"I Served With Tulsi Gabbard and... Yikes"
Plus: Trump’s Putting Together a Team of Outlaws
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ADAM KINZINGER: I Served With Tulsi Gabbard and Yikes
DURING MY TIME IN CONGRESS, I had the privilege of working with all kinds of people from all over the country with different experiences, backgrounds, priorities, ideologies, approaches, strengths, and weaknesses. One of the people I overlapped with was Tulsi Gabbard, whom Donald Trump has announced he intended to nominate to become director of national intelligence (DNI). This role, the top job in America’s huge, powerful, world-beating intelligence-gathering and analysis enterprise, requires someone with steadfast integrity, sound judgment, and an unwavering commitment to the security of the United States.
Gabbard lacks all three qualities.
This isn’t personal. I didn’t work particularly closely with Gabbard, who was a junior Democrat when I was a junior Republican. We didn’t cross paths enough to develop any personal enmity. This is about qualifications and character. The DNI is entrusted with coordinating the vast intelligence apparatus of the United States, overseeing eighteen agencies, including the CIA, NSA, and FBI, tasked with protecting our country from threats foreign and domestic. This role requires someone who embodies stability, impartiality, and a commitment to truth. Based on Gabbard’s record and demeanor, she fails on all counts.
DALIBOR ROHAC: America First Means Europe Alone
IN A MATTER OF WEEKS, Donald Trump’s policies on Ukraine will test Europe in ways that the continent is ill-positioned to handle. The consequences may be catastrophic.
Russia’s full-scale invasion has prompted the opening of EU accession negotiations with Ukraine, a major breakthrough. The war has also led to an unprecedented surge in military and non-military assistance, with countries such as Germany breaking their pacifistic taboos. Notwithstanding their aversion to large-scale, uncontrolled immigration, Poland and other countries have opened their doors to millions of Ukrainian refugees. In short, the EU’s commitment to Ukraine and its European future is an article of faith in Brussels. Take it away and it will be hard for Europeans to act with much credibility on any foreign policy subject.
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Bulwark Podcast with Tim Miller: Jen Psaki: Don't Speak to Me [YouTube]
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RFK Jr. Caught on Tape Suggesting COVID was Planned?! [YouTube]
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Across the Movie Aisle: Probing 'A Real Pain'
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JILL D. LAWRENCE: Trump’s Putting Together a Team of Outlaws
“IF YOU CAN’T SAY SOMETHING good about someone, sit right here by me.”
As Donald Trump started naming his picks for top government jobs, Teddy Roosevelt’s sharp-tongued daughter, Alice, came immediately to mind. This memorable morsel, attributed to her and embroidered on one of her throw pillows, could easily have been adapted by Trump for his transition: If you have at least three appalling scandals on your resume, sit right here by me for the next four years.
SAM STEIN AND ANDREW EGGER: RFK Jr. Said the Government May Have Planned COVID
THE MAN DONALD TRUMP HAS ENTRUSTED to run America’s health agencies previously expressed his belief that the U.S. government planned the COVID pandemic that killed more than 1.2 million of its citizens.
In an August 2020 speech, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said he was open to the possibility that the pandemic was, in fact, a “plandemic”—an infectious disease outbreak orchestrated by government officials to effectively subdue the populace.
🚨OVERTIME🚨
Happy Tuesday! It appears Dr. Oz has agreed to join the Trump administration. It’s worth revisiting this Mona Charen classic on the Cleveland native from 2021.
Congrats to Stephen Vogt… 2024 Manager of the Year.
Inside… the National Radio Quiet Zone. (YesTheory)
‘He Is Coming for Us’: Springfield’s Haitians Are Terrified After Trump’s Win (Asawin Suebsaeng, Rolling Stone)
MTG threatens to burn this mother down… Over… the Gaetz ethics report?
He was a huge Korean TV star... Now he’s broke and lives in an amusement park (LA Times)
Comcast… is spinning off the cable networks. (CNBC)
The Ordinary Times Needs Your Help… One of my favorite e-zines is entirely volunteer run and subsists on donations. It doesn’t paywall anything, and has been featured a few dozen times in this space. If you remember an item from there that made you smile or think, consider sending them a donation. I just did!
A snapshot… Of the 2024 electorate.
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