Tulsi Gabbard warns of nuclear threat in social media video
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard issued a stark warning about the threat of nuclear war in a video posted to her personal account on X, marking a sharp contrast with past comments made by President Donald Trump on the same topic.
Gabbard, who recently visited Hiroshima, Japan, reflected on the devastation and "haunting sadness" caused by the atomic bomb dropped during World War II in a post on Tuesday. In the video, she warned that political elite and warmongers are fomenting fear and tension, pushing us closer to "the brink of nuclear annihilation than ever before."
The three-minute video shows Gabbard visiting several landmarks in Hiroshima. The video also describes in detail what a nuclear event could mean for the United States -- including a simulation of a nuclear attack on San Francisco, California, which appears to destroy the Golden Gate Bridge.
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Gabbard's remarks were similar to previous remarks she's made on the campaign trail, however, the video was posted days after she traveled to the Shangri-La Dialogue, a major Asian conference held in Singapore, earlier this month.
"This isn't some made-up science fiction story. This is the reality of what's at stake, what we are facing now, because as we stand here today, closer to the brink of nuclear annihilation than ever before, political elite and warmongers are carelessly fomenting fear and tensions between nuclear powers," Gabbard said in the video.
"Perhaps it's because they are confident that they will have access to nuclear shelters for themselves and for their families that regular people won't have access to," she added.
Gabbard called on people to "speak up and demand an end to this madness."
"We must reject this path to nuclear war and work toward a world where no one has to live in fear of a nuclear holocaust," Gabbard said.
Gabbard's position is in sharp contrast to Trump's previous remarks on the use of nuclear weapons during WWII.
In 2016, while campaigning in San Diego, California, Trump criticized then-President Barack Obama for visiting Hiroshima, calling him "pathetic." He added that he didn't care that Obama visited, "just as long as he doesn't apologize" for dropping the bomb: "Who cares."
More recently, on Jan. 20, 2024, in Manchester, New Hampshire, Trump brought up Hiroshima again, this time to make a point about presidential immunity: "Hiroshima, not exactly a nice act, but it did end the second World War, probably. Right?"
Earlier this year, Trump focused his nuclear war rhetoric mostly on Russia and China, saying in March that "it would be great if everybody would get rid of their nuclear weapons."
Alexa Henning, Gabbard's deputy chief of staff, told ABC News that Gabbard and the president align on their plans for peace and prevention of war.
"Acknowledging the past is critical to inform the future. President Trump has repeatedly stated in the past that he recognizes the immeasurable suffering, and annihilation can be caused by nuclear war, which is why he has been unequivocal that we all need to do everything possible to work towards peace," Henning said in a statement. "DNI Gabbard supports President Trump's clearly stated objectives of bringing about lasting peace and stability and preventing war."
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Gabbard's Tuesday remarks also echoed rhetoric from her time as a Democratic presidential candidate, when she warned about neoconservatives, neoliberals and Trump himself.
In 2019, Gabbard said Trump "tore up the Iran nuclear agreement, and has taken action since, step by step, to further push us closer and closer to the brink of nuclear war, to the brink of war with Iran, that would be far more devastating than the war in Iraq, and leading us to the point where every single day that there is no nuclear deal with Iran, Iran is closer to developing a nuclear weapon."
But when she endorsed Trump's 2024 presidential campaign as an independent last August, Gabbard shifted her focus to President Joe Biden. Speaking at the National Guard Association conference, she said the Biden-Harris "administration has us facing multiple wars on multiple fronts and regions around the world, and closer to the brink of nuclear war than we ever have been before."
Gabbard's initial bid for president in 2020 was sparked by a mistaken ballistic missile alert that sent people in Hawaii into panic, thinking they were under attack. That moment inspired the former Hawaii congresswoman to center much of her campaign on ending wars and seeking peace. Although she has now aligned herself with the Republican Party and the Trump administration, this moment suggests Gabbard is still staking out an independent position on America's global posture -- one deeply rooted in her long-standing skepticism of the Washington establishment.
Tulsi Gabbard warns of nuclear threat in social media video originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
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