Last week I wrote about an apparent contradiction between Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) talking up her 16-plus years in the United States Army and her criticizing certain US military interventions overseas in a recent interview at the ABC show The View. Since her criticism of such interventions is at the heart of her presidential campaign, I suggested that it would be helpful for Gabbard to offer an explanation to dispel the apparent contradiction.

Also in her The View interview, Gabbard brought up being a “woman of color” in challenging people saying she is an unwitting asset of the Russian government, as she put it, “working against the interests of our people and our country, the country that I am willing to lay my life down for.” Said Gabbard:

So, if you’re saying it’s not deliberately, then you are implying that I am too stupid and too naïve and lack the intelligence to know what I am doing. That is extremely offensive to me and to every woman of color.

Come again?

The unwitting Russian asset pejorative has been deployed against plenty of not of color men too. President Donald Trump and libertarian communicator Ron Paul are two prominent examples of individuals who have been called Russian assets, both witting and unwitting. Critics have slung the unwitting Russian asset label at people — be they men, women, people of various races, etc. — who they see as not sufficiently accepting anti-Russia claims of one sort or another or as opposed to US government actions sold as means to challenge purported threats from Russia. And, of course, some women of color have made this sort of accusation.

Nonetheless, Gabbard claims that calling her an unwitting Russian asset is “extremely offensive” to her and every other woman of color. Why? What does she think being a woman of color has to do with it? Her claim sounds like rubbish.

Reprinted with permission from the Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity.