Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard firmly established herself as a stooge for murderous Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad when she secretly visited his regime in January and came back spouting pro-Assad nonsense that blamed Syrian's brutal civil war on the U.S. Now she's descended fully into the land of lunatic conspiracy theories to try to take the heat off her favorite dictator, claiming she's "skeptical" that Assad was responsible for using poison gas against his citizens. Whatever you think about how the U.S. should respond to this attack, this is an insane thing to say.
And it seems like Hawaii Democrats may finally have had enough of Gabbard's nonsense: For the first time, we're hearing about potential primary challengers. Honolulu Civil Beat's Chad Blair reports that state Reps. Chris Lee and Kaniela Ing "are among the names bandied about" as potential opponents to Gabbard, "whose shine has been dulled by all that business with Syria."
And it's more than just Syria: Gabbard has put together a bizarre crypto-conservative profile that mixes Islamophobia, isolationism, and a soft spot for assault weapons, Sheldon Adelson, and Donald Trump. While Gabbard very comfortably won a primary last year and has long been assumed to be popular, any Democrat in a dark blue seat like this one who refuses to stand up to Trump is courting political oblivion.
So far, neither Lee nor Ing appear to have said anything publicly (and maybe not even privately), but it's good to see the conversation advancing. It's important, though, that progressives unite around a single challenger to avoid splitting the anti-Gabbard vote. If they can, then she could be very vulnerable.
