The Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) will feature a speaker who is a member of the Democratic Party.
On Monday, the CPAC Twitter account revealed that former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) will be speaking at the event scheduled to take place Feb. 24- Feb. 27.
CONFIRMED: @TulsiGabbard pic.twitter.com/HxRCII5Pxu
— CPAC (@CPAC) February 21, 2022
According to The Hill, the former Congresswoman will speak at the event’s Ronald Reagan Dinner on Saturday.
The decision to have Gabbard speak was criticized by some on Twitter:
Sure, she's weak on taxes, the budget, spending, energy, the environment, labor issues, government integrity, transparency, and "human dignity," per the ACU, but she slags on Biden on teevee and that's what's really important.
— Noah Rothman (@NoahCRothman) February 21, 2022
She empathizes & supports the inhumane & terror supporting President of Syria. Just, WOW 👇 https://t.co/KAGc3EzBVG
— Healy (HayLee) Baumgardner (@healybaum) February 21, 2022
— Bakari Sellers (@Bakari_Sellers) February 21, 2022
Gabbard sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020.
However, she has been a vocal critic of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton with whom she has had a years-long feud.
Additionally, she has not been afraid to speak out about President Joe Biden’s immigration policies or his decision to announce that he would a Black woman to the Supreme Court.
And last month she called Vice President Kamala Harris “a disaster.”
Gabbard was critical of Harris while they were both running for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination. During a primary debate, she ripped into Harris over her record on criminal justice while she was the attorney general of California.
In March 2020, she suspended her campaign and endorsed Biden as she argued he would “lead our country, guided by the spirit of aloha respect and compassion, and thus help heal the divisiveness that has been tearing our country apart.”
Critics noted that while Gabbard has been willing to criticize members of her party, the American Conservative Union — which organizes CPAC and ranks lawmakers based on their votes — gave her a rank of 7.63 out of 100 over her time in Congress.
It said her “strongest” issue was national security. But her “weakest issues” were taxes, budget, spending, the environment, energy, labor, government integrity and transparency, and human dignity.
Gabbard did not run for reelection to Congress in 2020.