Of all President Trump's still-to-be-confirmed nominees, Tulsi Gabbard may have the toughest odds, reports the Hill. The former congresswoman, who may oversee the nation's spy agencies as the director of national intelligence, will be grilled this week by the Senate Intelligence Committee, where she cannot lose a single Republican vote given its 9-8 party split. Even if she makes it out of committee, confirmation in the full Senate is no sure thing. She "has a path that continues to narrow," is how one Senate Republican puts it. As Gabbard remains in the spotlight, stories are taking a closer look at her upbringing in a secretive offshoot of the Hare Krishna movement called the Science of Identity Foundation.
Gabbard, who was born in American Samoa and raised in Hawaii, has moved across the political spectrum from the left throughout her career, and her adherence to the foundation and its leader Chris Butler is the "only perceptible through line," writes Elaine Godfrey in the Atlantic. Critics, including former devotees, refer to Butler as a cult leader, according to the Atlantic story and another in the New York Times. Gabbard refers to Butler—"a college dropout, surfer and yoga teacher," per the Times—as her "guru dev," or spiritual teacher. He has referred to her as a "stellar pupil," writes Godfrey.
The foundation, which says its roots are in the Hindu denomination of Vaishnavism, is "vehemently opposed to same-sex relationships and abortion, and deeply suspicious of Islam," per the Times. A spokesman for the Trump transition team calls worries about all this "Hinduphobia." It's not clear how much will come up in Gabbard's confirmation hearings, where she is expected to face questions over her visit to former Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad in 2017, her strong support of Russia, her seeming lack of experience for this particular post, and her shifting views on a powerful intelligence-gathering tool spelled out in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. (More Tulsi Gabbard stories.)
,
uBlock 
,
and
Ghostery 
)
