Former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii  revealed what she perceives to be “the greatest threat to our democracy” during an Aug. 17 appearance on Fox News’ “Jesse Watters Primetime.” And it isn’t who or what you’d tend to think, especially coming from a Democrat.

Rather than pointing to the usual suspects like income inequality or white supremacy, as we expect to hear from a Democrat, Gabbard instead leveled her aim squarely at what she calls “permanent Washington,” which could easily stand in rhetorically for what former President Trump and many Republicans refer to as the “Deep State.”

Gabbard explained to Watters’ audience, “When you look at permanent Washington, you look at all the different hands that are involved. And as we’re seeing this whole situation play out over the last couple of weeks, we see very prominently placed is the national security state and the mainstream media. And you’ve outlined some of these changing narratives and new information when they see the old piece of information wasn’t quite having the impact that they wanted.”

“It’s hard not to be skeptical when you look at their tactics and their timing to really question what their motives are. To leverage their power and their influence. To have an impact on these midterm elections that voters will be going to vote at in just a few weeks. And to do what they have already stated publicly is their objective, which is to prevent Donald Trump from running for president in 2024. This is not something new,” she concluded.

Gabbard tweeted out the interview on Aug. 22: “The greatest threat to our democracy is not Trump voters or parents protesting at school board meetings, but the permanent Washington elite which has weaponized the govt and teamed up with corporate media to intimidate and silence those who dare to disagree with them.”

Compare Gabbard’s quote here to one from Trump.“What am I doing? I’m fighting the deep state,” he told Sharyl Attkisson on Full Measure back in 2020, according to Just The News. “I’m fighting the swamp
If it keeps going the way it’s going, I have a chance to break the deep state. It’s a vicious group of people. It’s very bad for our country.”

Or a recent tweet from Republican Rep. Paul Gosar of Arizona,

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“The Deep State must be fired. Obama embedded tens of thousands of leftists into the bureaucracy. They obstructed Trump every day. The bureaucracy must be gutted before we have any hope of truly putting America First.”

It would seem that an understanding of the danger posed by a deeply entrenched bureaucratic shadow government accountable to no one crosses party lines. After all, even Politico accused Trump in 2021 of having tried to construct his own “‘deep state’ of loyalists” that Biden subsequently had to “root out.”

So, either the Democrats also see the danger, or the former Representative from Hawaii is the one actually trying to cross party lines by not only aligning herself against the group she’s very careful not to call the “deep state,” but by also championing beleaguered parents and calling them “patriots.”

Dinesh D’Souza even stepped up to laud Gabbard for this one, tweeting, “I’m grateful for Tulsi Gabbard taking a stand here, but why don’t we get this sort of clarity more often from Republicans?”

This is not the rhetoric of someone who is making a play for moderates or Democrats; this is what someone says when they’re appealing to Conservatives. She also substitutes for Tucker Carlson and defends Kyle Rittenhouse and calls out the insanity of woke gender identity in politics. Is there a pattern forming here?

This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.