‘Right At Home’: Tulsi Stakes Her Claim at CPAC

Former Democratic House Representative and presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard on Friday night said she finally found where she belonged—at the 2022 Conservative Political Action Conference.

Gabbard spoke at the conference’s Ronald Reagan Dinner, walking out to thunderous applause. As she took the podium, she greeted the crowd with an “Aloha” and thanked everyone for a warm welcome, which came four days after she was announced as a CPAC speaker.

“You’re making me feel right at home,” she said with a smile.

In her 20-minute speech, Gabbard attempted to balance two opposing viewpoints: the idea of a “common foundation” in the American public, and the idea of a “powerful elite” aimed at canceling and silencing those who speak out against the government.

She touched on multiple themes prevalent throughout the 2022 gathering—free speech, an “authoritarian” Canada, and the idea that President Joe Biden views those who push back on him as “domestic terrorists.”

“What they’re telling us is you are an enemy of the state,” she said. “If you dare to oppose or even question the president, his administration, or his policies, ‘shut up, step back fall in line, or we’re coming after you.’ This isn’t some theory. This is reality.”

American Conservatives Union Chairman Matt Schlapp told The Daily Beast he first spoke to Gabbard about attending the conference a few weeks ago. The two were set up by South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, who he said was a friend of Gabbard, and that speaking at the conference wasn’t the purpose of the call.

“We started talking and had good conversations and seemed to be on the same page,” he said. “I didn’t request her speech, so I listened like everybody and I thought it was really well done.”

Gabbard also reinforced some of the conspiracies and cultural movements nearly all CPAC speakers have shared from the stage without ever using the word “conservative” to describe herself.

She praised special counsel John Durham’s probe of the investigation into Russia’s involvement in the 2016 election (which she portrayed as one into “Clinton corruption,” another conservative talking point about one of Gabbard’s political enemies). She hailed parents who have fought back against school boards who she said threatened how they were “raising their kids.” She also propped up the idea of “cancel culture” for those who tried to criticize the current administration.

But she said the CPAC attendees—still without using the word “conservative”—will lead the battle to fight back against Democrats.

“We have decided that we belong to no one but God,” she said. “We are not subjects or slaves of those who govern and by God’s grace, we are free and we will fight to remain free.”