Wow, Tulsi scares the shit out of (((them)))!

One ‘Russiagate’ researcher wants to crowdfund a trip to “investigate” 2020 Democratic contender Tulsi Gabbard in sunny Hawaii. Some critics say it’s a ploy to grab a free vacation.

Gabbard’s announcement last weekend that she will challenge Donald Trump for the presidency in 2020 united the left and the right in panic. A combat veteran, the Hawaiian congresswoman unveiled a platform focused on foreign policy issues, namely opposition to foreign wars and intervention.

Gabbard had long been an opponent of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as Barack Obama’s air campaign in Syria. A 2017 meeting with Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad was enough to convince the establishment that Gabbard was an “Assad sympathizer,” an agent of the Kremlin, and a racist, homophobic, right-wing plant.

Caroline Orr, a researcher and editor with “Breitbart on the left” Shareblue, started digging. Of the 15 most shared URLs by “Russian-linked disinformation accounts” on Tuesday, a whopping three mentioned Gabbard. As an aside, the list of what accounts are “Russian-linked” is compiled by a firm called New Knowledge, which was recently busted for running two online election-meddling campaigns of its own in Alabama. As a further aside, New Knowledge doesn’t make its list of “Russian-linked” accounts public or reveal its methodology. You’ll have to take their word for it.

Three of the top 15 URL's shared over the past 24 hours by 800 Russian-linked disinformation accounts tracked by Disinfo2018 are about Tulsi Gabbard, the pro-Putin, pro-Assad congresswoman who just announced she's running for POTUS in 2020. (One URL is an article; 2 are tweets). pic.twitter.com/SG43IGt9ZV

— Caroline Orr (@RVAwonk) January 15, 2019

Anti-Trump comedienne and #resistance figurehead Kathy Griffin jumped on board. “Caroline, what’s it gonna take to convince these robots?” she tweeted. “She’s (Gabbard) as nuts as Trump & a stupid as Jill Stein. What countries has she visited that are under the rule of our foreign adversaries?”

Caroline, what’s it gonna take to convince these robots? She’s as nuts as Trump & a stupid as Jill Stein. What countries has she visited that are under the rule of our foreign adversaries?I remember her making a lot of mysterious trips. We Dems weed out our bad ones unlike the Rs

— Kathy Griffin (@kathygriffin) January 15, 2019

Orr swore to get to the bottom of Gabbard’s blasphemous anti-war views. The Shareblue researcher set up a crowdfunding page to raise money for a trip to Hawaii to interview Gabbard’s constituents and dig up dirt. “Tulsi is a noxious politician who presents a serious threat of dividing the left,” Orr wrote, “which is exactly why Russia likes her.”

We set up the crowdfunding page as soon as she announced her candidacy b/c we've been worried about her for months. Our goal is to go to her district because some of her constituents & people who know her/her family have some interesting stories to tell.https://t.co/gWubQPL8zq

— Caroline Orr (@RVAwonk) January 15, 2019

At time of writing, the page has raised $1,060 of its $5,000 goal. One commenter, ‘Jessica’, smelled a rat:

“You aren't going to ‘discover’ anything that isn't already public knowledge, especially not by going to a state where she won 83% of the vote. Bravo on scamming people to crowdfund your Hawaiian vacation.”

Gabbard comfortably defeated Republican challenger Brian Evans in November, keeping Hawaii’s 2nd Congressional District seat with 77.4 percent of the vote. Still though, Hawaii is a balmy 80 degrees fahrenheit (26C) in January, a welcome change from 38f (3C) in freezing, snowy DC.

Orr was quickly called out, not just for trying to extract money from the anti-Trump, pro-establishment crowd, but for doing it to fund a trip to the land of Aloha.

“Of all the Russiagate grifts, trying to crowd-fund a vacation to Hawaii is the best I've seen,” wrote DC Sentinel reporter Sam Sacks.

Of all the Russiagate grifts, trying to crowd-fund a vacation to Hawaii is the best I've seen. https://t.co/ilkHZU88pe

— Sam Sacks (@SamSacks) January 16, 2019

The grift is real https://t.co/nolry1OnPt

— Max Blumenthal (@MaxBlumenthal) January 16, 2019

Brilliant "investigating Tulsi Gabbard" grift. In other words, you pay for Caroline's Hawaii vacation! Gotta respect the hustle here. pic.twitter.com/pGaWjZyNJl

— Jordan Schachtel (@JordanSchachtel) January 16, 2019

When I first saw this my reaction was "yes, Gabbard is bad, but can we stop promoting the notion that we should investigate as Russian agents people whose foreign policy views we don't like"

But then I realized this is literally a scheme to get a free vacation. https://t.co/KMKYYteszE

— Chip Gibbons (@ChipGibbons89) January 16, 2019

More:

https://www.rt.com/usa/449041-gabbard-russia-hawaii-vacation/

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