Former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) on Monday endorsed Donald Trump for president, a striking turn for someone who just five years ago called him “corrupt,” “unqualified to serve,” and “Saudi Arabia’s bitch.”
Gabbard made the comments in the run-up to her unsuccessful 2020 bid for the Democratic presidential nomination, where she didn’t shy away from criticizing Trump’s performance.
In 2018, the National Guard veteran was sharply critical of Trump’s decision to stand by Saudi Arabia despite U.S. intelligence linking Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to the murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi.
“Hey [Donald Trump],” she tweeted at the President. “Being Saudi Arabia’s bitch is not ‘America First.’”
Less than a year later, Gabbard supported the 2019 impeachment inquiry into Trump regarding his attempt to extort Ukraine in exchange for badly needed American aid.
“Look, Donald Trump is corrupt — he is unfit to serve our country as president,” she told The Hill. “He is unqualified to serve our country as commander-in-chief, I’m running for president to defeat him.”
At a 2019 appearance at a campaign event in New Hampshire, Gabbard sharply criticized Trump’s decision to deploy U.S. troops to protect Saudi oil facilities. Trump claimed Saudi Arabia paid upwards of ”$1 billion” for the deployment, but never clarified who paid what to whom.
“He’s essentially pimping out our men and women in uniform to a foreign power who’s the highest bidder and saying very blatantly and directly, ‘Hey, they’re paying us for them,’” Gabbard said at the time. “He is unfit to be our commander-in-chief.”
When her 2020 presidential bid failed to gain meaningful traction, Gabbard dropped out and endorsed then-Sen. Joe Biden.
Gabbard left the Democratic party in 2022, calling it an “elitist cabal of warmongers,” and has since spent an increasing amount of time on Fox as a paid contributor, once even sitting in for Tucker Carlson.
Prior to today’s endorsement news, Gabbard campaigned to be Trump’s running mate and has been helping prep Trump for next month’s Sept. 10 presidential debate.