Tulsi Gabbard is the first woman elected to the US House of Representatives from either the Democratic or the Republican wings of the US political parties. She is a member of both the Democratic and Republican parties, and has been a long-time ally of Bernie Sanders and Joe Rogan. In this episode, we talk to Tulsi about her political views on Israel, the anti-Semitism bill that has been introduced by Joe Biden, and her views on the need for free speech in the 21st century, including her opposition to the "Tik Tok" legislation that was signed into law by President Obama on Tuesday. She also talks about why she believes that the internet should be used as a utensil to further censor free speech, and why she thinks that this is a bad idea. Outro music: You're Going to See the Future by Lady Antebellum. Stay tuned for a live version of this episode of Stay Free with Russell Brand wherever you get your favourite streaming platform, streaming wherever you re listening to your favourite podcast. Stay woke! - Russell Brand Thank you for listening to Stay Free With Russell Brand. - our sponsor, and thank you for supporting the show. If you like what you hear, please consider pledging a small monthly donation. We can't thank you enough, and we'll be looking out for you in the future for more great shows like this! - thank you. . . . and keep spreading the word about what you're listening to us everywhere. Love, Russell xxx - Eternally grateful - P.S. - and keep listening to this podcast and supporting us, love you, always, always listening, forever, always - Yours Truly, xoxo, your whole life, your support is enough, yours Truly Amazingly, - Thank you, XOXO, Cheers, EJ & AJ & AJ xx - EJ and AJ & AYO - R.M. and R.A. - E. & A.B. - SEGMENT AND R. ( ) - M. (Thank you, E. (and the rest will be back, EJ) (A.E. ) & J. (NSYNC ( ) - P) - A. ( ), ( ) ( ) & AJ ( ) . ( ) (
00:00:34.000Thanks for joining us today for Stay Free with Russell Brand, where we do our level best to stream to you live across the world, wherever available, the truth as the best as we can understand it from what we have been shown.
00:00:48.000You might be watching us on Rumble right now, like The Real Mix or IbizaLiveCam.com.
00:00:53.000That sounds like an interesting endeavour.
00:01:16.000And the reason I'm excited to speak to Tulsi Gabbard, tell me if you agree with this, is because you've noticed that the categories of left and right are atrophying, fading and breaking down.
00:01:28.000The reason for that, of course, is because they were not undergirded by any moral principles, but by expedience.
00:01:35.000These political parties mutate in order to fulfil We'll be talking to her in a moment.
00:01:39.000That's not her, that's my German Shepherd Bear.
00:01:41.000global financial interests and cultures of dominion.
00:01:46.000So, Toshi Gabbard I think is an interesting figure who has aspects of both of those parties
00:01:51.000in her personal, social, political and economic beliefs.
00:01:55.000So we'll be talking to her in a moment.
00:01:57.000That's not her, that's my German shepherd, Bear.
00:01:59.000He's joined us, as he frequently does, and if you don't allow him in, he stays outside
00:02:04.000barking at me with some dreadful expectation.
00:02:07.000An expectation that I sometimes cannot fulfill.
00:02:10.000Some of you will be very excited to talk to Tulsi.
00:02:13.000In fact, we did a poll earlier asking you what you would most like me to ask her, and the results of that are a lot of you want to talk about censorship.
00:02:20.000I suppose you perhaps saw her on Joe Rogan, did you?
00:02:22.000Where she sort of said that the TikTok legislation that's been signed away by Biden will ultimately be used as a utensil to further censor free speech in much the same way as we've seen increasing across the world lately.
00:02:35.000Yesterday we talked about the WHO treaty, didn't we?
00:02:39.000Later on today, guys, we'll talk a little bit about the anti-Semitism bill and the problems incumbent within it from a variety of perspectives.
00:02:47.000If you're watching this on YouTube, we'll be with you for 10 minutes, then we're going to talk about the anti-Semitism bill, then we're going to bring on Tulsi Gabbard and we're going to do our best to have a conversation with Tulsi, human to human, about the state that we're in and what is required for us to create the kind of changes that I...
00:03:01.000Believe that all of us are beginning to sense our necessary.
00:03:06.000Ask her about Gaza and censorship, please, says that person that's got a name that's evocative of an Ibiza webcam and for me, redolent of a time where as a young man and a hopeless drug addict, I lived on that Epicurean Isle, looking for pleasure in all the wrong places, hopelessly in love with Amanda Algarro Alejos, demented In my pursuit of hedonic enlightenment and revelry.
