people get that kind of pardon.
Pardons are not inconsistent with a belief in law and order. One can be a “100% law and order guy” and still support appropriate pardons. A pardon is a legal and constitutional remedy, so it IS the application of law. And if it is used to correct an injustice that is widely believed to have occurred, a pardon also encourages order by attracting respect for the legal system.
Right on Mish! Tulsi is possibly the most decent person in the whole administration and could be a great world leader.
And the photos of her in a black wetsuit on a surfboard! Take a bite of that, Putin!
McConnel is just a fossil trying to get into heaven.
You mean hell, right?
He thinks he’s going to heaven, whether war mongers get the lake of boiling blood or the river of burning pitch I leave to the scholars of such things.
Why do I never see that poll? Which level of Hell does X deserve?
I support drawing and quartering him in a public square.
Was Bernie still carrying around children’s pajamas?
Why not the whole kid? My son X has proven to be an excellent human shield.
I am a fan of Ms. Gabbard. Even where I disagree w/her ideologically, she uses logic instead of emotion to support her position. As for Mr. Snowden, if it is true (I haven’t heard clearly one way or the other) that he endangered no military or intelligence assets of the US … then I would support his pardon.
She left the Dem party. They detested her for that. Mitch is more of a Dem / Uniparty guy than anything else. Watch that last step Mitch, its a doozy.
Mitch will soon be gone.
I live in AZ, let’s get rid of Kelley.
Well it’s not really out of the question for 2026, folks have served for a short period and then opted for higher office. Obama served 4 of his 6 years in the Senate before becoming President, with him running his Presidential campaign while in year 4 of the Sentate term. Rahm Immanuel served as White House Chief of Staff from 2009-10 before his Chicago Mayoral “reign” from 2011-2019. Those were pretty important positions to leave prior to their full term.
It can happen, it’s probably not likely but it’s still possible. I can hope she can take a blue Senate seat because that would make change a lot easier in Washington.
Interesting that the frozen old croaker from KY voted against her, shows you all you need to know about the very senior senator from Kentucky.
CIA criminals are in for a rough ride.
Bye McConnell.
Here’s for a JD + Tulsi ticket in 2018!
Y’ meant 2028, right?
She is an excellent choice for any position!
But enough about our sexual fantasies!