A steady stream of potential candidates for the president-elect’s cabinet and administration has been auditioning for Donald Trump.
And about six days ago Democratic US Rep. from Hawaii,Tulsi Gabbard who served with her state’s National Guard and volunteered for duty in Iraq joined the pilgrimage to Trump’s New York tower of power on Fifth Avenue.
During the Democratic Presidential primary campaign, DNC chairwoman Gabbard made big news among supporters of Senator Bernie Sanders in February when she resigned her position to support Sanders’ candidacy over foreign policy differences with Hillary Clinton. She said then: “We can elect a president who will lead us into more interventionist wars of regime change, or we can elect a president who will usher in a new era of peace and prosperity.”
Rep. Gabbard was hailed last February as a Democrat to watch in the future, and now that prediction is proving true but in an unexpected and strange way. Democrat Gabbard has joined the line of well known Republican job seekers Rudy Giuliani, Sen. Jeff Sessions and lesser known former office holders Scott Brown and Rick Perry trekking to Trump Tower and Trump-owned golf resorts.
Her audience with Donald and his team raised a few eyebrows among Democrats. And fellow Democrats in Hawaii’s Congressional delegation note she failed to join 169 other Democratic House members that condemned “Alt-Right” supporter and possible ant-Semite Steve Bannon playing a major role in a Trump White House. And Howard Dean was particularly critical of Representative Gabbard: “She’s an interesting person, and the people from Hawaii basically have her tabbed as extremely ambitious with flexible principles.” He speculated that she may be motivated to position herself to the right for a future run for the Senate, but added: “So who knows what this is all about.”
Gabbard’s audience with Trump might have gained wider attention if the Trump transition itself wasn’t such a … well, circus. The NYTimes.com says he has transformed what is normally a quiet task of forming a government into: “…a Trump-branded, made-for-television spectacle, parading his finalists for top administration positions this weekend before reporters and the world.” We have to wonder, is it the red carpet or a future perp walk?
Gabbard’s audience with Trump, according to a spokesperson, was focused on foreign policy “…our current policies regarding Syria, our fight against terrorist groups like al-Qaeda and ISIS, as well as other foreign policy challenges we face.” They did not say if a job with the new administration was discussed.
Interestingly an opinion piece titled: Tulsi Gabbard is the pick for Secretary of State, not Mitt Romney appeared in TheHill.com and Brietbart News, floating the congresswoman as possible Secretary of State: [Gabbard]…does not play politics [and] embodies the very essence of the President-Elect’s ideological departure from the interventionist policies that have plagued this nation for the past two decades. No mention is made in the piece about Rudy Giuliani who has also been tagged a possible Sec. of State. But Mitt Romney, yet another candidate for the job, gets a trashing in the piece that is perhaps greater than any praise it offered for Gabbard.
Is this about Romney adversaries on the Trump team utilizing Gabbard for bit of political theater and showmanship to influence Donald? With all things Trump it is probably wise not to even speculate. On this one I’ve got to side with former Governor Howard Dean when he wondered: “So who knows what this is all about.”