00:03:34.000First of all, let's have a little chat about what you're doing, Gal.
00:03:36.000Framing us up, because I'm a bit out of focus.
00:04:01.000Trump before you know first part of the show while we're on YouTube which of course we love we love you and we love that we have access to this platform indeed we are grateful to whoever it was that created that platform even if it was a deep state operation designed from the get-go to capture information which it may not have been we'll look into that sort of thing we should look into isn't it We love you, but we can't remain legitimately on a platform that is part of a media conglomerate known as the Trusted News Initiative that have an agenda.
00:04:30.000For example, when you see concerted attacks and smears on media figures, let's face it, alternative media figures, me, Alex Jones, there's been a whole bunch from Joe Rogan, remember, Ivermectin o'clock.
00:04:43.000Remember when you were naked on that police van?
00:05:13.000Tonight, former President Trump facing a new threat of jail time at his hush money trial after his 10th violation of the judge's gag order.
00:05:21.000He's taken away my constitutional right to speak.
00:05:24.000The judge directly addressing the possibility of putting Mr. Trump behind bars over future violations.
00:05:31.000The magnitude of such a decision is not lost on me.
00:05:34.000You are the former president of the United States and possibly the next president as well.
00:05:38.000Adding, as much as I do not want to impose a jail sanction, I will, if necessary and appropriate.
00:06:01.000Because you have to, I suppose, question whether or not you believe Trump's trials are about the pursuit of justice, and from where is that principle derived?
00:06:13.000And not a potent attempt to attack political opponents.
00:06:18.000You'll notice that RFK is being strongly censored, Donald Trump is being attacked but using the techniques and tools of lawfare, and you'll see continually on legacy media various people, pundits and the like, often with former ties to the establishment, the White House, the defense industry, saying the only way to ensure democracy... I mean there's a...
00:06:46.000The only way to ensure democracy is by voting for Joe Biden, a curiously hollowed out individual, a living phantom, a projection, presumably of a conglomerate of interests.
00:08:36.000There's such a lot of funny content about that lady's relationship with man's best friend and her main target practice focus and it's fantastic stuff.
00:08:46.000Let's have a look at Jen Psaki saying that how Joe Biden should handle this presidential campaign is by pitching his wits against that unfavourable coliseum of opinion that is The View.
00:08:57.000On both sides of working as a press secretary, but also now being in the media, and there's been a lot of criticism of Biden, most recently from the New York Times, that he's held the fewest interviews and press availabilities of any president since Reagan.
00:09:11.000I personally think it would help dispel some of the concerns about his age if he did more.
00:09:14.000What would your advice be to the White House in terms of his accessibility to press?
00:09:18.000Well, I think the benefit of the media environment right now, there's a lot of challenges, but I'm sorry, the optimistic side, is that there are so many choices.
00:09:25.000And when you're communicating from the White House, I mean, respect for freedom of speech and freedom of the press is important, but you're also really just trying to communicate with the American people.
00:09:35.000So my view is, he should come on The View before he does a press conference.
00:09:44.000Do you notice that everything is becoming banalized and desacralized, stripped of all meaning and even the potential for meaning?
00:09:52.000The legitimization of Joe Biden's brevity being that it's a more expedient and effective way to communicate.
00:10:02.000We're too busy with our busy lives to listen to complex political perspectives and political manifesto.
00:10:07.000Let's just get him on the view where he can be crisp and succinct.
00:10:13.000Obviously, one might assume that this is an attempt to mask his inability to cogently communicate for periods of time because of a number of reasons, which in a sense makes him the perfect candidate, don't it?
00:10:29.000In fact, we're going to have to leave YouTube now.
00:10:32.000Because, I'll tell you why, because Tulsi Gabbard's coming up in about 10 minutes and before that I want to cover this anti-semitism bill that makes parts of the Bible officially hate speech.
00:11:06.000We've been promising you this story for a little while and it's time to get into it before we engage with much delight and gratitude with the impeccable and incomparable Tulsi Gabbard.
00:11:17.000So, first of all, we know that this week the Anti-Semitism Awareness Act has finally passed.
00:11:26.000Now there's a number of complexities around the passing of this bill.
00:11:31.000Where has the language and the principles behind it been derived from?
00:11:38.000The House passes a bill that conflates criticism of Israel with anti-semitism.
00:11:42.000That is indeed one of the components of this bill.
00:11:44.000The criticism of Israel is deemed to be anti-semitism.
