Generally, I stay away from bashing Democratic presidential candidates. Yet there’s one exception I’ll gladly make, because I don’t know what the hell Tulsi Gabbard is, but she’s no Democrat.
I soured on her long ago, after she went on Fox News to parrot GOP talking points to bash Obama. Later, after this David Duke-endorsed candidate advocated for Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad and supported Russia’s bombing of Syrian rebels, I hit the roof. When I learned this month that she also sits on a council for a Koch brother think-tank—which she didn’t bother to disclose on her financial disclosure form, I had had enough.
Apparently, so has Daily Kos, which is backing state Senator Kai Kahele for Hawaii’s 2nd Congressional District. Gabbard has absolutely no business representing a deep blue district.
If there ever was any doubt about her, it was wiped away with her latest campaign video accepting Barr’s summary of the Mueller report, and extolling the Republican fake narrative that Trump was exonerated. That’s some Hannity-level BS, but the thing that bothered me the most about the video was seemingly glossed over:
If [Trump] had been indicted for conspiring with Russia to interfere with and affect the outcome of our elections, it would have precipitated a terribly divisive crisis that could have even led to civil war.
There is a huge problem with that statement, and I’m not going to let this slide. This is something I’ve wanted to write about for some time.
Her idiotic statement is something I’ve heard before. It allows Trump, and the increasingly authoritarian GOP, to cultivate an image they’ve been promoting for two years—that GOP supporters are legion. His supporters are vast, “armed to teeth” and if you mess with Trump in any way, they’ll join the military, police, and “bikers” to put down resistance. Trump has actually threatened to do just this.
It’s not what the leader of a healthy democracy says—but fortunately for all of us, it’s absolute garbage.
First of all, let’s get a few reality checks going here. NO ONE is going to war over Trump. He is the most unpopular president in modern history. Period. Yes, his approval is high within the GOP—he’s who they are stuck with. Guess what? It will always be high with the base. The base also gave Bush a high approval rating when he was in the White House, but it didn’t help in 2006 when Pelosi become Speaker. Nor did Obama’s 80% approval rating help him hold onto Congress in 2010. Approval with your base means nothing.
The White House might be broken, but the military is not. I not only served for decades, I now work closely with all levels of military personnel every single day. Let me share with you something that certain yokels outside the military don’t understand: The military is NOT full of brainless automatons. I know certain people and several movies portray them as such, but it's wrong. Every soldier, airman, Marine, and sailor is drilled about LOAC, Posse Comitatus, and the difference between lawful and unlawful orders.
Do you know what we talk about every day? NOT POLITICS. We know our president is an imbecile, but we have real work to do while he obsesses over Twitter battles and his stupid wall. As far as the O-6s I work for—some lean left and others right—and all are dedicated professionals who truly care about the people under them. No one is going to sacrifice their career, their lives, or the lives of those serving under them for the dead-end Q Anon followers of a deteriorating madman.
You might remember the last time all these wack job internet trolls tried to pull off a coup, where the president and other top Democratic officials would be forcibly removed from office? It was called the “American Spring.” Do you remember how well that went over?
How about the ”Vanilla ISIS” with the Oregon standoff? That’s who you’re dealing with.
There are definitely Trump supporters who have nothing to lose and would try, but I don’t think we need to worry.
A civil war? These morons won’t even be able to win Trump’s re-election. Republicans have never even once had an advantage in party identification among voters, which means Trump’s strategy of only appealing to his base is a guaranteed loser. His mark on American history has been dark and deep, but his time is quickly running out.
What is more likely to happen is the GOP will continue to try and deprive the rights and freedoms of women and minorities, while doing their level best to keep the population as subjugated as they can. This is the real war we need to fight, and to do that we need stronger Democrats willing to stand up to them and hold them accountable.
Trump breaks the law repeatedly. I don’t care what his die-hard supporters think, but if they are your primary concern, then you are too much of a coward to serve in office right now.
Tulsi Gabbard, you need to go. It’s not Trump supporters you need to fear, it’s us.
www.kaikahele.com