Summary
Republican senators are privately pushing to review Tulsi Gabbard’s FBI file amid concerns about her alignment with Russian interests following her nomination as Trump’s director of national intelligence.
Gabbard’s past support for Edward Snowden, who leaked U.S. state secrets, has drawn particular scrutiny, as has her history of echoing Russian talking points on Ukraine and Syria.
While GOP senators are publicly deferring to Trump’s pick, some, including Sens. Mike Rounds and Susan Collins, emphasize the importance of full background checks and hearings to address potential security risks.
It is not an opinion to say that if your motives are uncertain with regards to established procedure, then you are not reliable to ensure established procedure. Whether or not you think the unreliability is justified, you’re still unreliable.
And what a sheriff wants, in addition to being ultimately unknowable because we aren’t psychic, is less relevant to their candidacy than their expressed positions. If you support one vigilante, there is reasonable suspicion you’ll support another. Wanting a lawful process does not negate the fact that you supported an unlawful (even if ultimately justified) process.
You fuck one goat, and you’re marked as a goatfucker. Doesn’t matter how many walls and docks you build, and it doesn’t matter how sexy the goat was.
In Snowden and Manning’s cases it is clear established procedure is inadequate. There is no uncertainty.
Or you can (attempt to) change the system so that vigilantism is not required.
Tulsi didn’t fuck a goat. She was arguing that no-one should be getting fucked.