Is Tulsi Gabbard A Russian Asset?

[Horn Under a Bad Sign 20342]

10 hours ago, Ted Lange said:

Chords like you, who refuse to / fake to have an opinion are the fucking worst.  You love trump. Admit it or admit he is a what he is, a fucking moron. You won’t do it, because you are a fucking coward.  You’ll just go on complaining and not doing shit, cause that is the easy path.  Sad!  Very Tulsi of you 

 

Damn, dude .... when you find yourself talking like this, you might want to take a step back. 

[triplehorn 2664]

3 minutes ago, bad_teammate said:

Genius lib brain: "THESE PEOPLE ARE IDENTICAL!"

 

I said you're a pole of the political horseshoe.  There are two poles.  Neither are healthy.  Are you familiar with the concept?  

[Post Oak 20182]

Hilary is awful and she needs to shut up and go away. 

Tulsi seems to have the same talking points as Putin and Assad.  She needs to shut up and go away too

 

Both things can be true .

[triplehorn 2664]

On closer inspection, I'm not sure what you'd call her, but it's got a distinct cultish vibe.

#CrayeyeTulsi

 

[Anastasis 23375]

Everyone who is not an interventionist neocon or neoliberal is a Russian asset!

 

Edited October 19, 2019 by Anastasis

[ChickenSandwich 9797]

[bad_teammate 13125]

I'm familiar with horseshoe theory, and it's complete nonsense used by centrists to help them ignore the fact that they are closer to fascism than they want to admit and to allow themselves to not have to deal with the fact that there are people to their left. It's how people with garbage politics and economic ideas convince themselves that they are actually very progressive when they support disenfranchising/imprisoning blacks, maintaining crushing economic inequality, allowing the wealthy to rape our economy in general, and every other hallmark of the Blue Dog/Macron horde.

Let me give you an example of how stupid horseshoe theory is as an explanatory framework, and I'll use a common and local one for us.

In 2008, Obama ran to Hillary's left. Hillary->McCain voters were about 17-25% when the further left candidate won primary.
In 2016, Bernie ran to Hillary's left. Bernie->Trump voters were about 8-12% when the further right candidate won the primary.

If horseshoe theory was legitimate, those numbers would be inverse. But they're not, because the left-to-right spectrum is a better representation of how political ideology functions.

Horseshoe theory is almost exclusively about tone, not policy. It's indefensible on policy terms, but the centrist (i.e., one who values everyone being nice and calm over having any policy values or beliefs) sees two people shouting and thinks, "Those people are the same, because they're shouting."

Centrists are basically as stupid as dogs, is the larger overall point, and horseshoe theory is something they use to make themselves think being dumb is Smart, Actually.

I laid out a series of questions that would establish whether or not Tulsi is a Russian agent...

Can you answer them?

[bad_teammate 13125]

6 minutes ago, triplehorn said:

On closer inspection, I'm not sure what you'd call her, but it's got a distinct cultish vibe.

Yeah, she's a weirdo who was raised in a cult. She's got some bad politics.

It's really not more complicated than that.

[GW Hayduke 1950]

14 minutes ago, bad_teammate said:

Inside candidates are constantly being propped up by and push the policies of our "adversaries". We have been helping different evil

 

Your position has moved from Tulsi isn’t a puppet of a foreign adversary to EVERYONE is a puppet to foreign adversaries. 

[ChickenSandwich 9797]

35 minutes ago, triplehorn said:

hey, look, @bad_teammate garnered a @ChickenSandwich pos rep up above for that.  💋

Common sense is contagious. 
 

I disagree... you’re a racist!

i disagree...you’re a Nazi!

I disagree....you’re a Russian agent!  
 

they must be thrilled how gullible their cabal has become that they will believe anything that comes out of their rat traps. 
 

At least teammate has some fucking common sense. 

[bad_teammate 13125]

Just now, GW Hayduke said:

Your position has moved from Tulsi isn’t a puppet of a foreign adversary to EVERYONE is a puppet to foreign adversaries. 

