Former congressperson and current right-wing media darling Tulsi Gabbard spent the 2020 election cycle vying to become the Democratic nominee for president. But in her current gig as a paid Fox News contributor, Gabbard is seemingly using her network appearances to audition to become disgraced former President Donald Trump’s running mate on the 2024 Republican ticket.

If Fox News has any self-respect, the network will suspend Gabbard, like it has other potential vice presidential candidates in the past. If the network fails to do so, it will in effect be paying Gabbard to campaign for vice president on its airwaves.

Fox prime-time host Laura Ingraham has especially promoted Gabbard as a potential vice presidential candidate, floating her name among a number of possible running mates during a February 20 interview with Trump in front of a live audience in South Carolina.

During an appearance on the February 21 edition of Jesse Watters Primetime, Gabbard acknowledged speculation that she could join Trump’s ticket in 2024. She told guest host Jeanine Pirro that she had “not had conversations with him [Trump]” about the position, but made it clear that she was interested: “Of course, I'd be honored to be asked to serve in that capacity.”

Gabbard also boasted that she had “taken on Kamala Harris on a debate stage before,” in reference to their clashes during Democratic presidential primary debates in 2019, adding “I would look forward to doing that again.”

Gabbard has taken other steps to demonstrate her interest in the job. During a February 22 speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference, she offered strong support for Trump, praising him for choosing to “keep fighting against the entire Washington establishment.” Gabbard also attracted significant support in a straw poll of CPAC attendees to serve as Trump’s running mate.

Before she became a Fox contributor, she campaigned for election-denying Republican candidates during the 2022 midterm elections, all of whom Trump had already endorsed.

Media Matters found that Gabbard has appeared on Fox News at least 93 times, based on searching our internal database of all original, weekday programming on Fox News Channel from November 14, 2022, when Gabbard became a contributor on the network, through February 27, 2024.

Fox News previously suspended contributors who appeared to be about to run for president or vice president

• During the 2012 election cycle, Fox News suspended two paid contributors who were potential presidential candidates. The network suspended both former GOP House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former Sen. Rick Santorum, who later launched presidential campaigns. Fox retained three other former politicians: former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton. “But those three, according to Fox, have not shown serious intentions to set up presidential exploratory committees.” [The New York Times, 3/2/11]
• And in 2016, Fox News once again suspended its contributor agreement with Newt Gingrich, over speculation he might become Trump’s running mate. “Fox News Channel has mutually agreed to suspend its contributor agreement with former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich effective immediately,” Fox executive vice president Jay Wallace said in a statement. “Due to the intense media speculation about Gingrich’s potential selection as Donald Trump’s Vice Presidential candidate, we felt it best to halt his contributor role on the network to avoid all conflicts of interest that may arise.” [The Washington Post, 7/12/16]

Gabbard is acting like someone auditioning for vice president

• Gabbard is set to publish a book titled For Love of Country: Leave the Democrat Party Behind. From the book’s Amazon blurb: “Tulsi Gabbard was the rising star of the Democrat Party. But the growing wokeness, fomenting racism, and intolerance were more than she could stomach, and she left. This is her story and a call to action to Americans who love our country and cherish peace and freedom.” [Honolulu Civil Beat, 2/26/24]
• Gabbard is set to headline a conservative group’s fundraising event next month at Mar-a-Lago. The dinner was organized by the 917 Society, a group that says it works to foster “a love of our country among our youth,” which promoted the event as “celebrating the Constitution.” Tickets reportedly cost $1,250 each. [The Hill, 2/21/24; 917 Society, accessed 2/27/24]
• Gabbard delivered a CPAC speech on February 22 in which she claimed that Democratic elites prosecuting Trump are the true threats to democracy, not the former president. “They say he will be the dictator-in-chief, that if he’s elected it will be the last election this country sees,” Gabbard said. “It’s laughable. This is so crazy, it’s laughable. They’re justifying their actions by telling themselves that they need to destroy our democracy in order to save it. It’s lunacy and it’s the mindset and mentality of dictators.” [The Guardian, 2/23/24]
• Gabbard also praised Trump in the speech: “I can’t think of a single one who could not only withstand all that they are throwing at Donald Trump without crumbling, but someone who would actually choose to keep fighting against the entire Washington establishment.” [CNN, 2/24/24]

Fox has promoted Gabbard as she adopted more extreme right-wing positions, and as she promoted Trump

• Gabbard became a paid Fox contributor in late 2022. The Daily Beast noted that Gabbard “wasted no time promoting her new gig, stepping in to guest host Tucker Carlson’s show” shortly after signing on with Fox. [The Daily Beast, 11/14/22]
• During another appearance, Gabbard compared the Biden administration’s emphasis on diversity in staffing the executive branch to the genocidal policies of Adolf Hitler. “They're proud to be judging people, hiring people, selecting people based on race, which is really – let's be clear — how serious of a problem this is,” Gabbard said. “It's based on genetics, race, based on your blood, your genes. And where do we see that connection? Well, these are the very same geneticist core principles embodied by Nazism and Adolf Hitler.” [Fox News, Jesse Watters Primetime, 2/24/23]
• Gabbard argued that media personalities who “warn the country that Donald Trump is going to be like a modern-day Hitler” are sending a message to a “rogue actor” or “lone wolf” to assassinate him. “They're sending a message to a rogue actor, a lone wolf saying, ‘Hey, we need someone to save our country from this modern-day Hitler-like person,’” Gabbard said. “And that is what should alarm every single American. This is not how the United States of America is, this is not who we are.” [Fox News, The Ingraham Angle, 12/1/23]
• Earlier this month, Gabbard criticized a bipartisan border deal and argued that the Biden administration — in collaboration with what she called the “propaganda media” — had falsely spread the narrative that “Republicans and Trump are the ones responsible for this open border.” In fact, Trump had boasted to a campaign rally in late January, about his opposition to the bipartisan deal: “A lot of the senators are trying to say, respectfully, they’re blaming it on me. I say, that’s okay. Please blame it on me. Please.” [Fox News, The Five, 2/7/24; The Washington Post, 1/28/24]