Way back in 2019, Tulsi Gabbard, who is now President-elect Donald Trump’s Director of National Intelligence pick, was attacked by the co-hosts of “The View” as being a “traitor,” as Tulsi saw it, when they tried to use the words of U.S. Ambassador to the E.U. Gordon Sondland against her. Tulsi wasn’t having it. So, she toasted the hosts to their faces.
Whoopi Goldberg kicked things off. Referencing the testimony from Sondland, who had spoken about Trump’s alleged “quid-pro-quo” deal with Ukraine, Goldberg asked, “Were you surprised by what he did yesterday?” She snapped back, responding with fire from the start, “Well, look. The facts are important, and we’ll get to that.”
Getting to her take on what people like the co-hosts say about her, Tulsi snapped, I want to start with something that I think is also important about facts because recently on your show here — some of you have accused me of being a traitor to my country, a Russian asset, a Trojan horse or —”
Protesting her characterization, Behar exclaimed, “We haven’t accused you.” Gabbard, without missing a beat, used Behar’s past words against her to note the sort of slander she has faced over her anti-foreign war stances on key issues. She said, “‘Useful idiot’ I think is the term that you used.”
Behar again feigned innocence, ignoring that she had used the exact term on October 21 and trying to connect it to the Russians, saying, “That’s a Russian term. They used that. I don’t say that Tulsi is an agent. I just think that she could be a useful idiot the way Trump is a useful idiot to the Russians.”
Gabbard noted that, unlike most of her critics, she volunteered after the 9/11 attacks and has spent her career trying to defend America. Doing so, she said, “I want to let your viewers know exactly who I am. Set the record straight. I am a patriot. I love our country. I am a strong and intelligent woman of color, and I have dedicated almost my entire adult life to protecting the safety, the security and the freedom of all Americans in this country.”
Behar retreated to insinuations, telling Gabbard, “Well, I guess we’re getting a little bit far ahead of ourselves, but Franklin Graham finds uh-you refreshing. He doesn’t find me refreshing. The white nationalist leader says he can vote for you. You were on ‘Tucker Carlson’ at least ten times. Why didn’t you go on Chris Wallace?”
Gabbard fired back, “This is why I’m here. Because you and other people continue to spread these innuendos that have nothing to do with who I am.” Behar, pushing back in her response, insisted, “Well, Hillary Clinton started it. And then you shot back at her, boy. You called her the Queen of warmongers.”
Gabbard didn’t relent, snapping, “You doubled down — unfortunately you doubled down on the baseless accusations that she made that strikes at the core of who I am. I’m a soldier. Because of the attacks on 9/11, I enlisted in the military to go after and defeat and destroy the evil that visited us on that day.”
Then, when “The View” cut to footage in which former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton suggested that the Russians were “grooming” Gabbard to be a potential third-party spoiler. Gabbard, furious, said, “Really? I mean, this is outrageous. This is outrageous, and offensive on so many levels.”
Watch her here:
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video
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