Democratic presidential candidate and Hawaii congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard faced the increasingly nasty smears branding her a Russian asset and “traitor” head on during The View on Wednesday, following the recent spat with Hillary Clinton who suggested the Kremlin was “grooming” Gabbard to be a third-party candidate.
“Some of you have accused me of being a traitor to my country, a Russian asset, a Trojan horse, or a useful idiot I think was the term that you used,” Gabbard told the panel, after in prior episodes Joy Behar especially had agreed with and aggressively amplified Hillary’s baseless claims. The panel had also previously called her a Trojan horse. Gabbard came out swinging in her remarks: “It’s offensive to me as a soldier, as an American, as a member of Congress, as a veteran, and frankly as a woman, to be so demeaned in such a way.”
“Well, useful,” Behar said, referencing her previously labeling the Iraq war veteran Moscow’s ‘useful idiot’. “But that’s a Russian term, they use that,” she added. “Are You Calling Me Stupid?” Gabbard at one point angrily shoots back. And demonstrating just how low and idiotic, and without substantive argument the “controversy” around Gabbard has become, Behar at one point even offers as ‘evidence’ of the presidential candidate’s supposed Russian ties that she’s appeared on FOX’s Tucker Carlson Tonight on multiple occasions.
I go on Tucker Carlson, I go on Bret Baier, I go on Sean Hannity, I go on MSNBC, I go on CNN—I am here to speak to every single American in this country about the unifying leadership that I want to bring as president, not just speak to those who agree with me. #TULSI2020 pic.twitter.com/1v4cDHFj4w
— Tulsi Gabbard (@TulsiGabbard) November 7, 2019
“I am a strong and intelligent woman of color, who has dedicated almost all of my adult life to protecting the safety, security & liberty of Americans,” Gabbard fired back.
She also schooled the panel on her distinguished military career and slammed Behar’s likening her to Putin’s “useful idiot” — explaining also that she joined the Army after the 9/11 attacks but that her country lied to her in invading Iraq.
“You are implying that I am too stupid, and too naive, and lack the intelligence to know what I am doing,” she further counter-attacked Behar with.
The full segment from Wednesday’s The View appearance is below, with the fight over Behar’s “useful idiot” remarks beginning at the 1-min mark:
One astounding moment came when Gabbard reiterated her position that Hillary Clinton is a “warmonger,” at which point Behar actually asked, “What’s your evidence of that?”
A perplexed Gabbard immediately shot back, “Are you serious?”
Joy Behar actually asked Tulsi Gabbard “what’s your evidence” that Hillary Clinton is a warmonger pic.twitter.com/1GxYSrDNxj
— Ibrahim (@ibrahimpols) November 6, 2019
Journalist Glenn Greenwald summarized the testy exchange as Gabbard “responding with righteous rage but also great dignity to the disgusting smears of Democrats about her patriotism and loyalty.”
