Would Tulsi Gabbard be a strong VP pick for Trump?

[Tekken_Guy]

Would Tulsi Gabbard be a strong VP pick for Trump?

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

No she won't

[Progressive Pessimist]

She would certainly be one of his picks of all time.

[BlueSwan]

Possibly. She wouldn't attract social conservatives vary of Trump like Mike Pence did, but honestly, those people are already in the tank for Trump. On the other hand she might appeal to edgy both-sides-are-equally-bad independents and provide the permission structure for confused faux-leftists to vote for Trump.

[Senator Incitatus]

Probably, relative to the limited alternatives.

[7,052,770]

Not unless she converts to Christianity

[VALibertarian]

My hot take has always been Gabbard is an underrated darkhorse VP pick for Trump that gives him some moderate clout. She's a veteran, hindu, and frankly is a far more appealing foil to Harris. Gabbard brings in the whole Joe Rogan/Libertarian-leaning crowd who might otherwise vote 3rd party, and has enough dem credentials to wring back some of the educated suburbs crowd.

I'd much rather see her as VP than just another Party line republican stooge.

[Tekken_Guy]

My hot take has always been Gabbard is an underrated darkhorse VP pick for Trump that gives him some moderate clout. She's a veteran, hindu, and frankly is a far more appealing foil to Harris. Gabbard brings in the whole Joe Rogan/Libertarian-leaning crowd who might otherwise vote 3rd party, and has enough dem credentials to wring back some of the educated suburbs crowd.

I'd much rather see her as VP than just another Party line republican stooge.

I don’t think she was ever popular with the educated suburbs crowd because she was aligned with the Bernie wing of the party when she was a Dem who the suburbs were always skeptical of.

[TodayJunior]

Potentially in the sense they could win more libertarian minded people, but they will sacrifice any chance of winning back never trump republicans, so it’s a net wash.

[Dan the Roman]

Any winning Trump coalition will be


1. Hardcore Conservatives who, whatever they think of Trump, are existentially threatened by a Democratic Administration(especially when it comes to judicial nominations) and will vote Red no matter what.

2. The MAGA crowd

At that point we have various groups of screw it folks

These are contrarians of all sorts.

Trump is not going to lose any of 1 or 2 by picking a VP. So he might as well maximize everyone else. And Gabbard does that. She appeals to

Ex-anti-war leftists angry about intervention - the Taibbi/Greenwald crowd. She may even be able to make inroads among some of the Pro-Palestinian nihilists.

The Joe Rogan crowd for whom she is the ideal modern female fantasy.

On the margins, social moderates looking for an excuse.

No one else offers as much, and she really doesn't risk very much.

[Born to Slay. Forced to Work.]

Definitely help beat back the Trump is a Russian asset claims…

[The Mikado]

Trump's old enough that VP "This person will take over for him if he dies" concerns are real and a whisper campaign aimed at evangelicals about this pro-choice Hindu woman being a Trump cholesterol-encrusted heartbeat away from the Presidency could have more than a little potency in creating dismay.

The really wild scenario is one where Trump dies between the convention and the general and the GOP suddenly has a pro-choice nominee who isn't even a Christian.

[TDAS04]

She’s too much in favor of gun control.

[ProgressiveModerate]

I don't see what she really adds to the ticket; all of her political turnarounds makes me think it's unlikely she truly appeals to any specific group, but tbh I think Trump's VP choice is unlikely to matter much; Trump is always going to be the big show.

[Bernie Derangement Syndrome Haver]

She’s too much in favor of gun control.

She hasn't flip-flopped on that yet?

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Any winning Trump coalition will be


1. Hardcore Conservatives who, whatever they think of Trump, are existentially threatened by a Democratic Administration(especially when it comes to judicial nominations) and will vote Red no matter what.

2. The MAGA crowd

At that point we have various groups of screw it folks

These are contrarians of all sorts.

