Democratic Rep. Jill Tokuda of Hawaii has criticized former Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, who supported Donald Trump and served on his transition team.
Gabbard, who represented Tokuda’s district from 2013 to 2021 and endorsed President Joe Biden in 2020, voiced her support for Trump at a National Guard event in Detroit last week. Tokuda quickly fired back on social media, saying Gabbard’s decision was out of line in the Aloha State.
“Trump and Tulsi do not represent Hawaiian values and are not fighting for our freedom,” Tokuda wrote on Facebook. “We will reject their extremism in November. This is not pono.”
“Pono” is a Hawaiian word that means justice, integrity and moral responsibility. By saying Gabbard’s support for Trump is “not pono,” Tokuda argues that it violates the ethical balance Hawaiians hold dear. The concept is rooted in the Hawaii state motto, “Ua Mau Ke Ea O Ka Aina I Ka Pono,” which means “The life of the land is perpetuated in justice.”
Gabbard ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020 and left the party to become an independent in 2022. Gabbard, who has stepped up her criticism of Biden and his administration, is now popular among conservatives and is a frequent guest on far-right television and radio shows.
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The Trump campaign has announced that former presidential candidates Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Tulsi Gabbard, who recently suspended their campaigns, will join his transition team if Trump wins the U.S. presidential election in November.
Reuters contributed to this story.
Jeremy Yurow is a Hawaii-based political reporter for the USA Today Network. He can be reached at JYurow@gannett.com or X (formerly Twitter @JeremyYurow).
