An odd turn of affairs: The RNC touted a Daily Beast story that reported “Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard’s campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination is being underwritten by some of the nation’s leading Russophiles.” Not donations from Russians, mind you, but a couple thousand dollars in donations from Americans with publicly stated views that are more or less in line with those of Vladmir Putin’s regime.
Whether or not Gabbard considers herself a friend to Russia, Russian-backed media sees a potential friend in her. Earlier this year, NBC News found “at least 20 Gabbard stories on three major Moscow-based English-language websites affiliated with or supportive of the Russian government: RT, the Russian-owned TV outlet; Sputnik News, a radio outlet; and Russia Insider, a blog that experts say closely follows the Kremlin line.” On the other hand, Russia is pretty widely loathed in the Democratic party right now, so it’s not surprising that RT and like-minded outlets would be eager to spotlight a Democratic lawmaker who isn’t denouncing Putin and the Russian government. (Right now, RT television is also pretty excited by Mike Gravel’s declaration that Joe Biden’s foreign policy is American imperialism.)
No doubt, Gabbard’s worldview takes her far away from the rest of her party. In a March 2018 hearing, she suggested that the election meddling we saw from Russia in 2016 was more or less fair play considering past U.S. actions in other countries’ elections.
Gabbard said,
https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/tulsi-gabbard-campaign-donations-daily-beast-story/
Whether or not Gabbard considers herself a friend to Russia, Russian-backed media sees a potential friend in her. Earlier this year, NBC News found “at least 20 Gabbard stories on three major Moscow-based English-language websites affiliated with or supportive of the Russian government: RT, the Russian-owned TV outlet; Sputnik News, a radio outlet; and Russia Insider, a blog that experts say closely follows the Kremlin line.” On the other hand, Russia is pretty widely loathed in the Democratic party right now, so it’s not surprising that RT and like-minded outlets would be eager to spotlight a Democratic lawmaker who isn’t denouncing Putin and the Russian government. (Right now, RT television is also pretty excited by Mike Gravel’s declaration that Joe Biden’s foreign policy is American imperialism.)
No doubt, Gabbard’s worldview takes her far away from the rest of her party. In a March 2018 hearing, she suggested that the election meddling we saw from Russia in 2016 was more or less fair play considering past U.S. actions in other countries’ elections.
Gabbard said,
There was a study that was released the end of 2016 documenting 81 elections in 47 countries between 1946 and the year 2000 where the United States either overtly or covertly sought to influence the outcome of elections in these countries. We’re successful more often than not, and this doesn’t include any of the CIA or military regime change overthrows that also happened in addition to this. As recently as the Iraq War, during the Iraq War we paid millions of dollars to plant propaganda articles in Iraqi newspapers, sought to influence Russia’s elections in 1996. I say all this to raise the question about — if someone turns on cable news today, and to hear a lot of the conversations here, one would think that Russia’s actions in 2016, that this is the first time this has ever happened. And that the United States does not have the history that we do with the tactics that we have and may continue to use.
https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/tulsi-gabbard-campaign-donations-daily-beast-story/