Hours after Tulsi Gabbard said she is leaving the Democratic Party, Tucker Carlson raved that her list of complaints about Democrats should be the credo of “every Republican candidate” who appears on his Fox News show.
The former Hawaii congresswoman’s announcement was largely a formality given her track record of toeing the GOP line on Fox News (she even filled in as host of Carlson’s show in August) and at CPAC in February, as well as her Putin-friendly commentary. In a video posted to Twitter on Tuesday, Gabbard asked for the support of those who “can no longer stomach the direction that so-called woke Democratic Party ideologues are taking our country.” She hit many of the same points in her comments that night.
Democrats “actively find ways to undermine our God-given rights enshrined in the Constitution, like freedom of speech,” the 2020 Democratic presidential candidate alleged.
“They are against freedom of religion,” she continued. “They are hostile towards people of faith, people who have their own spiritual practice, especially Christians—finding ways to be vindictive, to discriminate, to punish people who have been to exercise that freedom of religion. The list goes on and on, but the foundation of freedom is really what was at the heart of my making this decision.”
A thoroughly supportive Carlson responded that Gabbard’s broadside was “inspiring to hear” yet also “disappointing.”
“I feel like printing out your words and asking every Republican candidate who comes on this show to read them, and if you can’t read them, I’m not voting for you,” said the Fox host, clearly indicating which side of the aisle Gabbard’s views align with. (Gabbard hasn’t specified which party, if any, she will be affiliated with in the future.)
“Why is it so hard to say out loud—first of all the people who are always talking about racism are committing it,” Carlson then claimed, setting up Gabbard for another chance to criticize the powers that be. “Why is that so hard for people to acknowledge? It’s so obvious.”
“It speaks to the whole environment of fear that those in power, these elitists in power have fomented to where people are afraid to speak the truth,” Gabbard replied.
“They are afraid to exercise their right to free speech because, hey, you might lose your job. You might be canceled. You might be trashed. And God forbid in Washington, you might not be invited to the cool kids’ parties. You might not be as popular.”
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