Where Does Tulsi Gabbard Stand?

The resignation of the director of the National Counterterrorism Center, Joe Kent, in a blaze of anti-Israel conspiracy theories puts into sharp relief the suitability of the employment of his boss, Tulsi Gabbard, as director of national intelligence. The Atlantic notes that Mr. Kent is “closely allied” with Ms. Gabbard, who had been silent since the American and Israeli war against Iran began. Can President Trump count on her?Not by our lights. Ms. Gabbard, scrambling to dispel doubts, issued a weaselly worded statement in the wake of her aide’s anything-but-Irish Exit. Mr. Trump, she writes, “concluded that the terrorist Islamist regime in Iran posed an imminent threat and he took action based on that conclusion.” Mr. Kent’s position was that “Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation.” Ms. Gabbard has long been a critic of what she calls “regime change wars.”For America’s top-ranking intelligence official to adopt a language of such studied neutrality is shocking, but hardly surprising given Ms. Gabbard’s track record. An Army National Guard veteran, she ran for president in 2020 as a Democrat. During that campaign Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called her a “Russian asset,” a view adopted by many Democrats, though no evidence of such collaboration has emerged. She opposed intervention in Syria. The director of national intelligence found herself at Capitol Hill on Wednesday, where she testified that the “only person who can determine what is and is not an imminent threat is the president.” To that Senator Jon Ossoff replied “No, it is precisely your responsibility to determine what constitutes a threat to the United States.” Last March, Ms. Gabbard testified that Iran was not close to a nuclear bomb. To that Mr. Trump responded “she’s wrong.” Ms. Gabbard was also against American involvement in Venezuela, a position that could explain reports that she was entirely excluded from planning sessions for the operation that extracted President Nicolás Maduro from Caracas. Bloomberg relates that White House aides joked that the abbreviation for her title, DNI, could also signify “Do Not Invite.” As recently as last month Ms. Gabbard was railing against “warmongerers.”All of this suggests that Ms. Gabbard’s understanding of America’s role in the world made her a less than stellar choice to lead its intelligence agencies in the first place. Before her confirmation we ventured in respect of her nomination that “there clearly are going to be questions in need of sorting out.” Now what requires sorting is whether Ms. Gabbard stands with the president — or the kind of conspiracy mongering indulged by Mr. Kent.Both Ms. Gabbard and Vice President Vance met with Mr. Kent before he shared his resignation letter with the world, the Washington Post reports. It is unknown what thoughts they shared on its contents. Earlier this week Mr. Trump described Mr. Vance as “maybe less enthusiastic” at the beginning of the war but declared that the president and vice president “get along very well on this.” The Post alleges a “schism within the Trump coalition.” A former congresswoman, Marjorie Taylor-Greene, alludes to Mr. Vance and Ms. Gabbard when she tells the Hill that there are figures “high up in the administration, I know that don’t support” the war against Iran. Another vocal critic is the podcaster Tucker Carlson, who is set to host Mr. Kent this evening and who has called the attack on Tehran “absolutely disgusting and evil.” Ms. Gabbard and Mr. Carlson have long enjoyed a close relationship.If there is a “schism” high in the Trump Administration, it does not appear to extend far. CNN reports that Mr. Trump’s support among what it calls the “MAGA GOP” is no less than 100 percent. That is not a typo. Among that same cohort, support for the war runs to some 90 percent. The network declares that “there is no break in MAGA.” Americans know where Messrs. Carlson and Kent are. Where, though, are Mr. Vance and Ms. Gabbard?

Where Does Tulsi Gabbard Stand?

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