TULSI: SHE'S RUNNING! (OR AT LEAST THAT WAS PROBABLY THE IDEA.)

Zach Everson of Forbes reports:

The largest individual donor to former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard’s (D-Hawaii) PAC in 2021 is an apologist for Vladimir Putin who runs a nonprofit that aims to foster cooperation between the U.S. and Russia....

In 1983, towards the end of the Cold War, Sharon Tennison, an American activist, founded the Center for Citizen Initiatives. Its mission is to “begin a series of citizen-to-citizen initiatives and exchanges, buttressed by official media PR and social-media networks across America and across Russia,” according to its website. During its 40 years, the center claims to have set up exchanges, helped launch Alcoholics Anonymous in Russia and taught business skills to Russian entrepreneurs.

While advocating for peace, Tennison has repeatedly championed Russia’s dictator. For example, in 2018, she wrote, “Putin isn’t the problem, friends. The problem is the projection of our own ‘shadow’ on Putin and Russia.” In September 2020, Tennison observed, “Putin seems to ignore detractors and continues efforts to create venues to bring peoples and countries together despite vilifications.” And the day after Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, Tennison posted, “I am deeply concerned about a NATO country being on Russia’s borders in Ukraine ... As for Putin’s current dilemma, I’m sorry he felt he had to intervene in Ukraine!” Ukraine is not and has never been a NATO member.

The [bulk] of Tennison’s political contributions have gone to Gabbard, the former Democratic congresswoman and presidential candidate who’s been a prominent Russian sympathizer. Since July 2016, Tennison has contributed $15,000 to Gabbard’s political committees, including $2,000 last December to Tulsi Aloha, the leadership PAC that emerged from her presidential campaign. Donations in support of Gabbard comprise 69% of Tennison’s total political giving, according to records with the Federal Election Commission.

My first thought when I read this was: Well, of course a Putin apologist is the biggest donor to Tulsi Gabbard's political action committee. My second thought was: Tulsi Gabbard still has a political action committee?

But it's not much of a political action committee. It has a little more than $45,000 on hand. It's given to no federal candidates in 2021 and 2022. In the fall of 2020, when Gabbard converted the fundraising committee for her presidential campaign into this leadership PAC, Honolulu Civic Beat told us,

A leadership PAC is ... basically a prerequisite to becoming a national political leader. Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and just about every other political leader operate leadership PACs and use them to donate to their colleagues.

Hawaii Sens. Brian Schatz and Mazie Hirono also have leadership PACs that have donated more than $400,000 to Democratic campaign committees across the country since Jan. 1, 2019.

Compared to that, Gabbard's PAC seems shabby.

If you go to TulsiGabbard.com, the first thing that greets is a different kind of fund-raising appeal:

For your money here, you get ... um, content. A podcast. Also "ability to engage with the community." It's not connected to the PAC.

I've been assuming that Gabbard could run for president in 2024, hoping to be an additional voice bashing the Democrats while providing a non-Democratic exit ramp to Joe Rogan fans or similar dumbasses who might dislike Donald Trump enough to want to vote against him. What Democrat-hating horseshoeist wouldn't want to be the next Ralph Nader or Jill Stein? I still think this is possible. But Gabbard's political fund-raising seems dormant for now. At the moment she's clearly concentrating on the pro-Putin propaganda, and the PAC seems like an old blog you haven't shut down but haven't posted to for months.

One last thought: The Forbes reporter says Tennison started her organization "in 1983, towards the end of the Cold War" -- but believe me, at the time we really didn't think we were near the end of the Cold War. That was the moment when many of us were sure that Ronald Reagan and the Soviet Union were going to lead us into a nuclear war. It was the time of movies like The Day After and Rocky IV, and songs like...



Did Tennison start her organization with good intentions, in a scary time? Maybe, though she seems like a pure propagandist now.