Why Tulsi Gabbard Ultimately Left the Democratic Party

Jonathan Bernstein: “You can be excused for thinking her announcement amounted to nothing more than an effort by an oddball political figure to grab a bit of attention amid a fading career.”

“I think that misses something important, which is that Democrats tend not to tolerate demagogues. Gabbard has been selling unorthodox views of various types for some time. She never quite lived down a 2017 meeting with brutal Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad. While she was able to hold on to her House seat, it turned out there simply wasn’t much of a market in the Democratic Party for indulging authoritarians.”

“This isn’t because rank-and-file Democrats automatically reject extremism. Instead, it’s because influential Democrats enforce something like a minimal level of responsible behavior. Those who can’t abide by it find themselves ostracized by both the party and media organizations such as MSNBC.”

This isn’t the case in the Republican Party — and hasn’t been for a while.