Hillary Clinton warns about Russian interference;
Tulsi Gabbard strikes back with strong words
Tulsi Gabbard, who is struggling in her presidential campaign, is using accusations of Russian support to breathe new life into her long-shot run for POTUS.
Polling between 1% and 2%, Gabbard is unlikely to win the Democratic nomination to run against Republican Donald Trump. But Hawaii's congressional representative is getting a lot of press -- aleit, all for the wrong reason.
There is a growing concern among Democrats that Gabbard might become the Jill Stein of 2020. With alleged support of Russia, Stein, running as a presidential candidate for the Green Party in 2016, was able to draw enough votes from Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton to give critical states to Trump.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Edited Oct. 30 to clarify that Clinton said "Republicans" were grooming a candidate.
Clinton said that the Republicans were grooming a Democratic candidate for a run for a third party candidacy to split the 2020 vote to help Donald Trump. The Guardian reports the 2016 Democratic presidential nominee believes Tulsi Gabbard could fill that role.
Without naming Gabbard, Clinton said on the podcast Campaign HQ with former Obama aide David Plouffe, ” “She’s the favorite of the Russians,”
"They have a bunch of sites and bots and other ways of supporting her so far.”
Reporters asked Clinton’s spokesman whether the Senator was referring to Gabbard and he said: “If the nesting doll fits.”
Gabbard, who split with the Democrats in 2016 and endorsed Bernie Sanders run for president, is now running about 12th in the polls in the race for the Democratic nomination in 2020.
Gabbard had harsh words for Clinton on Twitter.
“You, the queen of warmongers, embodiment of corruption, and personification of the rot that has sickened the Democratic Party for so long, have finally come out from behind the curtain.”
Clearly, the Clinton inference got to the candidate, who is usually unflappably smooth despite her poor polling numbers and
In a profile in The Atlantic, reporter Edward-Isaac Dovere wrote about Gabbard:
"Many high-level Democrats I spoke with for this story, who insisted on anonymity to share their true feelings about her, suspect that Gabbard is up to something other than actually trying to win the party’s nomination—even if they can’t quite identify what her goal is. These are people who have been wary since Gabbard became a Fox News favorite for criticizing Obama’s foreign policy. They believed that their distrust was vindicated when Steve Bannon brought her in for a meeting with then-president-elect Donald Trump just two weeks after the 2016 election, which was one of Trump’s first meetings with a Democrat. To this group, Gabbard looks like Jill Stein, who also talked about progressive politics and peace, but whose 2016 Green Party run was, to them, a self-centered campaign that blew a crucial hole in Hillary Clinton’s chances, eating up money and getting Russian support along the way.
Most of the evidence of Russian support for Gabbard is circumstantial but a link has not been proven Although Moscow's interest in Gabbard is apparent.
Gabbard’s campaign has been promoted by Russian state-owned media and a number of alt-right websites and defended on Twitter by the Russian Embassy, according to the Associated Press.
On Friday and Saturday, Gabbard refused to disavow the support she’s seen from Russian actors and alt-right site. Instead of responding to direct questions about possible support from Russia, as a counterattack, Gabbard chose to hurled insults and challlenges via social media.
Tulsi Gabbard lets off steam with a round of mixed martial arts. Watch the video here.
Asked by The Atlantic about the support for a story published Thursday, Gabbard said, “I don't have any explanation for these things, other than the fact that the world and other countries, including Russia, are in agreeance that we are in a better place in the world when we're not on the brink of nuclear war.”
Russia's RT news agency often features Gabbard's campaign, according to The Atlantic. The Russian Embassy in South Africa has also tweeted in defense of her, and Russian bots have reportedly boosted her campaign online.
At one point right after the Democrat's first debate in June, some polls suggested that Gabbard was getting a huge response over the other 20 candidates that appeared on the two-night event.
Asked by The Atlantic about the support for a story published Thursday, Gabbard said, “I don't have any explanation for these things, other than the fact that the world and other countries, including Russia, are in agreeance that we are in a better place in the world when we're not on the brink of nuclear war.”
Russia's RT news agency often features Gabbard's campaign, according to The Atlantic. The Russian Embassy in South Africa has also tweeted in defense of her, and Russian bots have reportedly boosted her campaign online.
At one point right after the Democrat's first debate in June, some polls suggested that Gabbard was getting a huge response over the other 20 candidates that appeared on the two-night event.
