Former Democratic congresswoman and dark horse 2020 candidate Tulsi Gabbard is poised to make her re-entry into politics next week with a much hyped appearance at the upcoming Conservative Political Action Conference — the annual who’s-who event for the unhinged lunatic fringe of the Republican Party to mingle with their more respectable (that is: less flamboyantly fascistic) right-wing brethren.
That Gabbard, a onetime vice-chair of the Democratic National Committee, would headline at a conference rife with conservative conspiracy theorists, antisemites, seditionists, and outright fascists might seem surprising at first. It’s hard to imagine an event that, on the surface, seems worse suited for someone who once took a swing at becoming her party’s presidential standard bearer. But Gabbard’s pivot from standing alongside Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren on a DNC debate stage to joining conspiracy-addled extremist Glenn Beck for CPAC’s “Ronald Reagan Dinner” on Friday is not actually as unexpected as it appears.
