Former U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii sounds more and more like an old school Democrat as time goes on.
Liberal on social issues but a right-leaning constitutionalist when it comes to civil liberties, she is one of the few Democrats who is waving red flags over new legislation being dubbed “Patriot Act 2.0” touted by her party and a handful of RINOs.
Unlike the first Patriot Act which gave the federal government extensive powers to combat foreign terrorism, the new bill directs U.S. law enforcement and intelligence inward — at American citizens.
But only certain American citizens: Like those ‘seditious insurrectionist’ and mostly white Americans who supported former President Donald Trump.
Gabbard joined “Fox News Primetime” to discuss the legislation with host Brian Kilmeade, and she made it clear that she was concerned the legislation could be used to undermine civil liberties.
Kilmeade introduced Gabbard, who had just stepped away from her congressional seat two weeks earlier, and asked, “Are you surprised they’re pushing forward with this extra surveillance on would-be domestic terror?”
“It’s so dangerous as you guys have been talking about, this is an issue that all Democrats, Republicans, independents, Libertarians should be extremely concerned about, especially because we don’t have to guess about where this goes or how this ends,” Gabbard said, noting that Obama’s CIA Director John Brennan had already made worrisome comments.
“When you have people like former CIA Director John Brennan openly talking about how he’s spoken with or heard from appointees and nominees in the Biden administration who are already starting to look across our country for these types of movements similar to the insurgencies they’ve seen overseas, that in his words, he says make up this unholy alliance of religious extremists, racists, bigots, he lists a few others and at the end, even libertarians,” she said.
What’s really disturbing, she said, was the manner in which ‘targeted’ Americans were being described by Biden officials and Democrats who hated (or said they did) the first Patriot Act, passed in the wake of the 9/11 attacks (because they were afraid too many Muslims would be targeted).
“What characteristics are we looking for as we are building this profile of a potential extremist, what are we talking about? Religious extremists, are we talking about Christians, evangelical Christians, what is a religious extremist? Is it somebody who is pro-life? Where do you take this?” Gabbard asked.
The logical conclusion is “a very dangerous undermining of our civil liberties, our freedoms in our Constitution, and a targeting of almost half of the country,” she continued.
“You start looking at obviously, have to be a white person, obviously likely male, libertarians, anyone who loves freedom, liberty, maybe has an American flag outside their house, or people who, you know, attended a Trump rally,” Gabbard said.
Democrats are some awfully sore winners.
