Democrat-turned Independent Tulsi Gabbard, the former congresswoman from Hawaii, has endorsed former President Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential race against Vice President Kamala Harris.
“We as Americans must stand together to reject this anti-freedom culture of political retaliation and abuse of power. We can’t allow our country to be destroyed by politicians who will put their own power ahead of the interests of the American people, our freedom, and our future,” Gabbard said at the National Guard conference in Detroit on Monday.
Gabbard’s endorsement came on the third anniversary of the suicide bombing that killed 13 U.S. service members following the chaotic Afghanistan War withdrawal.
“I am proud to stand here before you today, whether you’re a Democrat, a Republican or an Independent,” Gabbard said. “If you love our country, as I do, if you cherish peace and freedom as we do, I invite you to join me in doing all that we can to save our country and elect President Donald J. Trump and send him back to the White House to do the tough work of saving our country and serving the people.”
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Host of the Tulsi Gabbard Show and former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) speaks during the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) at Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center on March 4, 2023 in National Harbor, Maryland. (Alex Wong)
Gabbard served as the Democratic representative for Hawaii’s 2nd congressional district from 2013 to 2021, but announced her exit from the party in 2022 after denouncing it as an “elitist cabal of warmongers.”
The former Democrat, who ran in the 2019 Democratic presidential primary against Harris, was recently recruited by Trump to help with debate prep ahead of his Sept. 10 face-off against the vice president at the National Constitutional Center in Philadelphia.
The then-presidential candidate ripped the vice president during a Democratic primary debate for reportedly jailing hundreds of Californians for marijuana violations, then openly discussing smoking the drug herself.
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“She put over 1,500 people in jail for marijuana violations and then laughed about it when she was asked if she ever smoked marijuana,” Gabbard said of Harris during the debate.
Gabbard has been an outspoken critic of the Democratic Party since switching her party affiliation ahead of the 2022 midterms, speaking at conservative events such as the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) and the Faith and Freedom Coalition Road to Majority Conference.
Candidates prepare to debate in the fifth Democratic primary debate of the 2020 presidential campaign season co-hosted by MSNBC and The Washington Post at Tyler Perry Studios in Atlanta, Georgia on Nov. 20, 2019. (Saul Loeb)
The endorsement comes after former Democrat Robert F. Kennedy Jr. suspended his 2024 Independent presidential bid and threw his support behind Trump.
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Kennedy claimed in his withdrawal announcement that the Democratic Party “waged continual legal warfare against both President Trump and myself,” and “ran a sham primary.” RFK Jr. said he will be campaigning with Trump until the election.