Trump is not going to lose any of 1 or 2 by picking a VP. So he might as well maximize everyone else. And Gabbard does that. She appeals to

Ex-anti-war leftists angry about intervention - the Taibbi/Greenwald crowd. She may even be able to make inroads among some of the Pro-Palestinian nihilists.

The Joe Rogan crowd for whom she is the ideal modern female fantasy.

On the margins, social moderates looking for an excuse.

No one else offers as much, and she really doesn't risk very much.

Do these people exist in actual notable raw numbers amongst voters though? This has always been considered an Extremely Online "ideology" with near zero support in the the real world.

Like look at her 2020 performance. If these voters existed in notable numbers, you'd think she'd be able to break 1% in any states other than New Hampshire (boosted mostly by crossover Republicans) and Pennsylvania, (a perfect storm of being the only non-Biden/Sanders candidate on the ballot in a state with a closed primary and a lot of old DINOS...and even there she couldn't break 3%.)

Also she's quite pro-Israel and pretty hawkish on Gaza. The only sort of people I think her foreign policy views appeal to are the sort of cranks who unironically believe that Ukraine is ran by Nazis, and most of those have just gone full MAGA already (see Jackson Hinkle.)

[xavier110]

Any winning Trump coalition will be


1. Hardcore Conservatives who, whatever they think of Trump, are existentially threatened by a Democratic Administration(especially when it comes to judicial nominations) and will vote Red no matter what.

2. The MAGA crowd

At that point we have various groups of screw it folks

These are contrarians of all sorts.

Trump is not going to lose any of 1 or 2 by picking a VP. So he might as well maximize everyone else. And Gabbard does that. She appeals to

Ex-anti-war leftists angry about intervention - the Taibbi/Greenwald crowd. She may even be able to make inroads among some of the Pro-Palestinian nihilists.

The Joe Rogan crowd for whom she is the ideal modern female fantasy.

On the margins, social moderates looking for an excuse.

No one else offers as much, and she really doesn't risk very much.

I agree. She neutralizes a lot of the D’s identity politics retorts, maximizes Trump’s ability to reach the weirdo fringe people who could or could not vote on any given day, can relate to the working class former D Obama-Trump voters who make up a significant segment of Trump’s non-Republican base. I’ve fully expected her to be the choice for a while now, and it helps that she’s in bed with Russia. He does not need to pick some generic conservative because those people are already voting R no matter what or never voting for Trump ever. Not really any in between.

[Ferguson97]

No. She wouldn’t really bring in any new voters.

[TDAS04]

She’s too much in favor of gun control.

She hasn't flip-flopped on that yet?

Wow, actually she has, it looks like. Gabbard is pretty shameless in how she completely reverses herself on so many issues just to fit herself with a party. Not sure if the Republican base would buy it, but who knows. If the conservative base lets her get away with half the BS they allow from Trump, they’d probably accept her—at least if Trump tells them to. But I still highly doubt she gets picked for VP.

[wnwnwn]

A pretty woman with syncretic political stances can be appealing to some people, but it won't help him much.

[MyLifeIsYours]

Many conservative are going to throw their show out the window when a pro-choice Hindu is the VP pick over a generic pro-life Christian. The only people Gabbard would bring in are Rogan fanboys. Why risk the chance of offending your base.

[Bush did 311]

Probably a strategically interesting choice.

Sinema would be another, potentially helping to regain Arizona.

[Tekken_Guy]

Probably a strategically interesting choice.

Sinema would be another, potentially helping to regain Arizona.

Trump will totally pick a woman who voted to convict him twice as his running mate.

[Mister Mets]

Yes, it would support a narrative that the Democrats have gone too crazy while also appealing to a certain type of Bernie supporter.

The big questions would be what happens next. If the ticket loses, does Gabbard go rightward? Would she have any shot? If the ticket wins, can she get the nomination as an incumbent VP? What if she's an incumbent President?

[ηєω ƒяσηтιєя]

Yes, it would support a narrative that the Democrats have gone too crazy while also appealing to a certain type of Bernie supporter.

Gabbard was never really a Democrat. Also, that "certain type" of Bernie supporters aren't voting for Biden anyway.