Why did she vote present instead of no? If she had real scruples she would have voted no. But, she can not offend the far left wing base of her party.
In reality she is positioning herself for a presidential run in 4 plus years after Trumps reelection. She knows full well this election will be a disaster for the democrat party. She hopes to pick up the pieces of this disaster and become the next candidate. She may succeed. For her to succeed she must divorce herself from the left. However, she has made many policy statements that are extreme left.
I really do not know what she really is. Obama ran as a moderate and once elected became an extreme leftist.
What is Tulsi Gabbard really? We do not know.
IMHO Tulsi is a leftist opportunist who will lie or deceive to get her own way.
She believes in gun control and reparations, and many more leftist positions. Don't be fooled.
A fictional show about Chinese spies had the character say "In my village the women all danced wearing masks for a ceremony. At the end they took their masks off. The ugliest women always had the most beautiful faces on their masks.