Tulsi Gabbard is very sensitive to charges that she may be a Russian asset, or at least, an useful accomplice.
Her umbrage does not, however, seem to have put a dent in the Kremlin’s affection for Gabbard. A recent analysis of how Russia-backed media organizations are covering the 2020 Democratic primary reveals that Gabbard remains the odds-on favorite of Putin’s. Joe Biden, on the other hand, appears to have earned pariah status, being the most reviled candidate of Russian propaganda channels.
The analysis shows that Joe Biden received 53% negative mentions from Russia-backed media sources compared with just 3% positive coverage. Tulsi Gabbard represents the mirror image, with 46% positive coverage and just 10% unfavorable mentions. 44% of the mentions of both Biden and Gabbard on Russian-sponsored media was neutral.
Biden and Gabbard are the only candidates to receive less than 50% "neutral" coverage. No other candidate for the Democratic nomination has received a net-favorable or even a net-neutral coverage, except for Bernie Sanders (19% positive and 19% negative). Bet O'Rourke, who has already left the race, rivaled Biden for the distaste of Russians, receiving just 6% favorable coverage and 41% unfavorable mentions. Kamala Harris, Elizabeth Warren, Cory Booker, Pete Buttigieg, Kirsten Gillibrand, and Amy Klobuchar round out the candidates who received at least twice as much negative coverage in Kremlin supported media as positive, in descending order of negative mentions.
We have already seen that Russian bots and social media channels that were responsible for spreading pro-Trump propaganda are now working to benefit Gabbard. Tulsi Gabbard has herself picked out for hire the one consulting firm in Washington that worked for a Russian lawyer who promised Donald Trump Jr. Russian dirt on Hillary Clinton. And we’ve marveled at Sen. Kamala Harris’s masterful takedown of Gabbard’s distaste for President Obama and the Democratic party in the last Democratic primary debate as another fellow candidate, Pete Buttigieg dragged Gabbard for paling around with Putin’s puppet and state terrorist Syrian dictator Bashar Al Assad.
On the flip side, we have also discussed that Joe Biden’s effective and dedicated anticorruption work has Putin, Trump, and Russia completely panicked. Trump is so afraid of Biden that he attempted to extort Ukraine to dig up dirt on Biden and discredit the established fact that Russia invaded the 2016 US elections in favor of Donald Trump with the announcement of fake investigations.
Tulsi Gabbard may not like to talk about it. She may not like all the talk of it. But tMother Russia has no plans of releasing Gabbard from her red embrace anytime soon, and for all the handringing she does when it is mentioned in public, Gabbard does not appear particularly uncomfortable in the role of Russia’s favorite Democrat.