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Tulsi Gabbard Can Defeat Woke Extremism, the GOP Can’t

Tulsi Gabbard
Tulsi Gabbard

Former Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard’s CPAC 2023 attendance is remarkable, and it could have massive implications for the future of political discourse in the United States. While Gabbard announced in October that she could no longer remain a member of the Democratic Party, her frustration with her former peers did not see her make a disingenuous and opportunistic shift to the populist right, nor did she simply abandon her values and join the GOP. Instead, after fighting her hardest within the party, Tulsi Gabbard stayed true to herself and allowed the Democrats to simply leave her behind. 

Gabbard, who ran against former President Donald Trump in 2020, showing up at (and speaking) at a conference attended by some of Trump’s most loyal supporters is a bold move – and it’s one that could really pay off.

Gabbard enjoyed great support at the four-day annual conference and has won over many Republicans there who find her captivating and honest. True, we could be witnessing the same dynamic as former Republican Rep. Liz Cheney siding with the Democrats in the 2022 midterms – in that she is a convenient weapon against Republicans but will never be fully embraced by the Democrats because of her views on abortion and similar contentious issues.

I get the impression, however, that the Republicans’ embrace of Tulsi Gabbard is more honest. While some of the most diehard radical populists may never truly see eye to eye with her, the embrace of a former Democratic presidential candidate by so many Republicans is a sign of just how big the gap between these two parties has become. And as the so-called “culture war” worsens, and it will, we need to hear more from her.

In an elevator at the Gaylord National Convention Center in Maryland, a venue CPAC recently returned to after a couple of years in Florida, I bumped into Gabbard. Running on virtually no sleep and recovering from an unfortunately timed bout of food poisoning, I certainly wasn’t on my best form. But even in meeting someone who looked like he needed to go to bed and just couldn’t get his words out properly, the former representative for Hawaii was gracious, polite, and thankful for the kind words. I expect I wasn’t the only one with such praise for her, either. Surrounded by voters who would have vehemently opposed her in 2020 had she been picked as the Democratic candidate, Gabbard was at ease. She spoke on Saturday, she was a distinguished guest at the annual Ronald Reagan dinner, and as some CPAC attendees told me, may be seeking a VP slot on a Republican ticket in 2024.

It’s a wild idea, and not something I expect she is really thinking about it. But would it be the worst idea? No. In fact, I think it would be terrific. Gabbard made the first move in rejecting the extremism within her own party, and now the Republicans must do the same. At a time when elections are chosen by just a few thousand people in a handful of swing states, and when the Democratic Party represents an alien Woke extremism birthed by teenage Tumblr activists in the 2010s, the Republican Party reaching across the aisle could eventually prove a pivotal and defining moment in American history.

Gabbard represents the moderate wing of the Democratic Party, and as I argue in my last book, moderate liberals have vastly more power than conservatives to stop this descent into far-left progressive madness and authoritarianism. Moderate liberals still don’t like Trump – at least, most of them won’t ever admitting supporting even the least controversial parts of his agenda. But they do like Tulsi Gabbard, and if she can make a stand like this – and succeed, too – then so can others. 

When more of those moderate Democrats stand up and say that the Woke left doesn’t represent them, this vocal minority loses its power. While Republicans must certainly do more to recognize the threat of far-right extremism – something with which I have a great deal of experience, and written about extensively – the Democrats have an unbelievable amount of power to curb the reciprocal radicalization that is rotting the brains of young people and turning grown adults into partisan drones. When liberals stop enabling extremists on their side, the far right – the real far right – has one less enemy and one less recruiting tool. 

If we are to beat Woke extremism in its entirety and hopefully return to a more traditional left-right dichotomy in our politics, moderate liberals must be willing to stand with conservatives and conservatives must be willing to embrace those with whom they disagree on issues like abortion, taxes, and gay marriage. That’s a small sacrifice for conservatives in the long run, and it doesn’t mean they have to give up their principles, either.

This is political Wartime, and the sensible people in the room need their own War Cabinet. Gabbard, I hope, will be a part of that. But will the Republicans be as brave as her?

Jack Buckby is 19FortyFive’s Breaking News Editor. He is a British author, counter-extremism researcher, and journalist based in New York. Reporting on the U.K., Europe, and the U.S., he works to analyze and understand left-wing and right-wing radicalization, and reports on Western governments’ approaches to the pressing issues of today. His books and research papers explore these themes and propose pragmatic solutions to our increasingly polarized society.

Written By

Jack Buckby is 19FortyFive's Breaking News Editor. He is a British author, counter-extremism researcher, and journalist based in New York. Reporting on the U.K., Europe, and the U.S., he works to analyze and understand left-wing and right-wing radicalization, and reports on Western governments’ approaches to the pressing issues of today. His books and research papers explore these themes and propose pragmatic solutions to our increasingly polarized society.

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