None of them are puppets of a foreign adversary. (Unless there is specific evidence of contacts, quid-pro-quo, or blackmail.)

Please don't rope me into your insane conspiracy thinking.

In what real sense is Russia an "adversary"? I know you might shit your kidneys out of your asshole in outrage at the existence of this question, but honestly let me know what threat Russia is to us and, for extra credit, establish how ever agreeing with Russia on something puts us in some kind of danger.

Everyone is going to have an agreement with other people. I agree with chickensandwich that Tulsi isn't a Russian agent. Does that mean he's my puppet or I'm his, or do we simply share a viewpoint on this specific topic?

Tulsi isn't good and I don't like her. The idea that I have to believe Q-Anon-level bullshit about her to PROVE I don't like her is hilariously childish.

[F250 28659]

1 hour ago, bad_teammate said:

(don't say "kompromat" you fucking Q-anon-for-libs idiots, we have an English word for the same thing you're not in a god damned Cold War thriller novel and it doesn't make you smart or more expert)

[Hank Kingsley 20635]

Tulsi is a really shitty candidate running a really shitty campaign. Her overall motives are murky and questionable.

That said, any person, pundit, media personality that is taking Hillary’s side on this conspiratorial bullshit regarding Tulsi should be ashamed of themselves. And in totality it makes me question anything they say/think about politics or a particular candidate in general.

Though the #Resistance might have been started in good faith based on some defensive belief of American exceptionalism, it has transformed into the liberal version of Trumpism. 

Stop falling for this bullshit.

 

[GW Hayduke 1950]

28 minutes ago, bad_teammate said:

None of them are puppets of a foreign adversary.

I understand your position has moved from Tulsi isn’t a puppet of a foreign adversary, to everyone is a puppet, to finally no one is a puppet. 

Flynn, Stein, and Trump say hi.

[JimmyJames 12271]

I don’t know whether Tulsi is a Russian asset or not but I highly doubt it and haven’t seen anything to suggest she is other than her foreign policy views often align with Russian interests, but that’s basically it. That can be explained for more compelling reasons than she is a “Russian asset.”

I actually really liked her back in 2016 when she quit the Hillary campaign and started supporting Bernie. That to me indicates principles, not Russian corruption.

I do know for a fact that Hillary needs to shut the fuck up. 

[GW Hayduke 1950]

7 minutes ago, JimmyJames said:

I don’t know whether Tulsi is a Russian asset or not but I highly doubt it and haven’t seen anything to suggest she is other than her foreign policy views often align with Russian interests, but that’s basically it. That can be explained for more compelling reasons than she is a “Russian asset.”

I actually really liked her back in 2016 when she quit the Hillary campaign and started supporting Bernie. That to me indicates principles, not Russian corruption.

I do know for a fact that Hillary needs to shut the fuck up. 

There is probably a need for defining terms. What is an asset? A puppet? Do they need to be on the FSB payroll or is it enough to receive support in the form of dark campaign money or psyops (troll farm support) enough? Do they need be completely controlled, or do they need to simply further and amplify the message and policies of adversaries?

[Judge Roybeanbag 11796]

8 minutes ago, JimmyJames said:

I don’t know whether Tulsi is a Russian asset or not but I highly doubt it and haven’t seen anything to suggest she is other than her foreign policy views often align with Russian interests, but that’s basically it. That can be explained for more compelling reasons than she is a “Russian asset.”

I actually really liked her back in 2016 when she quit the Hillary campaign and started supporting Bernie. That to me indicates principles, not Russian corruption.

I do know for a fact that Hillary needs to shut the fuck up. 

Agree, and I think there is a big distinction between “asset” and “agent”.   She can be an unwilling asset simply because some of her positions align with Russia’s, not because she is working with or for them.  Should she change her positions?  No, not if that’s what she truly believes.  But Russia will still do everything they can to use her to foster division within our political system, specifically social media and media in general.  All of us should be calling out any candidate who doesn’t think that’s a problem.  And Hillary should shut up, she’s not helping matters.

