Tulsi Gabbard has been accused of comparing Joe Biden to Adolf Hitler after she reportedly told a Republican rally in New Hampshire that both men shared a ‘mindset’ of using good intentions to justify authoritarian behavior.
Gabbard, who announced last week she was leaving the Democratic Party – under whose banner she ran for the presidency – spent Sunday and Monday campaigning for Don Bolduc, a former Army general who has claimed the 2020 election was stolen from Donald Trump.
The former Hawaii congresswoman told the audience, according to audio obtained by The Daily Beast, that Biden and Hitler had a similar outlook.
‘And this is something that is, you know, throughout history, we look at authoritarian leaders and dictators in other countries,’ Gabbard told the audience at Murphy’s Taproom in Manchester. ‘I’m pretty sure they all believe they’re doing what’s best.
‘Even Hitler thought he was doing what was best for Germany, right? For the German race. In his own mind, he found a way to justify the means to meet his end.
‘So when we have people with that mindset, well, you know we’ve got to do whatever it takes because, as President Biden said in that speech in Philadelphia, that those who supported Trump, those who didn’t vote for him are extremists and a threat to our democracy.’
Tulsi Gabbard is seen on Sunday addressing the crowd in Manchester, New Hampshire, on the campaign train with Don Bolduc
Gabbard and Bolduc embrace on Sunday: the former Hawaii congresswoman, who last week announced she was leaving the Democrats, is throwing her weight behind the Republican senate hopeful in New Hampshire
Gabbard campaigned for Bernie Sanders in 2020, but insisted her support for the MAGA Republican Bolduc was not odd
Gabbard on Monday told local radio in New Hampshire that it was ‘ridiculous’ to say she had compared Biden to Hitler. She is yet to respond to a request for comment.
Gabbard’s choice of Bolduc as her first in-person endorsement since leaving the Democrats sent a strong signal.
Bolduc is taking on the incumbent, Democrat Maggie Hassan, in a race that could determine control of the entire Senate.
Trump-supporting Bolduc is seen as an outsider, but Gabbard has thrown her weight – and considerable spotlight – onto his candidacy.
Asked on Monday why she was backing him, Gabbard told Fox News: ‘I’m an independent, and I’ve laid out the reasons why today’s Democratic Party, that is controlled by fanatical ideologues, that stands against freedom, why it’s a party I can no longer be associated with.
‘I’m here campaigning with Don Bolduc because I know he’s committed to putting country and the American people first, and I think that more politicians more people running for office would be smart to do the same.’
Gabbard is seen addressing the crowds on Sunday in New Hampshire
When the reporter asked about the pairing of Gabbard, who previously campaigned for Bernie Sanders, and the 60-year-old conservative, she responded: ‘It’s only an odd couple you’re paying attention to the wrong things.’
Gabbard, who serves as a captain in the Hawaii National Guard and was deployed in the war in Iraq from 2004-2005. continued: ‘I think it makes every bit of sense when you look at two people who’ve dedicated our lives to serve our country, both in uniform and now in public office.
‘It makes every sense when you look at the things, the fundamental foundational things that we share in common, which is the constitution, it’s freedom. It’s the Bill of Rights. It’s taking care of serving the needs of people here in New Hampshire and across the country.’
Gabbard, who last week launched her own podcast, said on Monday she was not ruling out another run at the presidency.
But, she added, it was not her current focus.
‘It’s also not something I am thinking about right now,’ she said.
Gabbard, 41, ran as a Democrat in the 2020 election, but retired from politics in 2021.
On Tuesday morning she announced that she was leaving the Democratic Party, issuing a series of tweets criticizing the Democrats’ ‘cowardly wokeness’ and accusing them of ‘stoking anti-white racism’.
Hours later, she appeared on Fox News and told Tucker Carlson why she could not longer align herself with the Democrats.
‘I cannot be a member of a party which actively undermines our freedom,’ she told Carlson.
She added: ‘Today’s Democratic Party is controlled by fanatical ideologues who hate freedom. They despise the Constitution. They actively find ways to undermine our God-given rights, enshrined in the Constitution, like freedom of speech.’
