Former Democrat Tulsi Gabbard endorsed Republican Party candidate Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential race. While appearing at Trump’s National Guard conference in Detroit on Monday, August 26, Gabbard, 43, emphasized her support for him.
“This administration has us facing multiple wars on multiple fronts in regions around the world, and closer to the brink of nuclear war than we ever have been before,” she claimed, according to multiple outlets. “This is one of the main reasons why I am committed to doing all that I can to send President Trump back to the White House, where he can once again serve us as our commander in chief.”
Gabbard added that everyone in the United States “must stand together to reject this anti-freedom culture of political retaliation and abuse of power.”
I was a Democrat for over 20 years. Today, I endorsed Donald Trump for President. WATCH to hear why: pic.twitter.com/lwA8FYFx8h
— Tulsi Gabbard 🌺 (@TulsiGabbard) August 26, 2024
“We can’t allow our country to be destroyed by politicians who will put their own power ahead of the interests of the American people, our freedom, and our future,” the former U.S. representative added. “I am proud to stand here before you today, whether you’re a Democrat, a Republican or an independent. If you love our country, as I do, if you cherish peace and freedom as we do, I invite you to join me in doing all that we can to save our country and elect President Donald J. Trump and send him back to the White House to do the tough work of saving our country and serving the people.”
Elsewhere in her address, the U.S. Army Reserve Officer claimed that Trump, 78, “understands the grave responsibility that a president and commander in chief bears for every single one of our lives.”
“We saw this through his first term in the presidency, when he not only didn’t start any new wars, he took action to de-escalate and prevent wars,” she said. “He exercised the courage that we expect from our commander in chief in exhausting all measures of diplomacy, having the courage to meet with adversaries, dictators, allies and partners alike in the pursuit of peace, seeing war as a last resort.”
Previously, Gabbard served as a U.S. representative for Hawaii’s second congressional district from 2013 to 2021. In 2020, she was a candidate for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination. That year, she endorsed President Joe Biden, who went on to win the election. Two years later, Gabbard left the Democratic Party to become an independent.