Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, whom Republicans elevated last year to a job she was unqualified and unprepared for, had an exceedingly difficult 2025. As the year progressed, the former U.S. representative found herself left out of important strategy sessions and briefings, apparently having fallen out of favor with Donald Trump.
Things went from bad to worse in June, when the president was asked for his reaction to Gabbard’s testimony on Iran’s nuclear program, and the president explicitly said, more than once, that he didn’t care what his own handpicked director of national intelligence said.
Around the same time, the DNI released a video that was so weird, Republican Sen. John Kennedy said Gabbard “obviously needs to change her meds.”
There’s no reason to assume, however, that 2026 is shaping up to be any better for her.
Gabbard is on record arguing that the United States “needs to stay out of Venezuela.” After the boss launched a military operation in Venezuela over the weekend, has the DNI changed her mind? It’s tough to say — because Gabbard has suddenly vanished from public view. The Washington Post reported:
President Donald Trump’s top national security advisers in recent days have outdone one another, publicly extolling his bold decision to launch the risky military raid that captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. But one key figure has been largely absent from public view: Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard.
Gabbard, an Iraq War veteran who for years has spoken out against costly U.S. interventions abroad, waited more than three days before commenting publicly about Operation Absolute Resolve.
The DNI’s social media feed, traditionally quite active, has suddenly grown quiet. What’s more, while Gabbard can usually be counted on to deliver tiresome talking points during appearances on conservative media outlets, the Post added that she’s been “missing in action from Fox News and other conservative broadcasts.”
A Bloomberg News report added that Gabbard was deliberately excluded from the planning of the administration’s military offensive in Venezuela, precisely because of her earlier, outspoken opposition to intervention in the South American country. The report, which has not been independently verified by MS NOW, cited three sources while adding, “The move to cut Gabbard out of the meetings was so well-known that some White House aides joked that the acronym of her title, DNI, stood for ‘Do Not Invite.’” Ouch. It’s hard not to wonder whether Gabbard may soon need to start updating her thin résumé.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
Latest Post
Recommended