00:11:49.000Double standards towards Israel is regarded to be anti-semitism.
00:11:53.000And in a minute we will talk through Through a curious aspect, one of the people that came up with the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's set of principles of what constitutes antisemitism himself says this oughtn't be utilised in a legislative context.
00:12:08.000It's a set of principles to guide us, not something that should be utilised for law.
00:12:16.000The legislation adopts the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, IHRA's definition of antisemitism, which lists drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis as an example of antisemitism.
00:12:29.000The IHRA also defines antisemitism As applying double standards to Israel by requiring of it a behaviour not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation.
00:12:41.000I suppose an example of that would be that if you believe that the United States is a settler colony or Australia is a settler colony you would have to hold them to the same standards that you might hold Israel to.
00:12:55.000Currently There are no actions, military or otherwise, are there by Australia or the United States of America that could be compared to, for example, Israel's actions in Gaza.
00:13:07.000But in a sense, you can see what this is designed to do.
00:13:11.000The IHRA are ensuring that we know what antisemitism is and that antisemitism should be prevented.
00:13:18.000But what's common and has been common in the last few years during the pandemic is under the auspices of protection, legislation has been passed That ostensibly is there to protect people from being persecuted, whether that's vulnerable people during a pandemic or ethnic, racial or religious minorities during times of an apparent rise of anti-semitism.
00:13:39.000What we have to be aware of is the potential for this legislation to be deployed to control, persecute, imprison and shut down free speech.
00:13:49.000I guess that's an important aspect of this conversation.
00:13:54.000And also denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination by claiming that the existence of a state of Israel is a racist endeavor in and of itself.
00:14:03.000Matt Gaetz pointed to another part of the IHRA's definition that lists claims of the Jews killing Jesus as an example of antisemitism.
00:14:10.000The gospel itself would meet that definition under the terms of the bill, he said.
00:14:17.000Tucker Carlson and Charlie Kirk had a little online conversation about that and agreed that The whole of the New Testament potentially would become hate speech under this new definition.
00:14:29.000Let's have a look at some articles that further help us to understand.
00:14:33.000The first one, this complex idea, the first one is by Li Fang.
00:14:36.000Kenneth Stern, an antisemitism expert who helped develop the IHRA definition of antisemitism, has since criticized efforts to enshrine the definition into law.
00:14:45.000There was never any idea that this would be used as a de facto hate speech code on campus.
00:14:50.000Stern told the Times of Israel you wanted to train police officials on it and so forth but to curtail speech on campus in particular is something that was never contemplated.
00:14:59.000Presumably part of the function of this bill is to control, curtail, interrupt and disrupt ongoing pro-Palestine activity on various university campuses.
00:15:09.000A debate over the appropriate bounds of free speech has roiled the Republican Party since October the 7th.
00:15:14.000For years, conservative pundits and politicians had claimed the high ground on free speech, accusing the left of suppressing conservative voices and ideas in the media and on college campuses.
00:15:24.000Many of those same figures on the right are now pursuing the repression of anti-Israel speech with equal vigor.
00:15:32.000The Israel-related legislation is just the latest saga of the American speech debate that has pulsated through political and media discourse in recent years.
00:15:40.000Over the last decade, left-leaning groups have attempted to suppress speech perceived as crucial of non-white minorities, transgender people and immigrants.
00:15:47.000The Biden administration circulated plans for the Department of Homeland Security to
00:15:50.000police online content concerning racial justice under the banner of combating misinformation
00:16:25.000Why do we have to love one another and protect one another?
00:16:28.000All of these moral and ethical ideas assume a kind of Let's have a look at the next piece that we have on, this is by a theologian.
00:16:34.000word religious for me is in inverted commas because even if you are an atheist and still
00:16:39.000claim that human beings by virtue of consciousness or their sentience or their relationship to
00:16:44.000nature have some kind of unique position, that ultimately is a religious paradigm. You
00:16:51.000would have to agree. Let's have a look at the next piece that we have on. This is by
00:16:56.000a theologian. Curiously, Michael Schellenberger made some great points about this.
00:17:02.000He queries how the legislation will ultimately be deployed and utilized and whether it will have utility beyond its current application.
00:17:11.000He says here, As a basis for political censorship, the Department of Homeland Security, which played a large role in creating the censorship complex behind suppression of dissent around COVID-19 and the 2020 election, is exploiting pro-Hamas incidents at universities to expand its influence over academic curricula in the name of fighting disinformation.