Tulsi Gabbard on Tuesday night appeared on Tucker Carlson’s show to explain her decision, announced earlier in the day, to quit the Democratic Party
Gabbard is seen in 2016 with Bernie Sanders, who she endorsed for president
Gabbard said she had ‘always been an independent-minded person’, and that her loyalties lay first with the Constitution.
‘Democrat, yes, but an independent Democrat.
‘My loyalties are very clear, and I took an oath – both as a service member, as a soldier, as well as a member of Congress – to support and defend the Constitution.
‘And that’s an oath that I take extremely seriously.’
She said she had been dismayed as the party she belonged to worked to ‘actively find ways to undermine our rights’, and would not tolerate dissent.
Gabbard, who famously opposed the party on Syria and disagreed with their support for the rebels, even traveling to Damascus to meet the dictator Bashar al-Assad, said the party responded by shutting her down.
‘They will do all that they can to destroy you, silence you, smear you – work with Big Tech, work with corporate media – to actively destroy anyone who dares to even question their agenda.’
She said they were against freedom of religion, ‘hostile towards people of faith’, and discriminatory.
The ex-representative for Hawaii’s 2nd district said she would have preferred the Democratic leadership to say: ‘You know what, let’s agree to disagree.’
She added: ‘It speaks to the whole environment of fear that those in power, the elitists in power, have fomented, that people are afraid to speak the truth.
‘Rather than taking a stand for peace, prosperity, security and the freedom of the American people we have too many people in Washington who are warmongers, subservient to the military-industrial complex, and continuing to put their own selfish interests or the interests of their donors first, with no mind for the cost and consequence that their decisions have on the American people.’
She told Carlson she strongly disagreed with the Biden administration on Russia, accusing them of ‘actively pushing us to the brink of a nuclear holocaust’.
Gabbard told Carlson she thought Biden was bringing the U.S. to the brink of ‘nuclear holocaust’
The New York Times in October 2019 questioned Gabbard’s motives. Gabbard said it was a smear campaign orchestrated by the liberal media and Big Tech
Democrat operative and commentator Ana Navarro was among those who condemned Gabbard, in this 2019 tweet
Gabbard said she left the party because it turned on her for questioning the policies. Gabbard said the Democrats were working in cahoots with Big Tech and the liberal media to discredit her. Pictured is a Los Angeles Times article from October 2019
Asked about the response from other Democrats in Congress to her decision to quit the party, Gabbard said it had been silence – except for one, who sent her a text message with three thumbs up.
She would not say who sent the message.
Earlier Gabbard, a United States Army Reserve officer, accused the party of ‘demonizing the police’, ‘protecting criminals’, ‘believing in open borders’ and ‘dragging us even closer to nuclear war’.
She also urged those who agreed with her to leave – with just a month until the crucial midterm elections.
She published a video attacking the party, whose members she clams ‘actively work to undermine our God-given freedoms’.
Gabbard made the announcement in the first episode of her new podcast – The Tulsi Gabbard Show.
It is not clear whether she will join another party, or remain independent.
Gabbard has turned to political commentary since running for president in 2020 and leaving office in 2021 and has frequently attacked the Biden administration and the Democrats.
In a tweet accompanying her video, 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, are hostile to people of faith & spirituality, demonize the police & protect criminals at the expense of law-abiding Americans, believe in open borders, weaponize the national security state to go after political opponents, and above all, dragging us ever closer to nuclear war.
‘I believe in a government that is of, by, and for the people. Unfortunately, today’s Democratic Party does not.
Former congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard announced Tuesday morning she is leaving the Democratic Party in a series of tweets criticizing their ‘cowardly wokeness’ and accusing them of ‘stoking anti-white racism’
The ex-representative for Hawaii ‘s 2nd district and United States Army Reserve officer accused the party of ‘demonizing the police’, ‘protecting criminals’, ‘believing in open borders’ and ‘dragging us even closer to nuclear war ‘
‘I believe in a government that is of, by, and for the people,’ she added. ‘Unfortunately, today’s Democratic Party does not. ‘Instead, it stands for a government of, by, and for the powerful elite’
‘Instead, it stands for a government of, by, and for the powerful elite.
‘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 so-called woke Democratic Party ideologues are taking our country, I invite you to join me.’