Election 2020

What's So Funny About Tulsi Gabbard?

The Reason Roundtable analyzes an establishment smear against a foreign policy heretic, and laments the bipartisan panic against online speech.

|

Is there something kind of, I dunno, off about Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D–Hawaii)? Certainly the can't-quit-us Clinton Machine thinks so, as do some supposedly skeptical news organizations. People a tad more serious, like former Reasoner Kerry Howley, have grappled honestly with Gabbard's unusual personality, life history, and issue set (including some off-putting enthusiasms for aggressive nationalists like Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi). Check out John Stossel's full interview with Gabbard right here, and see for yourself.

Regardless of whether Gabbard floats their particular boats, the Reason Roundtable crew of Nick Gillespie, Peter Suderman, Matt Welch, and special guest star Stephanie Slade have some withering things to say about this latest Hillary World attempt to smear U.S. foreign policy dissenters (including two-time Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein) as Rooskie "assets" or as the witting recipients of "grooming." The gang also gives some takeaways from last week's Democratic presidential debate, including the long, bad sections about regulating political speech and the companies providing platforms thereof. And there are the usual references to Nick Cave, Peter Criss, Norm MacDonald, the Adverts, and so on.

Audio production by Ian Keyser and Regan Taylor.

Music credit: "The Gunfight" by Everet Almond

Relevant links from the show:

"Tulsi Gabbard Conspiracy Theories Go Mainstream as Hillary Clinton Accuses the Candidate of Being Groomed by Russia," by Elizabeth Nolan Brown

"Hillary Clinton Says Donald Trump Is an Illegitimate President and Tulsi Gabbard Is a Russian Tool," by Robby Soave

"Tulsi Gabbard Called Out Mainstream Media, Both Parties, Democratic Candidates for Supporting Disastrous Regime Change in the Middle East," by Robby Soave

"The New York Times Wonders Aloud If Tulsi Gabbard's Anti-War, Anti-Establishment Message Makes Her a Stooge for Nazis and Russian Bots," by Christian Britschgi

"Stossel: Tulsi Gabbard Full Interview," by John Stossel and Maxim Lott

"Tulsi Gabbard Blames Both Sides for Waging 'These Wasteful Wars,'" by John Stossel

"Tulsi Gabbard Is Anti-War but Not Pro-Peace," by Shikha Dalmia

"No, Jill Stein Did Not Cost Hillary Clinton the White House," by Matt Welch

"Medicare for All Is All Democrats Want To Talk About," by Peter Suderman

"On Medicare for All, Elizabeth Warren Is Fundamentally Dishonest," by Peter Suderman

"Kamala Harris Demands That Warren Promise To Ban Trump From Twitter," by Billy Binion

"The Big Tech Boogeyman Took Another Unfair Beating in the Democratic Debate," by Robby Soave

"Nick Cave Slams 'Woke' Culture as 'Self-Righteous' and Suppressive," by Nick Gillespie

"Review: Parasite," by Kurt Loder