That was the comment of a friend in Hawaii following Gabbard’s announcement of a presidential run.

He pointed to just some of the reporting prompted by Gabbard’s move.

“Not a great start for Tulsi,” he observed. That seems a fair conclusion.

Rolling Stone: “Tulsi Gabbard’s 2020 Campaign May Be Over Before It Starts”

Roll Call: “Tulsi Gabbard ‘regrets’ past anti-gay activism as she prepares for presidential race”

CNN: “Tulsi Gabbard once touted working for anti-gay group that backed conversion therapy”

I suppose we’re supposed to feel warm and fuzzy now that another Hawaii figure is making a bid for the White House. But Gabbard is widely viewed warily, and with reason.

Gabbard’s new prominence will undoubtedly prompt more reporting on her background with and continuing ties to the cult known as the Science of Identity.

When Gabbard first ran for a seat in Congress, Hawaii voters who were aware of Gabbard’s past had to decide whether she had actually rejected her former beliefs or whether she was masking them in order to pursue an ambitious political agenda.

She says her views on LGBTQ issues have made a 180 degree turnaround.

But the reality isn’t clear. Gabbard’s aunt, in a letter published by the New Yorker Magazine in November 2017, made public her own concerns about Gabbard’s real political agenda, the status of her ties to the Science of Identity Foundation, and her praise of political strongmen here and abroad.

It has been noted that Gabbard’s Congressional staff and her campaign have included a number of individuals with ties to Science of Identity.

And, as others have reported, Gabbard’s campaign has gone to great lengths to insulate her from questions about her past and present ties to the group, stifling questions at campaign events and allegedly hounding reporters who have attempted to pursue the issue.

Christine Gralow, a Hawaii-based investigative reporter, is one of those who has done extensive digging into Gabbard’s past and present, and says she has suffered as a result.

Her reporting can be found at her website, “Meanwhile in Hawaii“. It is essential reading.

A piece published today in the Washington Monthly raises again the question of Gabbard’s cult background, and asks, “Can Democrats trust Tusi Gabbard?”

The answer is, well, questionable.