[JimmyJames 12271]

1 minute ago, GW Hayduke said:

There is probably a need for defining terms. What is an asset? A puppet? Do they need to be on the FSB payroll or is it enough to receive support in the form of dark campaign money or psyops (troll farm support) enough? Do they need be completely controlled, or do they need to simply further and amplify the message and policies of adversaries?

This is a good point. When I refer to asset I’m talking about someone who is knowingly doing Russia’s bidding and being compensated by them to do so. I don’t think she is.

Are the Russian trolls supporting her? Yes but that could just be because (1)they like her foreign policy views and (2) she’s attractive and that means the Russians think she is an influencer. 

[maninblack 7974]

1 hour ago, triplehorn said:

You're a pole of the political horseshoe who ends up sharing more in common with the likes of @ChickenSandwich than anyone.   

If it's not deliberate, you need to check yourself.

Conform or else

[bad_teammate 13125]

Add to the list: What is an "adversary"?

[Hank Kingsley 20635]

#IAmTulsi is the #1 trend on Twitter right now.  So fucking stupid.

Hillary Clinton is more of a detriment to the U.S. right now than Gabbard. 

 

[GW Hayduke 1950]

2 minutes ago, Hank Kingsley said:

#IAmTulsi is the #1 trend on Twitter right now.  So fucking stupid.

Hillary Clinton is more of a detriment to the U.S. right now than Gabbard. 

 

Connect the dots between your post and my post.

21 minutes ago, GW Hayduke said:

There is probably a need for defining terms. What is an asset? A puppet? Do they need to be on the FSB payroll or is it enough to receive support in the form of dark campaign money or psyops (troll farm support) enough? Do they need be completely controlled, or do they need to simply further and amplify the message and policies of adversaries?

 

[Hugo Stiglitz 23356]

Useful idiots are assets by definition.

[maninblack 7974]

8 minutes ago, GW Hayduke said:

Connect the dots between your post and my post.

[maninblack 7974]

Is Tulsi signaling Putin or just a Jay-Z fan? I demand an investigation!

[formermav43 4599]

27 minutes ago, Hugo Stiglitz said:

Useful idiots are assets by definition.

Now that’s funny.

[Pig Bellmont 8679]

She’s more republican than Russian, but online trolls and republicans seem to both love her involvement in the 2020 election. 

[Al Bundy's Napoleon Hand 13537]

14 hours ago, maninblack said:

Anyone that believes this is fucking insane. Like should be purged from the population insane. 

LOL. Purge talk getting the We're Not Nazis vote. That rep party is one badmofo short of a total suckfest.

[Lurch 5919]

This is a good point. When I refer to asset I’m talking about someone who is knowingly doing Russia’s bidding and being compensated by them to do so. I don’t think she is.
Are the Russian trolls supporting her? Yes but that could just be because (1)they like her foreign policy views and (2) she’s attractive and that means the Russians think she is an influencer. 

(3) she’ll be the 3rd party candidate they need to siphon votes from the D candidate

[JimmyJames 12271]

4 minutes ago, Lurch said:

 

(3) she’ll be the 3rd party candidate they need to siphon votes from the D candidate

 

If she does that I’ll probably change my mind. Guess we’ll see. 

[bad_teammate 13125]

I have a radical, radical idea for the Democrats.

It's crazy, but here it is.

If you're worried that you're going to lose a certain demographic... work to convince them to vote for you.

Pre-emptively blaming others is pathetic stuff.

[BrickHorn 18176]

2 hours ago, Anastasis said:

Everyone who is not an interventionist neocon or neoliberal is a Russian asset!

 

That’s such a lazy-ass post.  Proposing that one politician who has suspiciously pro-Russian positions might be pro-Russian is not at all even remotely fucking the same as categorically accusing a whole class of politicians as Russian assets.  

[maninblack 7974]

33 minutes ago, Al Bundy's Napoleon Hand said:

LOL. Purge talk getting the We're Not Russians vote. That rep party is one badmofo short of a total suckfest.

fify comrade

[JimmyJames 12271]

5 minutes ago, BrickHorn said:

That’s such a lazy-ass post.  Proposing that one politician who has suspiciously pro-Russian positions might be pro-Russian is not at all even remotely fucking the same as categorically accusing a whole class of politicians as Russian assets.  

Hey take it easy on the guy! He needed an excuse to post that gif. 

[maninblack 7974]

4 minutes ago, BrickHorn said:

That’s such a lazy-ass post.  Proposing that one politician who has suspiciously pro-Russian positions might be pro-Russian is not at all even remotely fucking the same as categorically accusing a whole class of politicians as Russian assets.  

Russia Russia Russia

[JimmyJames 12271]

1 minute ago, maninblack said:

Russia Russia Russia

Trump trump trump

grift grift grift 

[Mojo Hand 4580]

The issue isn't that Tulsi is a non-interventionist.   It's that she's a dishonest non-interventionist.   Her position should be that Assad, El-Sisi, etc. are horrible war criminals who have perpetrated terrible acts, but she just doesn't think the US has any business doing anything about it militarily.   Instead, she has minimized and denied their crimes and given them public shows of support.  That's why she's getting called a Russian asset, not mere non-interventionism. 

[Fozzz 152]

14 hours ago, Ted Lange said:

Chords like you, who refuse to / fake to have an opinion are the fucking worst.  You love trump. Admit it or admit he is a what he is, a fucking moron. You won’t do it, because you are a fucking coward.  You’ll just go on complaining and not doing shit, cause that is the easy path.  Sad!  Very Tulsi of you 

He’s correct. People who believe this are as nutty as flat earthers. 

[SDG 3319]

1 hour ago, bad_teammate said:

I have a radical, radical idea for the Democrats.

It's crazy, but here it is.

If you're worried that you're going to lose a certain demographic... work to convince them to vote for you.

Pre-emptively blaming others is pathetic stuff.

Ekk; I pretty much never agree with you, but this is the most pertinent thing posted in CR.  Educate people on your ideas.  

[BrickHorn 18176]

47 minutes ago, Fozzz said:

He’s correct. People who believe this are as nutty as flat earthers. 

Also a stupid fucking opinion, and completely backwards.  Flat Earth Theory is contrary to all available evidence.  By contrast, the idea that Russia might work to support a US politician that advocates for policies that are in Russia’s interest is so fucking probable that it’s a virtual certainty.  I mean, that’s what nations do.  They’ve always done that and always will.  Russia is no exception.  Do you think the US doesn’t work to recruit Russian politicians and bureaucrats?  That’s the whole fucking point of espionage. And our Justice Department just published a 500 page report detailing the efforts by Russia specifically to get their preferred candidate elected to the presidency in 2016.

If you don’t believe Russia is working to interfere in the 2020 election and that such interference will involve supporting their preferred candidate(s) in a number of different ways (funding, propaganda, etc.), then THAT naive, ignorant view is the equivalent of the Flat Earth Theory.

Now whether Russia is specifically supporting Tulsi Gabbard and whether she knows that is another matter.  But you can be god damned sure the Russians are doing what they can to help candidates they perceive to support Russian interests. And she sure as fuck is advertising that she’s just such a candidate. 

Edited October 19, 2019 by BrickHorn

[Lurch 5919]

More far right posters in this thread than the entirety of the thread for the moron they actually elected.

So, there’s that.

[BrickHorn 18176]

And is it a conspiracy theory?  Only in the loosest sense that there is a powerful cabal attempting to rig world events in their favor.  But that is PRECISELY the point of foreign policy and that cabal is the Russian government, a group that no sane person denies exists.  We’re not talking about some nutball idea that a loosely affiliated group of private individuals (all Jewish people, European intellectuals, satanists, etc.) are secretly wielding power behind the scenes.  The point is: the groups that openly and legitimately hold power (i.e. national governments) are doing exactly what one would expect them to do.

Y’all morons can’t tell the difference between a legitimate, commonplace conspiracy and an imaginary, improbable one.  

Edited October 19, 2019 by BrickHorn

[workswithseed 2033]

19 minutes ago, Lurch said:

More far right posters in this thread than the entirety of the thread for the moron they actually elected.

So, there’s that.

Cause it gets boring to see Trump is a lying liar. We know he lies. 

[Al Bundy's Napoleon Hand 13537]

JFC. I have no idea if Tulsi Gabbard is an unwitting asset of Russia being I've spent absolutely no time looking into this allegation I first heard of yesterday, but holy fuck balls, the zero to Dunning Kruger certitude of posters claiming this is in the same realm of possibility as the Earth being flat is hilariously weird. It's like that guy you know who thinks hyperbole makes his argument stronger when it just wrecks his credibility.

[triplehorn 2664]

Just remembered this about Tulsi and found it:  she hired a Russian agent who Bill Browder specifically named, Chris Cooper, who worked with Natalia Veselnitskaya in support of putting out an anti-Magnitsky Act film. 

"Cooper—who has not previously been publicly known to be tied to Gabbard—is one of seven people named by Hermitage Capital Management CEO William Browder in a July 15, 2016 memo to the US Department of Justice identifying unregistered agents working illegally in the US “under the direction/control/influence of the Russian Government.”

damn, Tulsi.  Know your agents.

 

Tulsi Gabbard Hires Russian Agent to Keep Hawaii Media in Check

Quote

by Andrew Walden

Russia has lots of experience in media censorship.  So perhaps it is logical that Rep Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI-2) hires an agent of the Russian government as a ‘consultant’ to keep Hawaii media under control.

But Gabbard’s consultant, Chris Cooper of the Potomac Square Group, is no ordinary Russian agent.  Cooper is allegedly one of seven identified as being at the center of illegal Russian lobbying efforts reaching into the Trump campaign and Congress.

Inquiries with Gabbard’s DC office last June by reporter Christine Gralow—then stringing an article for Honolulu Magazine--must have piqued the attentions of the numerous Hare Krishna cultists employed there.  Within 24 hours a letter from Cooper, identifying himself as “a consultant to Rep. Tulsi Gabbard,” riddled with misspellings and inaccuracies, landed in the in-box of Honolulu Magazine’s editors. 

It worked.  Honolulu Magazine suddenly lost interest in Gralow’s articles – which she eventually published on her own website, www.MeanwhileinHawaii.org.  And confirming its obsequience, on November 20, Honolulu Magazine characterized a Gabbard cult expose in the New Yorker as “another project in otherizing Gabbard’s faith journey.”

Gralow says she became aware of the Cooper letter in November when a source sent her a copy.  She posted the letter on her website December 31, 2017.  Cooper—who has not previously been publicly known to be tied to Gabbard—is one of seven people named by Hermitage Capital Management CEO William Browder in a July 15, 2016 memo to the US Department of Justice identifying unregistered agents working illegally in the US “under the direction/control/influence of the Russian Government.”  The seven are seeking repeal of the now-famous 2012 Magnitsky Act signed into law by President Obama in response to the imprisonment and 2009 murder of Hermitage’s anti-corruption investigator, Sergei Magnitsky, by agents of Russian dictator Vladimir Putin.

 

Russian lawyer, Natalia Veselnitskaya is also among the seven agents cited by Hermitage.  Repeal of the Magnitsky Act was the subject of a well-known June 9, 2016 Trump Tower meeting between Veselnitskaya and Trump campaign officials.  This meeting is a focus for numerous Trump-Russia conspiracy investigations. 

The interests of Russia’s Syrian client-dictator Bashar al-Assad were front and center when Gabbard met personally with then President-elect Trump November 21, 2016.  Gabbard afterwards told reporters, “I shared with (Trump) 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.”  In January, 2017, Gabbard travelled to Syria and met with Assad in a highly criticized trip organized by a pro-Assad political party.  Gabbard has repeatedly argued that President Obama was arming ISIS and al-Qaeda via his support of anti-Assad rebels.

Gabbard’s Hare Krishna guru Chris Butler seeks recognition from mainstream Hinduism in India.  Gabbard has developed close ties with the Hindu nationalist government of India.  India’s foreign policy is traditionally aligned with Russia.  The Hindu nationalists are anti-Islamist.  By aligning with India’s foreign policy, Gabbard’s work relating to Russia and Syria dovetails with Butler’s drive for recognition from India.

