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If you always thought former Democratic representative Tulsi Gabbard always sounded like a Republican, you were right. She always was a secret Republican, just one who had to bow to the reality that she was trying to fashion a political career in an overwhelmingly blue state (Hawaii). Now she has come out of the closet and made it official. She is now a proud Republican and has now endorsed Donald Trump. At least this ends the years of hypocrisy.
What is she up to? She was elected to Congress as a Democrat and even ran for president in 2020 as a Democrat. Now she is a Republican toadying up to Trump. Maybe she is hoping for a job in a Trump administration. He might grant her one because she has two of the most important characteristics of female job seekers: (1) She is attractive and (2) she pretends to worship him. As a bonus, Trump could put her in the Cabinet and then claim she is really a Democrat so, look, he is bipartisan. That would make The New York Times so happy. On the other hand, she is a relatively recent convert to the Church of Trump and he tends to prefer long-time worshipers.
One small observation: Political commentators, including us, make much of the fact that most people vote based just on the (D) or (R) next to the name, without paying much attention to anything else. We're not wrong about this. That said, when Gabbard ran for president with a (D) next to her name, Democrats had zero interest, while she was very popular among Republicans, and among Republicans claiming to be independents. This shows that, at least sometimes and at least at the presidential level, voters are actually paying attention to something besides the (D) or (R). (V)