Our Bureau
Washington
Indian-American Tulsi Gabbard, a 2020 Democratic presidential candidate, has spoken to Republican frontrunner Donald Trump and his advisors about the country’s foreign policy, keeping her options as the former President’s 2024 running mate ‘open’, according to media reports.
Now, with the country likely set for a Trump-Joe Biden rematch in 2024, the talks with Gabbard focused on how the Defence Department should be run in case of a second Trump term, The Washington Post reported.
The talks with Gabbard — who has staked out a role as an outspoken critic of aid to Ukraine and US military interventions overseas — are part of a broader conversation about how Trump would manage the Pentagon differently if voters award him a second term. Trump has repeatedly told advisers and donors in recent months that one of his biggest mistakes was his personnel choices at the Pentagon, where he says he was stymied by officials with diverging opinions, as cited by The Washington Post.
Also, with Trump telling his advisors and donors time and again that his personnel choices at the Pentagon cost him, there were broader conversations on how Trump 2.0 would manage things differently.
A military veteran, who served in the Iraq war between 2004 and 2005 for the Hawaii Army National Guard before entering Congress, Gabbard has long been critical of US intervention overseas and has also blamed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Biden’s failed foreign policy.
Gabbard was elected to Congress in 2012 as a Democrat and left Congress in 2021 after four terms and a failed presidential campaign. After dropping out, she endorsed Joe Biden for the 2020 presidency. But in recent years, she has spoken at the Conservative Political Action Conference, filled in for Tucker Carlson on his former Fox News show and made other appearances in front of Republicans.
“I’d be open to that conversation. My mission in life is to serve our country and serve the American people and find the best way to be able to do that,” Gabbard said.
Gabbard recently inked a deal with Elon Musk to host a show on X to “defend free speech”, saying she will be sharing stories of those whose “voices have been silenced”.
Trump, bulldozing his way to grab the crucial GOP nomination for the 2024 presidential race, is yet to announce his vice-presidential pick.
