I will run against Tulsi Gabbard, myself if I have to.

[RandySF]

On its face, Monday's summit at Trump Towers between President-elect Donald Trump and Hawaii Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard makes little sense.

Hawaii was Donald Trump's single worst state (he got only 29 percent of the vote) and it's by far the country's most racially diverse, with whites making up about only one-quarter of the population.

But in a statement after the meeting, Gabbard, who has often challenged President Barack Obama on national security, said she held a "frank and positive" conversation with the President-elect, discussing Syria and other foreign policy issues.

Gabbard, a member of the House Armed Services Committee, also said she and Trump discussed legislation that she is pushing that would end what she described as "our country's illegal war to overthrow the Syrian government."

Trump asked for the meeting, Gabbard said, to discuss Syria, the fight to defeat the ISIS and al Qaeda, and other foreign policy issues. Aides to the president-elect said Trump wants to hear viewpoints from across the political spectrum.


http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/why-democratic-rep-tulsi-gabbard-met-donald-trump-n686976

[rwheeler31]

1. What are the residency requirements?

Seems there would be many candidates.

[BainsBane]

2. If she joins the T administration

She will give up her congressional seat anyway.

[elleng]

3. e.mail from Tulsi Gabbard:

As you have no doubt heard by now, I met with President-elect Donald Trump earlier today.

He asked me to meet with him to discuss our current policies regarding Syria, our fight against terrorist groups like al-Qaeda and ISIS, as well as other foreign policy challenges we face.

It would have been easier for me to refuse this meeting. The establishment and social media have been talking about this all day. But I never have and never will play politics with American and Syrian lives.

In fact, like President Obama, I firmly believe that now is the time for us to put our country first, and come together, regardless of political party, and tackle the many challenges we face.

This was an opportunity to advocate for peace—and I felt it was important to take the opportunity to meet with the President-elect to counteract neocons’ steady drumbeats of war, which threaten to drag us into an escalation of the war to overthrow the Syrian government.

This war has already cost hundreds of thousands of lives and forced millions of refugees to flee their homes in search of safety for themselves and their families. It has also strengthened al-Qaeda and other violent, extremist groups in the region. It would have been irresponsible not to accept this invitation. I feel it is my duty to take every single opportunity I get to advocate for peace, no matter the circumstances of those meetings.

I shared with him my grave concerns that escalating the war in Syria by implementing a so-called no-fly/safe zone would be disastrous for the Syrian people, our country, and the world. It would lead to more death and suffering, exacerbate the refugee crisis, strengthen ISIS and al-Qaeda and bring us into a direct conflict with Russia–potentially resulting in a nuclear war. We discussed my bill to end our country’s illegal war to overthrow the Syrian government and the need to focus our precious resources on rebuilding our country, and on defeating al-Qaeda, ISIS, and other terrorist groups who pose a threat to the American people.

Also, where I disagree with President-elect Trump on issues, I will not hesitate to express that disagreement. You didn’t send me to Washington to make friends with the political elite. You sent me to represent you, and I am committed to doing just that.

In short: I will never allow partisanship to undermine our national security when the lives of countless people lay in the balance.

If that earns me enemies in Washington or at the State Department, then so be it.

I hope you’ll continue to stand with me and stay engaged. The cause of peace is too great for us to allow political disagreements or partisanship to stand in our way.

Aloha,

Tulsi Gabbard

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10028296108

[The_Casual_Observer]

4. Gabbard is an attractive person. I'll bet Trump has been looking for an excuse

To get to spend some time with her for a while. I doubt anything will come from this. She is seems like a pretty straight forward sensible person. I have faith.

[HarmonyRockets]

5. The reason this meeting happened

is because Steve Bannon is a huge fan of Gabbard. He is the one that set the meeting up.

Bannon, who hates the entrenched two-party system, has long admired Gabbard. She’s an Iraq War veteran with an independent streak. Bannon, a navy veteran, was drawn to her when she began publicly excoriating the Obama administration over its plan to defeat ISIS.

“He loves Tulsi Gabbard. Loves her,” a second source familiar with Bannon’s thinking told The Hill. “Wants to work with her on everything.”

“She would fit perfectly too [inside the administration],” the source added. “She gets the foreign policy stuff, the Islamic terrorism stuff.”

Bannon appreciates Gabbard’s willingness to publicly criticize President Obama for refusing to name the enemy, “radical Islamic terrorism.”

“For him it’s a win-win when a Democrat is saying those things,” said a third source, who used to work under Bannon at Breitbart News.

In a text message to The Hill on Monday, a source close to Bannon said the chief strategist is "big on getting Iraq / Afghanistan war veterans in the administration."

It appears that Bannon’s view of Gabbard as an ally was shared by the Breitbart team.

A search of "Gabbard" in the Breitbart News archive turns up five pages of archived stories, many of them reported over the past year.

The stories highlight Gabbard’s criticism of the Obama administration over its plans to defeat ISIS, including the president’s convening of a White House summit on violent extremism, an event Gabbard described on Fox News as a “diversion from what our real focus needs to be.”

Other Breitbart stories on Gabbard note her full-throated support for Israel, her support for the Kurds and her backing of a bill that would make it all but impossible to admit Syrian refugees into the U.S.


Gabbard meshes with Trump’s foreign policy views in that she vehemently opposes U.S.-led regime change. She argues the U.S. government has no business removing from power the brutal Syrian dictator Bashar Assad.

In the statement she released following her meeting with Trump, Gabbard said she “felt it important to take the opportunity to meet with the President-elect now before the drumbeats of war that neocons have been beating drag us into an escalation of the war to overthrow the Syrian government.”

...

A Trump transition source told The Hill on Monday that Gabbard could potentially fill “a number of positions” inside the incoming administration. CNN and the New York Times have reported that she’s under consideration for United Nations ambassador. CNN also reported that she’s under consideration for State and Defense.

http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/307106-bannon-set-up-trump-gabbard-meeting

Stephen Bannon, Trump’s chief strategist, reportedly likes Gabbard because of her stance on guns, refugees and Islamic extremism along with her ability to invoke strong anti-establishment populist sentiment on the left.

Gabbard did not join the majority of her Democratic colleagues in the House by co-sponsoring gun control legislation this summer. She was one of 47 Democrats who voted in favor of a Republican-sponsored bill that requires refugees from Iraq and Syria to receive background checks from the FBI.

Last week, 169 Democrats signed a letter condemning Bannon’s appointment by Trump – but Gabbard was not among the signers.

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/election/article116162588.html

[The_Casual_Observer]

6. Gabbard came to my attention when she was an early supporter of Sanders

She seems very involved with the goings on in the Hawaiian communities. Its seems like a shame that she would get involved with a jerk half wit like Bannon.

[LisaL]

7. She isn't his type.

[The_Casual_Observer]

8. I think you are right on second thought.

Apparently she is Brannon's type.