Tulsi Gabbard's Popularity Soars With Anti-War Stance

U.S. State Representative (Hawaii) Tulsi Gabbard watched her popularity soar this past week after a strong performance at the first Democratic debate. 

RELATED: 

Bernie Sanders Dem Debate: Education, Health Care For All

Gabbard, who is a U.S. military veteran, delivered a powerful performance when it came to the foreign policy topics, giving the viewers insight into her anti-war stance. 

"For too long our leaders have failed us, from taking us from one regime change war to the next, leading us into a new Cold War and arms race, costing us trillions of our hard-earned taxpayer dollars and countless lives. This insanity must end," Gabbard stated, before fellow Democrat (Ohio) Tim Ryan gave his opinion.

"You have to stay engaged in these situations. Nobody likes it. It's long. It's tedious," Ryan said. "So I would say we must be engaged in this. We must have our State Department engaged, we must have our military engaged to the extent that they need to be."

Gabbard quickly interjected: "As a soldier, I will tell you, that answer is unacceptable," stating that "we are no better off in Afghanistan today than we were when this war began."

Ryan attempted to claify his stance: "if the United States isn't engaged, the Taliban will grow. And they will have bigger, bolder terrorist acts. We have got to have some presence there."

However, Gabbard displayed her knowledge on the topic, pointing out that the Taliban continues to remain a primary fixture in Afghanistan.

"The Taliban was there long before we came in," Gabbard rebutted. "They're going to be there long before we leave. We cannot keep US troops deployed to Afghanistan thinking that we're going to somehow squash this Taliban that's been there, that every other country that's tried has failed."

"I didn't say squash them. When we weren't in there, they started flying planes into our buildings," Ryan said.

Gabbard quickly responded, getting the last word in: "The Taliban didn't attack us on 9/11. Al Qaeda did."

The U.S. representative concluded by pointing out the issues in the Trump administration's current policies towards Iran and the attempts to push for war in the Persian Gulf.

 "Every single American stand up and say no war with Iran," adding that "this President and his chickenhawk Cabinet have led us to the brink of war with Iran."

Gabbard's anti-war stance has also raised heavy criticism from fellow democrats, who have attacked her in the past for meeting with Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad.

The U.S. representative maintains that her meeting was meant to hear all sides of the war and build towards a peaceful resolution inside the country.

Since her performance at the first Democratic debate, Gabbard has become the second most Googled candidate after Senator Cory Booker.