Former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) pushed back against the reaction from some media and Democrats to Virginia Gov.-elect Glenn Youngkin’s (R) win during an appearance on FNC’s “Hannity” on Friday.
Gabbard told Fox News Channel’s Sean Hannity that claims a GOP dog whistle led to Youngkin’s victory showed how little Democrats and their allies thought of voters.
Partial transcript as follows:
HANNITY: When you see that video and you know that Joe Biden is trying to bring some — some basic common sense back to the party. What’s your reaction?
GABBARD: Sean, what bothered me most when I saw that video was really the exaggeration and the dishonesty where you have people there who are essentially trying to create a viral moment and a headline and yelling out Joe Manchin’s trying to run us over. This is just the latest example of a disturbing larger pattern of dishonesty and disrespect for the American people, where they think that we’re just stupid.
We saw this in the excuses that were laid out when McAuliffe lost in Virginia. They said, oh, well, you know Youngkin won because he sounded he sounded his dog whistle and then all the dogs came out and voted, and that’s why he won and it and it reveals really what they think about us, that we’re stupid, that we’re dogs, that we don’t have intelligence or free will to make our own decisions for ourselves and therefore, we should just trust them in their arrogant attitude that they and the big government, they know what’s best for us and they’ll make the best decisions for us.
HANNITY: You know, I use the analogy — I was the emcee the night Newt Gingrich became speaker in 1994, and it was a wake-up cal. Remember, Republicans have been out of power in the House of Representatives for 40 years, and it became a wake-up call for Bill Clinton, and that’s when he changed gears and the era of big government is over the end of welfare as we know it.
This modern Democratic socialist party I do not see has any capacity to change course or adjust what we’ve seen since Tuesday is full steam ahead on socialism. Do you see the same thing?
GABBARD: What I see is this continued disrespect of the American people. That’s — if we look at the underlying problem here is that we don’t have leaders who actually respect the American people, who actually respect us enough to listen to listen to what parents are concerned about — you know, their children and their education, to listen to the American people who are sick and tired of the power elite, trying to tear us apart based on the color of our skin.
They don’t respect us enough to listen. So how can we ever expect them to actually act in our best interests rather than the interests of themselves, their power or the power of the elite?
HANNITY: You know, I’m watching Joe Manchin and natural gas and coal, these are huge industries in his state. These policies will directly and negatively impact the people of West Virginia. So he’s standing up for the people that put him in office.
As you look at this emerging party led by the squad, led by New Green Deal socialism, do you even consider yourself a Democrat anymore?
GABBARD: I’m less concerned about party politics. Yes, I’m a Democrat but I’m less concerned about party politics than I am concerned about the future of our country, given the kind of leadership that we are seeing — this kind of self-serving leadership that plunges forward. You just played a few different clips that really again reveal the arrogance of this leadership, that plunges forward without any regard for the cost and consequences on the American people in the short term or the long term, the cost and consequences on our freedoms on the undermining of our constitutional rights.
There are deeper issues here that really need to be brought to the forefront that most in the media are not even talking about.
HANNITY: You know, I — there was a period in my life congresswoman where I had to struggle for a lot of years to pay rent. I know what it’s like. The high cost of gasoline, totally preventable. We were energy-independent. Why would we ever give that up? What happened at the border, totally preventable. We had a policy that was working.
Afghanistan, another example. We could have withdrawn when we had full control of Kabul and all the surrounding areas. We had months to do it. They didn’t do it.
And then you look at inflation, then you look at energy prices, and you put all of this together, who’s getting hurt here? The people that make this country great, the working men and women of America, the people that really, really — you know, the poor, the middle class, you know, paid a buck 50 more a gallon, I can afford it, but a lot of people can’t. And there seems to be a disconnect in terms of caring about those people.
GABBARD: And that’s really what’s at the heart of the frustration that people across the country are feeling right now is that they are not being heard, that they are not being seen that seen that their challenges really are not being addressed by those in power. You listed a number of different challenges and our representatives in government, they’ll have different ideas on how to address those things.
But when you look at issues related to open borders and immigration, when you look at issues related to our national security, when you look at issues related to energy independence, we can have different ideas on how to accomplish those things but those things are concerns that are central to all of us regardless of political parties.
So if we treat each other with respect, as children of God and come together to say hey we need to work together for the good of the country then we can have that real dialogue that will allow us to move forward and make progress to solve these problems.
HANNITY: Boy, I’ll give a big amen to that. Well, very well-said, Congresswoman, we appreciate you always coming on the program. Thank you, Tulsi Gabbard.
Follow Jeff Poor on Twitter @jeff_poor
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.