Days after securing the endorsement of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Donald Trump received the backing of another Democrat-turned-independent Tulsi Gabbard.
The former congresswoman announced she was endorsing the GOP nominee while appearing alongside him on Monday. All the while, a group of some 200 former Republican staffers declared their support for Harris.
Megyn said the dueling endorsements are indicative of the larger political realignment underway in the United States, and, on Tuesday’s show, she was joined by Stu Burguiere, host of BlazeTV’s Stu Does America, and Stephen L. Miller, host of Versus Media, to discuss what it means for the 2024 election and beyond.
Tulsi Endorses Trump
Gabbard and Trump took the stage together in Detroit on Monday at an event for the National Guard Association of the United States. A veteran of the Hawaii National Guard and Congress, Gabbard said the Republican hopeful “understands the grave responsibility that a president and commander in chief bears for every single one of our lives.”
She praised Trump for “having the courage to meet with adversaries, dictators, allies and partners alike in the pursuit of peace, seeing war as a last resort” and condemned the Biden-Harris administration for the fact that Americans is now “facing multiple wars on multiple fronts in regions around the world and closer to the brink of nuclear war than we ever have been before.”
While Gabbard endorsed Biden in the 2020 election after suspending her own campaign for president, she became an independent in 2022 because she said the Democratic Party was dominated by an “elitist cabal of warmongers” and “woke” ideologues.
Gabbard is already scheduled to appear with Trump at a town hall event in Wisconsin later this week, and the campaign announced on Tuesday that both she and RFK, Jr. would be part of the Trump-Vance transition team.
Republicans for Harris
While Trump picked up endorsements from Gabbard and Kennedy, Harris received the support of more than 200 staffers who worked for the four previous Republican presidential nominees, former President George W. Bush, the late Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT), and former President George H.W. Bush.
In their open letter, 238 GOP officials called on “moderate Republicans and conservative independents” to vote for the Democratic ticket. It reads, in part:
“Four years ago, President George W. Bush, the late Sen. John McCain, and then-Gov. Mitt Romney alumni came together to warn fellow Republicans that re-electing President Trump would be a disaster for our nation. In those declarations we stated the plain truth, each predicting that another four years of a Trump presidency would irreparably damage our beloved democracy…
We reunite today, joined by new George H.W. Bush alumni, to reinforce our 2020 statements and, for the first time, jointly declare that we’re voting for Vice President Kamala Harris and Gov. Tim Walz this November,” the letter continued. “Of course, we have plenty of honest, ideological disagreements with Vice President Harris and Gov. Walz. That’s to be expected. The alternative, however, is simply untenable.”
They believe Harris and Walz are the “leaders that will strive for consensus, not chaos; that will work to unite, not divide; that will make our country and our children proud.”
The Great Realignment
While Miller said he wasn’t sure the endorsements would do much to move the needle for either side, Burguiere noted that Kennedy’s supporters could make a difference in swing states. “I think the media is trying to say, ‘Oh, it’s no big deal. He’s not a factor. He’s down at 4 percent,'” he said. “Well… you’re in a situation where the entire range of outcomes in this election is probably Trump plus-four to Trump minus-four. That’s how close this is… so taking a point and moving that toward Donald Trump in this situation is massively important.”
That is why strange bedfellows could prove key. “Whether you think [Kennedy] is right or wrong on the issues or you don’t like what Tulsi Gabbard says about this or that, these are important things in a political situation,” Burguiere added.
Ultimately, Megyn said there is an obvious realignment underway. “I think both [Kennedy and Gabbard], for different reasons, represent growing factions within the Republican Party and some people in the Republican Party are going to have to acknowledge that and get used to that fact,” she concluded. “If they want to be ‘big tent’ – the kind that can win elections – they have to welcome new people and new views.”
You can check out Megyn’s full interview with Burguiere and Miller by tuning in to episode 871 on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen. And don’t forget that you can catch The Megyn Kelly Show live on SiriusXM’s Triumph (channel 111) weekdays from 12pm to 2pm ET.