Tulsi Gabbard's Awkward Relationship With Trump Has Demolished Her Reputation

Once a rising star of the left, Tulsi Gabbard started her political career as a member of the Democratic Party representing Hawaii in Congress. Having served as an Iraq War veteran before running for office, Gabbard has long been against U.S. interventions abroad, including in 2020 when Trump launched a drone strike against Iran to assassinate Qasem Soleimani, a move Gabbard called a "regime change war" on X. In 2022, Gabbard took to X to announce her decision to leave the party and become an independent, calling the DNC "an elitist cabal of warmongers driven by cowardly wokeness." And, in 2024, seemingly forgetting her previous feelings about Trump, Gabbard became a member of the Republican Party and endorsed Donald Trump. In return, she was named the Director of National Intelligence. 

Two years later, Gabbard found herself sitting before the Senate intelligence committee trying to walk the thin line between saying what the president wants to hear about the current war in Iran and making it clear that those statements do not represent her own feelings. During the hearings, she was called out for changing her opening statement to remove a comment that Iran was not working to rebuild their nuclear program, which would go directly against what the president has claimed as the reason the United States and Israel bombed the country. Along with that, Gabbard's refusal to say that Iran posed an imminent threat to the U.S., which has been another claim the administration has made, will likely upset Trump and could lead to Gabbard being thrown under the proverbial bus. 

Tulsi Gabbard and Donald Trump have seemingly been at odds from the start of his second term. In March 2025, Gabbard told the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence that "Iran is not building a nuclear weapon." In June, she changed her tune after Trump said she was wrong and the U.S. bombed Iran's nuclear sites, which, per NPR, Trump said were "completely and totally obliterated," ending any concerns of a drawn-out conflict at the time.

Just days into 2026, Trump sent troops into Venezuela to capture Nicolás Maduro, the country's president, to have him stand trial for drug trafficking and narco-terrorism. At the same time, Gabbard was on vacation, posting pictures of herself practicing yoga on X. Her exclusion from the planning and the actual event is why Gabbard has reportedly been given a shady nickname in the administration.

Before the end of January, Gabbard took part in the FBI raid of an election center in Fulton County, Georgia. A former national security advisor told NBC News that her being there didn't make sense, as the director of national intelligence does not investigate domestic issues, while another source suggested that her presence at the raid was "an attempt to make herself relevant." If that was Gabbard's thinking, it may not have worked. On February 28, Israel and the U.S. attacked Iran, and Gabbard sat in a secondary situation room with JD Vance, who is reportedly skeptical about the conflict as well. Three weeks in, Gabbard testified before the Senate intelligence committee, defending a war she does not appear to support herself, and, in the process, destroying any remaining goodwill either political party may have had toward her.