Based on reports from NBC News, now we know why she did so well in those unofficial post-debate polls:
"Users from pro-Trump communities on 4chan and Reddit implored fellow members to vote for lower-polling candidates in online polls, specifically Tulsi Gabbard and Bill de Blasio, in the hours after Wednesday’s Democratic debate — a sign that digital manipulation efforts related to U.S. politics and elections remain very much alive.
"Users on 4chan’s anonymous far-right /pol/message board repeatedly posted links to polls across the web, encouraging one another to “blow the polls out” for Gabbard, the congresswoman from Hawaii who has developed a substantial support base among many of its users.
"The posts pointed users toward polls on national news websites like the Drudge Report, The Washington Examiner, and Heavy.com, but also polls from local news providers like NJ.com, which posts from several newspapers in the state.
“GIVE HER YOUR POWER,” read one 4chan post from 1 a.m. Thursday, pointing to a screenshot of the still-active Drudge poll showing Gabbard leading."
Gabbard repeated to The Guardian an earlier promise that she will not run as an independent or third-party candidate if she doesn’t win the Democratic nomination.
“I’ve been very clear, I will not be leaving the Democratic party, I will not be running as an independent or a third-party candidate,” Gabbard said. “I am running as a Democrat to take our party back, away from the control of people like Hillary Clinton and the warmongering and corrupt, powerful establishment and return our party into the hands of the people. Make it so the Democratic party is once again a party of, by and for the people, a party that will fight for the people, fight to protect the planet and that will fight for peace.”
Gabbard has also received unsolicited support from Trump supporters. She receives positive coverage on Fox News and is often featured in the right-wing Washington Examiner.
Gabbard is also supported by the Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke, which she has strongly disavowed. Despite rejecting Duke's support, she remains close to Niko House, a noted conspiracy theorist who believes the mass shooting in Las Vegas was an intelligence operation meant to distract from the Harvey Weinstein scandal — and who is also, by far, the most successful digital fundraiser for her campaign, according to a recent announcement from the Hawaii Democrat’s presidential campaign staff.
Clinton's assertions may backfire. Since the Gabbard-Clinton clash, interest in Gabbard's campaign has reportedly ticked up in Iowa, according to Time Magazine, drawing support from Clinton-haters. The Hindu American is fundraising off the Clinton remarks, according to several news outlets.
Despite the obstacles in her way, Gabbard told AP she’s “continuing to use every platform possible to reach voters directly” when asked about her path to the nomination, and wouldn’t predict how she’d finish in Iowa, where she only has a staff of three. But Gabbard suggested that might not matter — even if she doesn’t have enough delegates to win, “we’re taking this all the way to the nomination.”
“I’ve been very clear, I will not be leaving the Democratic party, I will not be running as an independent or a third-party candidate,” Gabbard said. “I am running as a Democrat to take our party back, away from the control of people like Hillary Clinton and the warmongering and corrupt, powerful establishment and return our party into the hands of the people. Make it so the Democratic party is once again a party of, by and for the people, a party that will fight for the people, fight to protect the planet and that will fight for peace.”
Gabbard has also received unsolicited support from Trump supporters. She receives positive coverage on Fox News and is often featured in the right-wing Washington Examiner.
Gabbard is also supported by the Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke, which she has strongly disavowed. Despite rejecting Duke's support, she remains close to Niko House, a noted conspiracy theorist who believes the mass shooting in Las Vegas was an intelligence operation meant to distract from the Harvey Weinstein scandal — and who is also, by far, the most successful digital fundraiser for her campaign, according to a recent announcement from the Hawaii Democrat’s presidential campaign staff.
 |
SCREEN CAPTURE
Tulsi Gabbard, left, appears on Niko House's (center) opening page on his website |
Clinton's assertions may backfire. Since the Gabbard-Clinton clash, interest in Gabbard's campaign has reportedly ticked up in Iowa, according to Time Magazine, drawing support from Clinton-haters. The Hindu American is fundraising off the Clinton remarks, according to several news outlets.
Despite the obstacles in her way, Gabbard told AP she’s “continuing to use every platform possible to reach voters directly” when asked about her path to the nomination, and wouldn’t predict how she’d finish in Iowa, where she only has a staff of three. But Gabbard suggested that might not matter — even if she doesn’t have enough delegates to win, “we’re taking this all the way to the nomination.”
_________________________________________________________________
No comments:
Post a Comment