Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) has mocked US President Donald Trump’s commitment to remaining allied with Riyadh in the wake of journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s death, calling the president “Saudi Arabia’s b*tch.”
The anti-interventionist congresswoman tweeted the scathing insult following an earlier statement from Trump, in which he said that the United States would stand by its Saudi allies despite conclusions from the CIA that the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered Khashoggi's killing in October.
Trump admitted that it “could very well” be that the crown prince knew of plans to murder Khashoggi, but unashamedly cited weapons contracts with arms manufactures Lockheed Martin and Raytheon as a reason not to disturb the long-standing alliance between the two countries.
On Wednesday, Gabbard tweeted that “being Saudi Arabia’s b*tch” is not the kind of “America First” foreign policy that Trump promised during his presidential campaign.
Gabbard, who is an Iraq War veteran herself, opposes the knee-jerk use of the US military in foreign conflicts. She clashed with former president Barack Obama on his Syria policy, suggesting that the US and its allies were pushing for regime change in the country but ignoring the potential consequences. She has also spoken out against the US arming anti-government fighters in Syria, many of whom turned out to be jihadist extremists.
Gabbard also visited Syria herself on a private fact-finding mission, during which she met Syrian President Bashar Assad without informing top Democrats. After the trip, she was roundly denounced by members of both parties as an “Assad apologist” for daring to break bipartisan ranks on interventionist US foreign policy.
That exact same line criticism was on display on Wednesday as well, as pundits and politicians – even those routinely critical of Trump – lit into Gabbard over her tweet.
It wasn’t all condemnations, however, as many in the anti-interventionist camp welcomed Gabbard’s straight-talking.
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