Former Democratic presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard endorsed Donald Trump on Monday at the National Guard Association convention in Detroit.
The former congresswoman from Hawaii left the Democratic Party in 2022.
Gabbard told those assembled that she had accompanied Trump to a ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery earlier in the day to honor those 13 service members killed by a suicide bomb attack at Abbey Gate in Kabul, Afghanistan, three years ago.
“This is personal for me as I know it is for so many of you here. This is real,” she said.
Gabbard recounted that she first deployed to Iraq in 2005 with the Hawaii National Guard as part of a medical unit.
“Every day we were confronted with that high human cost of war and that sadness as we boarded the plane when we left — that we were leaving some of our brothers and sisters behind,” she said.
Others she served with later took their own lives, due to what they had experienced in combat, Gabbard noted.
🚨BREAKING: Former Democrat Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard has endorsed President Trump. Rep. Gabbard says Trump will keep America out of forever wars:
“I am committed to doing all that I can to send President Trump back to the White House.”
Boom!! pic.twitter.com/eAQhflOjEU
— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) August 26, 2024
Does this endorsement help Trump’s chances?
“So I mean what I say when I share with you that I know that President Trump understands the grave responsibility that a president and a commander in chief bears for every single one of our lives,” she said.
“We saw that in his first term of the presidency when he not only didn’t start any new wars, he took action to deescalate and prevent wars,” Gabbard continued.
She stated that Trump sees war as a “last resort.”
Gabbard then targeted Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris, saying, “This administration has us facing multiple wars, on multiple fronts in regions around the world and closer to the brink of nuclear war than we ever had been before.”
“This is one of the main reasons why I am committed to doing all that I can to send President Trump back to the White House where he can once again serve us as our commander in chief,” she said, drawing cheers and applause from the crowd.
BREAKING: Tulsi Gabbard officially endorses Donald Trump for president just three days after Robert F. Kennedy Jr. threw his support behind Trump.
Gabbard said one of the main reasons she was supporting Trump was because he would keep America out of endless wars.
“This is one… pic.twitter.com/1Pa9Tai2Ii
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) August 26, 2024
Gabbard pointed out that the Biden administration had recently added her name to a terror watch list, arguing this is how it handles political dissent.
“We, as Americans, must stand together to reject this anti-freedom culture of political retaliation and abuse of power,” she said.
“I invite you to join me in doing all that we can to save our country.”
Trump reportedly has brought Gabbard in to help him prepare for his Sept. 10 debate with Harris.
The former lawmaker had some stand-out moments against Harris when the two shared the Democratic presidential primary debate stage during the 2020 election cycle.
Gabbard’s decision to back Trump comes on top of former Democrat Robert F. Kennedy’s endorsement of the former president on Friday.
