MIAMI — Rep. Tulsi Gabbard was circumspect on the sidelines of the first Democratic National Committee debate after confronting House colleague Tim Ryan over U.S. military presence abroad.
The Hawaii Democrat’s fiery exchange with the congressman from Ohio sent Twitter aflutter Wednesday night, prompting speculation it could have been her much-needed breakout moment as a crowded primary field jostles for the party’s 2020 presidential nomination.
“I’m not a political pundit. I’m not going to try to pretend to be one,” Gabbard told the Washington Examiner in Miami. “It’s a very important issue that is deeply personal for me. Just a few weeks ago, actually in early April, in Hawaii, I said goodbye to soldiers who I served with, a unit that I served with during my second deployment as they were deploying to Afghanistan, almost 300 soldiers from the Hawaii Army National Guard. So when a politician says, ‘Well, we just got to keep our troops there,’ this is the wrong answer. It is unacceptable.”
The issue was one of her main impetuses for seeking the White House, she said.
“The problem is when you have someone who is president who is unqualified to be commander in chief, who doesn’t understand foreign policy, or the cost and consequences when they make that decision to send troops overseas, then you end up where we are,” Gabbard said. “We’re continuing to lose American lives in these regime change wars that do not serve our interests. They make the American people less safe. They take American lives, and they cost every single American trillions of dollars.”
Ryan didn’t take Gabbard’s criticism of his foreign policy views personally, but saw it as her attempt to make a point on the debate stage.
“I think she was trying to find some angle, and it came up around Afghanistan and I answered the questions, so she came after me,” Ryan told the Washington Examiner. “I don’t think she understands the region like she should,” he added, pointing to Gabbard’s view that Syrian President Bashar Assad is not the enemy of the United States. “Meeting with Assad and having dinner with him, I don’t think that shows a good understanding of the region.”
Mo Elleithee, Georgetown Institute of Politics and Public Service executive director, downplayed the interaction as a boon for the congresswoman.
“It was a good moment for her. It was a worst moment for Ryan,” Elleithee told the Washington Examiner. “But I think the hill she has to climb is way too steep for that small moment to really propel her in any way. If anything, it just made that hill even steeper for Ryan, who just kind of looked like sort of a deer caught in the headlights when she pushed back on him.”
