Dem
47
GOP
53
DNI Tulsi Gabbard has had, for a Cabinet-level officeholder, one of the more bizarre tenures in recent memory. As a person who was a Democrat, an independent and a Republican within the span of 16 months, she doesn't really have a political constituency that she brings into the tent (unlike, say, Robert Kennedy Jr. and MAHA). And she is most certainly not on the same page as Donald Trump when it comes to foreign policy, other than their both being buddy-buddy with Vladimir Putin. How she got, and kept, her job we don't fully understand.
Anyhow, Gabbard has gotten caught sweeping misbehavior by her staff under the rug, has fired key members of the intelligence establishment, has had more than one embarrassing appearance before Congress, has indulged in much conspiratorial thinking, has been overtly Islamophobic, has accused Barack Obama of treason, has participated in the seizure of ballots in Georgia, and has flipped and flopped on Iran's nuclear capabilities.
Some of the "bugs" in the previous paragraph are features, as far as this White House is concerned. But others were obvious, and desperate, attempts to please The Donald and to protect Gabbard's job. That makes clear that Gabbard knew she was in trouble. Her biggest problem is that the Iran War is a mess, and Newton's Fourth Law of Motion declares that messes during a Donald Trump administration cannot be the fault of Donald Trump. So, someone else has to be the fall guy or gal.
Consequently, after months of speculation this was coming, Gabbard submitted her resignation yesterday. The official story is that her husband was diagnosed with cancer (true), and she wants to be able to support him (probably also true). However, the timing is such that anyone and everyone assumed that Gabbard was pushed out, and that the cancer story was meant primarily to allow her to save face. It took Reuters about 12 hours to confirm that is the case.
It is not clear, at this point, who will be named to succeed Gabbard. Maybe the administration will just add this job to Marco Rubio's portfolio—who knows? The only thing we are sure of is that the next DNI will be no more able to "solve" Iran than the one who just left. Meanwhile, the administration is pretty much running out of Cabinet-level women to fire. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins, Secretary of "Education" Linda McMahon and SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler are still around, so maybe one of them will be next to go. Otherwise, it will have to be a man. Hmmm... maybe Trump can ease the transition to y-chromosomy by firing someone who's half a man. Say, Kash Patel? (Z)