Over at the New English Review recently, scribe Roger L. Simon explored the possibility of Tulsi Gabbard becoming President Trump’s 2024 running mate. As will surprise none of you, I have some thoughts, which begin with “not only no, but hell no!” Excerpt:
At the least, the choice of Gabbard would make a striking comparison on many levels to Kamala Harris, though it’s highly unlikely our current vice president will be anywhere near the 2024 Democratic presidential ballot.
That party tries to keep her out of sight as much as possible now, but even when they send her as far as the border of North and South Korea, she seems to have trouble remembering which is our ally. A second vice presidency isn’t in the cards.
Notwithstanding Harris, however, the case for Gabbard isn’t frivolous. Her video statement on formally leaving the Democratic Party is as eloquent and well-taken as any potential Republican vice presidential candidate I can think of:
“I can no longer remain in today’s Democratic Party. It’s now under the complete control of an elitist cabal of warmongers driven by cowardly wokeness, who divide us by racializing every issue and stoking anti-white racism, who actively worked to undermine our God-given freedoms enshrined in our Constitution, and who are hostile to people of faith and spirituality, who demonize the police who 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, are dragging us ever closer to nuclear war.”
Amen, sister!
Tulsi isn’t wrong in any of that quote; she accurately sums up what has become of the Democrat Party. It’s become a party that Harry Truman wouldn’t recognize. Indeed, Truman would be considered a far-right reactionary by today’s Democrats. But Mr. Simon, much as I like and respect him, only hints at one of the major problems with this idea:
I write this well aware that I may not agree with Tulsi on everything. (I don’t even agree with myself on everything.) I write it in a desire to move things forward in the worst of times.
I’m also well aware there are several other worthy potential Republican vice-presidential candidates, notably Gov. Ron DeSantis, who certainly deserves to be president someday. He would be a great one. He’s done a superb job in Florida and has continued to do so with Ian, miraculously restoring electricity to the state within days.
In 2024, assuming Trump runs again, he would be well-advised to make Ron DeSantis the heir apparent. In fact, I’d bet serious folding money that Governor DeSantis will one day occupy the Imperial Mansion, and when he does, he will likely be the most consequential President since Ronald Reagan. But even if the Governor declines, Trump should not pick Tulsi Gabbard.
Don’t get me wrong. I admire the principled stand Tulsi Gabbard has taken on leaving a political party that has gone insane. She is leaning into taking the red pill to some small extent; a recent video shows her shooting an AR-pattern carbine, among other weapons. From what I read, she is personable as well. Sensible people like her, even those who disagree with her on policy positions. Were I to have the chance to speak with her, I expect it would be a polite exchange of ideas without rancor. Like me, she’s a veteran with combat-zone tours under her belt.
But she shouldn’t be the VP candidate for a GOP President.
Her positions on gun control have been (hah) a moving target, but she is generally in favor of bans or at least restrictions on “assault weapons,” she is in favor or higher marginal tax rates, her economic stances in general are well to the left of center.
Ms. Gabbard’s leaving the ever-more-loony Democrats shouldn’t lead one to believe that she’s switching sides. I don’t think she is. I think she’s stayed the same, a reliable liberal as the term was defined in the Nineties and early Oughts. As she stated herself, the party left her, not the other way around. She’s not a conservative or a libertarian, and she likely isn’t and won’t be moving in that direction.
Should Donald Trump run again in 2024 – and I’m guessing he will – the last thing he should do is embrace a liberal to the Presidential bosom. And, to be fair, I doubt Tulsi would be interested in the gig in any case.
