After years in the Democratic Party, former Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard has announced that she is leaving it because it is the party of the “powerful elite.”
Gabbard made the announcement Tuesday and an explanation behind her decision on Twitter and also with the launch of her new YouTube series called “The Tulsi Gabbard Show,” ABC News reported.
The first episode is a 28-minute explanation that she called “Why I’m leaving the Democratic Party.”
Gabbard served as a Democratic representative for Hawaii from 2013 to 2021. She also ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020.
In a Twitter post published Tuesday, she wrote: “I can no longer remain in today’s Democratic Party that is now under the complete control of an elitist cabal of warmongers driven by cowardly wokeness, who divide us by racializing every issue & stoke anti-white racism, actively work to undermine our God-given freedoms…”
I can no longer remain in today’s Democratic Party that is now under the complete control of an elitist cabal of warmongers driven by cowardly wokeness, who divide us by racializing every issue & stoke anti-white racism, actively work to undermine our God-given freedoms, are… pic.twitter.com/oAuTnxZldf
— Tulsi Gabbard 🌺 (@TulsiGabbard) October 11, 2022
Gabbard addressed issues she has with the party in her YouTube episode noting several damaging aspects of Democrats in the current political atmosphere.
Gabbard said Democrats are now the party of those who are “hostile to people of faith and spirituality. Who demonize the police but protect criminals at the expense of law-abiding Americans. Who believe in open borders, who weaponize the national security state to go after their political opponents, and above all, who are dragging us ever closer to nuclear war.”
“Now, I believe in a government that’s of the people, by the people, and for the people. Unfortunately, today’s Democratic Party does not. Instead, it stands for a government that is of, by, and for the powerful elite. Now, I’m calling on my fellow common-sense, independent-minded Democrats to join me in leaving the Democratic Party. If you can no longer stomach the direction that the so-called ‘woke,’ Democratic Party idealogues are taking our country, then I invite you to join me,” she added.
Gabbard also specifically criticized the policies of Democrats, and particularly the Biden administration, that has gone too far in putting the U.S. in a dangerous position of potential war.
Looking back on her brief presidential run in 2020, Gabbard noted that she ran that campaign because she knew that this was where the Democrats were headed.
She said that all the signs pointed in the direction of this state of affairs and she tried to raise the issue.
“But the politicians and the media completely ignored it. They didn’t care then and they don’t care now,” she said.
“President Biden and Congress do. But they very irresponsibly are refusing to use that power to protect the safety of our country, the American people, and the world from the devastation that a nuclear holocaust would bring,” Gabbard said.
While the possibility of war was a critical point of Gabbard’s explanation and criticism, she also discussed issues of free speech, the rule of law, and racism as other major problems that the country is facing — and that the Democratic Party has mishandled.
But as she concluded her comments after 27 minutes of criticism and pointing out serious crises that the nation faces, Gabbard ended on a hopeful note, saying she is ready to fight for the ideals set forth by the Founding Fathers and asking those who agree with her to join her and abandon the Democratic Party.
“… So, as we remember the ideals our founders laid out for us, let’s draw inspiration from their hopes for us, their hopes for this country and our potential,” Gabbard.
“And let’s take action to bring about that change in our communities, in our states, and in this country so that we truly have a government that is of, by, and for the people.”