This week, Tulsi Gabbard announced she is stepping down as Director of National Intelligence. She's leaving on her own terms, to be at her husband’s side as he battles bone cancer. I have no doubt it was a difficult decision, but she should be commended for making it. Yet rather than allow her a graceful exit, some Democrats couldn't resist the opportunity to remind everyone exactly who they are.
What does it say about a political party when a woman announces she's leaving public service to care for her husband fighting cancer, and its first instinct is to pile on?
Sen. Adam Schiff of California had other ideas.
The California Democrat took to X to offer what he apparently considered a balanced response. He opened with sympathy. "My thoughts go out to Tulsi Gabbard and her family, as her husband battles this serious health problem," Schiff wrote. "I hope and pray that he makes a speedy and full recovery."
Then came the pivot.
"While the circumstances around her departure are deserving of our sympathy, let's be clear," Schiff continued. "Tulsi Gabbard's only positive contribution to our nation's national security is her resignation."
There it is. Schiff couldn't even get through a well-wish without turning it into an attack. He falsely accused Gabbard of politicizing intelligence, dismantling agencies, and weaponizing the intelligence community to pursue what he called "baseless election fraud claims." He closed with this: "We must ensure that her tenure — marked by a devotion to the person of the president and not to the security of the country — represents a terrible exception at DNI and not the new normal."
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It’s ironic for Schiff, of all people, to accuse Gabbard of politicizing intelligence when he falsely claimed to have seen evidence that Trump colluded with Russia. Schiff’s real problem, of course, is that declassifying documents that exposed how the Russian collusion narrative was, in fact, constructed and used against Trump marked Gabbard's tenure.
But Schiff wasn't alone in his gracelessness.
Rep. Madeleine Dean (D-Pa.) pretended not to know why Gabbard was resigning during an interview. "Whatever the reason for her resignation, whatever the reason that the administration is moving on, what I worry most about is the security of this nation," Dean said.
Sick.
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) May 23, 2026
Democrat Rep. Madeleine Dean smears Tulsi Gabbard after she announced her husband has been diagnosed with cancer.
What is wrong with her? pic.twitter.com/ZZDO1rMYDX
Gabbard’s resignation letter made it very clear why she was resigning. Dean played dumb to launch an attack. That's a choice.
And then there’s Rep. Shri Thanedar (D-Mich.), who didn't bother with the pretense of sympathy. "Tulsi Gabbard is resigning," he posted on X. "Good riddance."
California Rep. Norma Torres was just as dismissive. "Tulsi Gabbard is out, mark it on the bingo card," she wrote. "At this point, the Trump Administration hiring process looks like: pick someone loud, promote them fast, watch them implode, repeat."
Democrats spent years positioning themselves as the party of empathy, of basic human decency, of caring. What we're watching in real time is something very different: a party so consumed by its hatred of Trump and anyone associated with him that it has lost the capacity for a moment of simple humanity. A woman's husband is fighting cancer. The correct response is silence or kindness. What we got instead was the same hatred and attacks they make on any other day.
