Tulsi Gabbard, RFK Jr, eye top roles under Trump: The Hill

Hindu American Tulsi Gabbard and Robert F Kennedy Jr, are angling for positions in a possible Trump administration, hoping to help spark an anti-establishment surge in Washington post-November, The Hill reported.

The two former Democrats, who have enthusiastically endorsed Trump’s Republican nomination for the White House, want to influence American policy issues ranging from health care and the environment to national security, the politics focused news site suggested .

They jumped on board with the former president after moving rightward following their own quixotic runs — Gabbard’s in 2020 and Kennedy’s in 2024.

Gabbard, a military veteran who served as a Democratic congresswoman from Hawaii before retiring, said this week that she would “be honored to serve” under a second Trump term. She told Fox News that she’s hoping for a role working on foreign policy while stumping for him in Georgia.

READ: Tulsi Gabbard coached Trump to debate Kamala Harris: Report (September 13, 2024)

Kennedy, meanwhile, wants to help Trump dismantle and rebuild the public health care system and said his former rival has asked him to “be involved in the administration at a high level.”

The positive expectation-setting from Trump himself has excited Kennedy and Gabbard allies, who see them already helping to form a non-traditional coalition they hope can win less than two months from Election Day, the Hill said.

“I truly believe [Trump] will keep his word and not hose Kennedy,” Eric Jackman, a senior adviser for the newly formed Kennedy-aligned Make America Healthy Again PAC, modeled after Trump’s Make America Great Again slogan, was quoted as saying.

“He understands he will need much better people around him, should he win. Having experienced hands like Bobby and Tulsi in Trump’s corner is an immense advantage and asset to his campaign and future administration,” he said.

Jackman, a friend of Gabbard’s who has worked on issues supporting Kennedy this cycle, sees the former independent candidate’s strength now as guiding Trump to reach new audiences, including skeptical voters and independents.

“It’s been very exciting and encouraging to see how MAGA crowds are responding to Kennedy’s call for cleaning up our food, environment and government,” he was quoted as saying.

Trump has famously attracted non-conformist characters into his orbit, many of whom have right-leaning sympathies. Kennedy and Gabbard’s swift emergence on the Republican scene is the latest extension of that, according to the Hill.

The two have bonded over anti-interventionism that also extends to what they perceive as other kinds of excessive government reach, the news site said. For Gabbard, the military industrial complex is a particular focus, while Kennedy has channeled his advocacy against vaccines and modern science into a war on the nation’s disease crisis.

Kennedy and Gabbard have also faced scrutiny since taking on roles on the campaign. Ahead of the debate between Trump and Vice President Harris, the former president’s campaign commissioned Gabbard to prepare him with a mock performance, something that drew negative attention after the former president’s rocky debate.

Gabbard delivered what supporters considered to be a blow to Harris in 2019, early into the last presidential campaign cycle, when both candidates competed in a debate in Michigan. Gabbard challenged Harris on her criminal justice record and was seen as putting Harris, a former prosecutor and California’s top cop as attorney general, on her toes at the time.

She’s since taken an even more adversarial posture towards Harris while promoting Trump’s candidacy.

“President Trump did in his last administration what President Obama refused to do, what President Biden refused to do, what Kamala Harris has made clear she refuses to do — which is to go out and do that tough work that a president and commander in chief has to do in diplomacy,” Gabbard told Fox News, where she is a frequent guest.