Former Hawaii Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, who famously left the party following the 2020 election to become a registered Independent, drew approving responses from attendees at a National Guard conference in Detroit, Mich., on Monday, where she appeared with former President Donald Trump after endorsing him last week.
“Aloha! I know we’ve got Hawaii in the house here. There we go. It’s a privilege to be with all of you, my brothers and sisters in uniform, especially on this day of all days,” Gabbard began. “I had the privilege of joining President Trump this morning at Arlington Cemetery, where he joined two Gold Star families and loved ones of Staff Sergeant Hoover and Sergeant Gee, both of whom were two of the 13 killed in the Abbey Gate attack three years ago today in Kabul.
“And I can tell you, as we were there, as he laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, joining these marines’ loved ones, I felt the sorrow that he shared with them in their loss. I felt and saw his sincere appreciation for these servicemen and women who paid the ultimate price, and their loved ones who continue to grieve to this day. This is personal for me, as I know it is for so many of you here. This is real. It’s not just words. I first deployed to Iraq in 2005 with the Hawaii Army National Guard as a member of Charlie Med,” Gabbard added.
“As those of you who were deployed during that time know, that was the height of the war and sadly, we took many casualties, and every day we were confronted with that high human cost of war and that sadness as we boarded the plane when we left that we were leaving some of our brothers and sisters behind, only to lose others when we got home to suicide,” she added. “So I mean what I say when I share with you that I know that President Trump understands the grave responsibility that a president and commander-in-chief bears for every single one of our lives, whether you’re a soldier, you’re an airman, a marine, a sailor or a Coastee, he keeps us in his heart in the decisions that he makes,” Gabbard continued.
“We saw this through his first term in the presidency, when he not only didn’t start any new wars, he took action to de-escalate and prevent wars. He exercised the courage that we expect from our commander-in-chief in exhausting all measures of diplomacy, having the courage to meet with adversaries, dictators, allies and partners alike in the pursuit of peace, seeing war as a last resort. The truth is, as we head towards our decision as a country in November, the same cannot be said about Kamala Harris. This is one of the main reasons why I’m committed to doing all that I can to send President Trump back to the White House, where he can once again serve us as our commander-in-chief,” she went on.
“Because I am confident that his first task will be to do the work to walk us back from the brink of war. We cannot be prosperous unless we are at peace, and we can’t live free as long as we have a government that is retaliating against its political opponents and undermining our civil liberties, weaponizing our very institutions against those they deem as a threat. Kamala Harris has done this over the last three and a half years. She won’t hesitate to continue that if she is elected as president,” Gabbard said.
“I’ve been their most recent target, added to a secret domestic terror watch list after exposing the truth about what kind of dangers we would face if Kamala Harris is elected as president. 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,” she said.
WATCH:
