The Atlantic reports Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard — a former lieutenant colonel in the Hawaii Army National Guard — was always fiercely opposed to U.S. intervention abroad, even during her time as a Democrat. Now a converted MAGA disciple, President Donald Trump’s intelligence chief remained deeply resentful of American imperialism.
“The United States needs to stay out of Venezuela,” Gabbard posted in January 2019. “Let the Venezuelan people determine their future. We don’t want other countries to choose our leaders—so we have to stop trying to choose theirs.”
A few weeks later, the Atlantic reports Gabbard claiming: “The US needs to stop using our military for regime change & stop intervening in Venezuela’s military,” and even later claiming: “Throughout history, every time the US topples a foreign country’s dictator/government, the outcome has been disastrous. Civil war/military intervention in Venezuela will wreak death & destruction to Venezuelan people, and increase tensions that threaten our national security.”
The Atlantic reports she even went so far as to admit her nation’s ulterior motivation in Venezuela was about getting its mitts on their oil, posting “It’s about the oil … again.”
But this week, Atlantic writer David Graham said: “You could almost detect the clenched teeth and pursed lips in Gabbard’s social-media post."
“President Trump promised the American people he would secure our borders, confront narcoterrorism, dangerous drug cartels, and drug traffickers,” Gabbard claimed on X after the capture of Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro. “Kudos to our servicemen and women and intelligence operators for their flawless execution of President Trump’s order to deliver on his promise thru Operation Absolute Resolve.”
Vice President JD Vance is another noninterventionist America First MAGA acolyte suddenly finding himself in an administration acting as an invading force for another nation’s oil.
“No silence has been so conspicuous as that of Vice President JD Vance,” said Graham. “One of the few beliefs that he has not been quick to jettison for political advancement is his opposition to American military interventions, which he connects to his experience serving in Iraq. This spring, in a group chat to which Trump officials accidentally invited Atlantic editor in chief Jeffrey Goldberg, Vance grumbled to colleagues about strikes intended to preserve navigation in the Red Sea. ‘I just hate bailing Europe out again,’ he wrote.
But in the wake of his boss’ Venezuelan invasion Vance has not only fallen silent but gone invisible.
“He was not present Friday night when the administration set up an impromptu war room at Mar-a-Lago, and he was also not part of the press conference the next day where Trump celebrated the mission and talked about taking over the Venezuelan oil industry. Instead, the front man for this operation has been Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
But these two have already seen the cost of defying Trump, said Graham. Gabbard found herself pushed into the wilderness after she warned against the bombing of Iran this past summer, “before quickly falling back in line.”
“One more break might get her sacked,” said Graham, adding that “no one has as much to lose” as Vance.
“He is clearly the front-runner to succeed Trump and is desperate to lead the MAGA movement once Trump leaves office, but yesterday’s January 6 anniversary is a reminder of how viciously Trump can turn on a vice president who doesn’t support him in all things — he even watched indifferently while a mob threatened to hang Mike Pence,” wrote Graham. “Vance may not like what’s going on in Venezuela, though unless he says so, no one knows. Until then, his willingness to keep his mouth shut speaks loudly.”
“Deeply held principles are fine, but staying in power is even more alluring,” Graham said.
Read the Atlantic report at this link.