International intrigue is nothing new for the Butler Cult.  Cult followers were convicted in New Zealand in 2008 and 2010 for trafficking 240 tonnes of hashish into the US--in part from Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.

According to Hermitage, Cooper arranged a June 13, 2016 Washington, DC showing of an anti-Magnitsky Act ‘documentary’ along with Rinat Akhmetshin “a former member of the Russian military intelligence services (GRU).”  Hermitage continues: “…the day after the Newseum event, Congressman Royce chaired a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on U.S. policy towards Putin’s Russia… attended by…Natalia Veselnitskaya and Rinat Akhmetshin.” 

Cooper’s website informs readers that he “help(s) clients define and disseminate their narratives” and “client work focuses on interests in the US and Europe and countries that include Russia….”

The New York Times buttonholed Cooper at the documentary showing and reports: “Mr. Cooper rented the theater in the Newseum and declined to say who was paying his company.” 

Asked who paid him to write the letter to Honolulu Magazine, Cooper likewise did not respond to Hawai’i Free Press.

Gabbard’s FEC records and the Congressional Statement of Disbursements for the timeframe show no payment of campaign funds or Congressional office funds to Cooper or Potomac Square.  Neither Gabbard nor her office responded to our query.

 

[formermav43 4599]

34 minutes ago, Al Bundy's Napoleon Hand said:

JFC. I have no idea if Tulsi Gabbard is an unwitting asset of Russia being I've spent absolutely no time looking into this allegation I first heard of yesterday, but holy fuck balls, the zero to Dunning Kruger certitude of posters claiming this is in the same realm of possibility as the Earth being flat is hilariously weird. It's like that guy you know who thinks hyperbole makes his argument stronger when it just wrecks his credibility.

This post is amazing.

[Grandioso 2592]

Global warming denier lauds Green Party candidate in unquestionably good faith gesture.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[mchookem 16094]

1 hour ago, Lurch said:

More far right posters in this thread than the entirety of the thread for the moron they actually elected.

So, there’s that.

yeah but that has less to do with Tulsi than it does with the moron being completely indefensible in every way. easier to just ignore commenting on anything involving him altogether lol.

[Anastasis 23375]

3 hours ago, BrickHorn said:

That’s such a lazy-ass post.  Proposing that one politician who has suspiciously pro-Russian positions might be pro-Russian is not at all even remotely fucking the same as categorically accusing a whole class of politicians as Russian assets.  

Your post  is a lazy. Tulsi is added to a long list of politicians who happen to reject dysfunctional American foreign policy and get knee jerk labeled as Russian assets. She fucking served this country overseas, broke a few gender barriers along the way, and dipshits here label her a traitor to her country cause they have brain worms. Lazy is right. 

[Fozzz 152]

1 hour ago, BrickHorn said:

Also a stupid fucking opinion, and completely backwards.  Flat Earth Theory is contrary to all available evidence.  By contrast, the idea that Russia might work to support a US politician that advocates for policies that are in Russia’s interest is so fucking probable that it’s a virtual certainty.  I mean, that’s what nations do.  They’ve always done that and always will.  Russia is no exception.  Do you think the US doesn’t work to recruit Russian politicians and bureaucrats?  That’s the whole fucking point of espionage. And our Justice Department just published a 500 page report detailing the efforts by Russia specifically to get their preferred candidate elected to the presidency in 2016.

If you don’t believe Russia is working to interfere in the 2020 election and that such interference will involve supporting their preferred candidate(s) in a number of different ways (funding, propaganda, etc.), then THAT naive, ignorant view is the equivalent of the Flat Earth Theory.

Now whether Russia is specifically supporting Tulsi Gabbard and whether she knows that is another matter.  But you can be god damned sure the Russians are doing what they can to help candidates they perceive to support Russian interests. And she sure as fuck is advertising that she’s just such a candidate. 

Lmao.