Tulsi Gabbard goes on offense with Trump’s support as Assad falls

With the fall of the Assad regime in Syria, Director of National Intelligence-designate Tulsi Gabbard is doubling down on her anti-intervention stance with backing from President-elect Donald Trump as she faces a contentious confirmation battle.

Gabbard, a former Hawaii representative and veteran who served in the Middle East, left the Democratic Party after unsuccessfully seeking the party nomination for president in 2020. She joined the GOP ahead of the 2024 election and has become something of a Republican fan favorite among those opposed to foreign interventions. Her positions have roiled Democrats and establishment Republicans alike, with some going as far as to baselessly smear her as a “Russian asset.”

She had previously attracted ire over her opposition to intervention in Syria, even should that leave the Assad regime in power. After her nomination, Tulsi was expected to be on defense over Assad, but the stunning collapse of his government over the course of mere days and the complete evaporation of the Syrian Arab Army in the face of a renewed offensive from rebel groups based in the country’s northwest has changed the script entirely.

Trump and Gabbard are in-synch

While President Joe Biden has supported U.S. involvement in the Syrian transition process, Trump has called for keeping the U.S. out of the conflict entirely and signaled that the Assad regime’s collapse should bring Russian President Vladimir Putin to the table to end the war in Ukraine as well.

“There was never much of a benefit in Syria for Russia, other than to make Obama look really stupid. In any event, Syria is a mess, but is not our friend, & THE UNITED STATES SHOULD HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH IT. THIS IS NOT OUR FIGHT. LET IT PLAY OUT. DO NOT GET INVOLVED!” Trump posted.

After Assad left Damascus, Trump opined that Russia had lost interest in protecting him due to Moscow’s focus on Ukraine and highlighted the estimated death tolls.

“There should be an immediate ceasefire and negotiations should begin. Too many lives are being so needlessly wasted, too many families destroyed, and if it keeps going, it can turn into something much bigger, and far worse,” Trump then posted. “I know Vladimir well. This is his time to act. China can help. The World is waiting!”

Trump’s calls for non-involvement and de-escalation of global conflicts seem to have given Gabbard the ammunition she needed to fight back against perceptions of herself as a foreign policy radical and portray her stances as in line with the White House’s main stream.

"I stand in full support and wholeheartedly agree with the statements that President Trump has made over these last few days with regards to the developments in Syria,” Gabbard said.

Republicans optimistic on surveillance, censorship reforms

A stalwart champion of the First Amendment, Gabbard’s nomination has some conservative Republicans jubilant, despite her prior time as a member of the opposing party.

In 2022, Gabbard ruffled feathers with her appearance at the Reagan Dinner, hosted by the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). In that event, Gabbard highlighted the importance of free speech and excoriated efforts to crack down on “misinformation”, saying “the latest strategy and tactic that they're using is to try to undermine our free speech by taking it upon themselves to say they've got the responsibility to protect us from so called misinformation.”

“The notion that we must just blindly accept and follow as truth, that which the government or those in power tells us is true goes against the very essence of our Constitution and Bill of Rights,” she added.

Several GOP heavyweights, particularly in the lower chamber, have expressed hope for reform on federal censorship and surveillance efforts with her in charge of the nation’s intelligence.

Freedom Caucus lawmakers Reps. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., for instance, have opined that her position in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence could pave the way for significant reform to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act’s (FISA) Section 702, which allows for warrantless surveillance in limited cases. The provision has attracted scrutiny from conservative hardliners over the prospect that such surveillance may acquire information on American citizens.

“Yeah, I think this is one where we can, we can actually have a chance to get it through,” Biggs said of FISA reform in light of Gabbard’s nomination. He made the remarks in November on the “Just the News, No Noise” television show.

“So again, having Tulsi at ODNI. I mean, she's a champion of the First Amendment,” said House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, on the same program. “I mean having, this is what I love so much about President Trump's elections, is he is putting people in these cabinet agencies, nominating people who have the attitude the American people elected, that American people voted for, which is we're going to go serve the people, protect their liberties, make government actually more efficient smaller, working for the country and protecting their rights.”

“That, I think is great, and Tulsi believes in the First Amendment, free speech and freedom,” he added. “That's why I'm hopeful. She's going to be confirmed and be our next ODNI director.”

Gabbard herself was placed on the Biden/Harris administration's TSA's terrorism watchlist, the "Quiet Skies" program, which monitors “elevated risks to aviation security.” Hawaii News Now reported that at least five agents and two explosive detection canine teams were following Gabbard and her husband in July.

Hawkish senators on board, but some alleged hesitance

Despite Gabbard’s support from lower chamber conservatives, it is upper chamber lawmakers who will make or break her confirmation. On the record, she appears to have won over some of the more hawkish Senate Republicans, some of whom have had notable disagreements with her on foreign affairs.

“We've had policy differences. I know her, I like her. She wanted to stay in the JCPOA [Iran Nuclear Deal], I thought that was a mistake, but you know, she'll be serving Trump. We'll see how the hearing goes,” Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said. 

Some conservative heavyweights, however, see the anonymous complaints about Gabbard as a plan B for establishment lawmakers after they failed to pressure Pete Hegseth to withdraw his nomination for defense secretary.

“Having failed to oust Hegseth, looks like DC is moving on to battling Tulsi,” posted Federalist Editor-in-Chief Mollie Hemingway in response to the Jewish Insider story. “A good rule of thumb is that permanent DC's opposition is nearly always about protecting the status quo and never about what they claim it's about.”