Tulsi Gabbard Sidelined from Venezuela Attack Plans Due to Opposition

Tulsi Gabbard's Stance on Venezuela

• 💡 In January 2019, during her presidential campaign, Tulsi Gabbard advocated for the US to stay out of Venezuela and let its people determine their future.
• 🎯 She criticized then-President Trump for bowing to neoconservatives and pushing for regime change wars, which she argued dishonored military sacrifices and cost trillions of dollars.
• ⚠️ Gabbard emphasized that dollars spent on regime change wars should be used for domestic needs.

Opposition to Regime Change

• 🗣️ Gabbard expressed concern over increased saber-rattling and the intention to use the US military for regime change in Venezuela, calling it wasteful and counterproductive.
• 🌍 She highlighted historical instances where US intervention led to disastrous outcomes for the targeted countries.
• 🤝 Gabbard proposed using US leadership to broker a diplomatic solution with countries like Russia, which have influence in Venezuela, to achieve a peaceful outcome.
• 💔 She warned that pushing for civil war and military force would result in more suffering and death for the Venezuelan people and increase tensions with nuclear-armed countries.

Exclusion from Planning

• 📰 Reporting from The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg indicates that White House officials excluded Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Tulsi Gabbard from Venezuela planning since the previous summer.
• 🚫 This exclusion was reportedly due to her previous opposition to military action in Venezuela, casting doubt on her willingness to support the operation.
• 🏖️ Gabbard was reportedly posting social media photos from Hawaii while national security teams were making final preparations for an operation to remove Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
• 🗣️ Some White House aides allegedly joked that her DNI acronym stood for "Do Not Invite."

Underlying Tensions and Motivations

• ⚡ Gabbard's testimony before the Senate, stating that the intelligence community assessed Iran was not building a nuclear weapon, reportedly enraged some within the White House eager to bomb Iran.
• 💥 This, along with her consistent denouncement of military conflict in Venezuela, likely contributed to her being sidelined.
• 🤝 While some suggest standard turf wars, her strong opposition to policies being planned made her inclusion problematic for planners.
• ❓ The situation raises questions about the foreign policy expectations of those who joined the Trump campaign versus the actual policies pursued.