(Maire Clayton, Headline USA) “Welcome to the Republican Party,” began former Fox News personality and Trump administration official Monica Crowley to kick of a Saturday townhall in Charlotte, N.C., featuring two former Democrat presidential candidates: Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii and political scion Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Just days earlier, at an event in nearby Greensboro, Gabbard had officially announced what has been a more than two-year transition process from having once been vice chair of the Democratic National Committee to a full-throated supporter of GOP nominee Donald Trump.
“I started to see more firsthand, and experience firsthand, this erosion of the things that had once attracted me to the Democrat Party in the first place,” Gabbard recalled.
She noted how the American Left—once the self-fashioned voice of the people— had turned away from free speech and other traditionally liberal values.
“I saw the party that used to have courageous voices and leaders, calling for peace, now becoming the party of warmongers,” Gabbard said.
“It has become the party of war,” she added. “It used to be the party of working people.”
Kennedy said his family’s storied history with the Democrats dated back to when his ancestors first stepped off the boat from Ireland and were greeted by party members who attended to immigrants’ basic needs—perhaps echoing the Biden administration’s current open-borders policies.
“It was unthinkable for me when I launched this campaign that I would ever leave the Democratic Party,” Kennedy said.
However, the working class party he grew up with was no more and he “[came] to the realization the Democratic party was gone,” he said.
“These are the people who dismantled free speech,” he added.
He blamed members of the current Democratic Party, such as Vice President Kamala Harris and Hillary Clinton, for straying from the party’s origins as they have claimed free speech was a privilege and not a right.
“Government never cuts the tongue out of a man for lying,” Kennedy said. “They cut the tongue out of the man for telling the truth.”
He, like Gabbard, added the party used to be about the working class and previously had union support.
Kennedy referenced the historic appearance of Teamsters leader Sean O’Brien at the Republican National Convention in July, as one example of the GOP receiving support from groups that have historically voted Democrat.
Kennedy noted the Democratic Party previously had concern for public health and the welfare of children.
Kennedy stated the Republican Party was now the party of health and mentioned Harris bought Doritos for a photo opt.
“Haven’t you heard Bobby, that those of us who try to work out, stay in shape, eat healthy and take care of our bodies,” Gabbard interjected. “That’s a right-wing conservative way of life.”
