Tulsi Gabbard announces that she is leaving the Democratic Party

The former US presidential hopeful said the party is driven by ‘cowardly wokeness’ and is stoking ‘anti-white racism’.

A Democratic former representative from Hawaii has announced that she is leaving the party, calling it an “elitist cabal of warmongers”, and inviting her “common sense independent minded” colleagues to join her.

Tulsi Gabbard, a former United States presidential candidate, in a video published on Twitter on Tuesday said that the Democratic Party is driven by “cowardly wokeness”.

“I can no longer remain in today’s Democratic Party that is now under the complete control of an elitist cabal of warmongers driven by cowardly wokeness, who divide us by racializing every issue and stoke anti-white racism,” Gabbard said.

Gabbard added that the party works to “demonize the police and protect criminals at the expense of law-abiding Americans”.

I can no longer remain in today’s Democratic Party that is now under the complete control of an elitist cabal of warmongers driven by cowardly wokeness, who divide us by racializing every issue & stoke anti-white racism, actively work to undermine our God-given freedoms, are… pic.twitter.com/oAuTnxZldf

— Tulsi Gabbard ???? (@TulsiGabbard) October 11, 2022

The development comes amid deepening polarisation between the two major US parties ahead of the midterm elections – critical races set for November 8 that will determine whether Republicans or Democrats will have control of Congress. The results will also impact the second half of President Joe Biden’s term in office.

Gabbard represented Hawaii’s 2nd Congressional District from 2013 to 2021. In 2020, the Iraq War veteran made an unsuccessful bid for the White House.

Gabbard has been a frequent critic of the Biden administration and has blasted his handling of Russia’s war on Ukraine.

Over the weekend she said the administration “does not care about the American people”.

“Permanent Washington loots us to serve the interests of the arms-manufacturing global oligarchy while we struggle to pay for gas/food/rent and our soldiers go on food stamps,” she said in a tweet.

In February, in an unusual move for a Democrat, Gabbard spoke at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), a gathering of the nation’s most conservative officials and political activists.

In 2017, she made a secret trip to Syria where she meet with Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad.

Gabbard did not specify if or when she plans on joining another party.