00:17:36.000It's not hard to see how DHS limitations on academic freedom may be weaponized against other political positions in the future.
00:17:43.000Do you find it helpful To try to remove what the argument is, what the subject is, what the issue is, it doesn't matter whether people are talking about vaccines, it doesn't matter which cultural religious group people are talking about, then you can identify whether or not you have a principle.
00:17:58.000For example, if you believe in free speech, that free speech is only relevant, as this headline suggests, if you defend it for people you hate.
00:18:05.000The words of this theologian are also very useful in helping us to understand who might ultimately benefit from legislation that further undermines the idea of living life from a religious, or in this case, of course, specifically Christian perspective.
00:18:20.000Christians know that some of this language, he refers to the idea that Christ was killed by Jews, which of course is literally scriptural and some would argue historical as well as liturgical language.
00:18:38.000Some of this language has been used throughout history as an anti-semitic context.
00:18:41.000So here, Albert Moeller doesn't deny that that is an anti-semitic trope or has been used as one.
00:18:46.000Not that it fundamentally, universally is one, but that it has been used as one.
00:18:50.000At the same time, orthodox biblical Christianity, even the simple preaching of the gospel, could
00:18:56.000be directly targeted by this kind of legislation or language.
00:19:00.000For that matter, by this loose logic, the entire New Testament can be targeted as hate
00:19:04.000speech just start with the Gospel of John.
00:19:07.000It's almost as if this definition has been constructed to serve the ends of liberal theology.
00:19:12.000It will be even more dangerous in the hands of modern secularists and I feel that what the writer Albert Moeller is pointing to here is the potential that ultimately all of our ethical and moral and spiritual principles will ultimately be stripped away until not only will we own nothing and be happy materially, we'll believe nothing and be happy spiritually.
00:19:32.000Without the possibility of choosing a path Surrendering, finding a God of your own understanding, which, as you know, in my case, is Christianity.
00:19:42.000As of recently, I've been a Christian way... how many minutes now?
00:19:47.000The idea that that kind of ideology, theology and scripture can be legislated against, even though perhaps Matt Gaetz was being facetious in raising it, is significant because it is not ultimately the project of secularism and materialism, the stripping away of divinity, the stripping away of our individual and communal connection to higher principles and our right to be born again, our right to change, our right to grow beyond the limitations of the material world,
00:20:17.000Our right to seek atonement in another figure, potentially a religious figure, the idea that this language can be legislated against is a dangerous precedent.
00:20:26.000Even as Albert Moller points out, conservative activist Ben Shapiro has come out against the bill noting massive problems with the definition of antisemitism.
00:20:35.000His concerns are both accurate and honest and powerful, coming from a prominent Jewish voice.
00:20:39.000He concludes, Yoram Hazony, one of the most important Jewish intellectuals of our time, posted on X, anything that relies on the confused IHRA definition of antisemitism is a problem.
00:20:49.000I especially appreciate one of his posts from 2022, says the writer, when he stated, orthodox religious traditions, Christian and Jewish, are the only things that will survive the blast furnace of ongoing cultural revolution.
00:21:02.000Make sure you're on the right side of this struggle.
00:21:04.000The writer says he truly understands what's at stake.
00:21:07.000Our ability to find, define, determine, interact with and live by meaning is what is potentially under threat, as well as further empowerment of the censorship industrial complex.
00:21:21.000This empowers all the wrong forces within American and global political life.
00:21:28.000And the fact that this is just another one of these bills, just think about how many bills have just whisked through Congress in the last couple of weeks and been signed away.
00:21:35.000Section 702, $95 billion more for war, TikTok's banned now, all just Whooshing through in a political torrent in a smash and grab fire sale of policies.
00:21:47.000It seems to me something extraordinary is happening and it's going to require new relationships and it's going to require new alliances and a new emboldening of all of us as But that's just what I think.
00:21:57.000Let me know what you think in the comments and the chat.
00:22:01.000Before we get to Tulsi Gabbard, I would like to say that by all possibility, your very phone is spying on you right now.
00:22:09.000In fact, it's made all the more likely by the passing of Section 702.
00:22:15.000Surveillance is just part of American and therefore global life now.
00:22:18.000Here's a quick word from our sponsors and then I'll be with Tulsi Gabbard passing on your questions.
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00:23:28.000What is most exciting about Tulsi Gabbard, a woman who's dedicated much of her life to the US Army and to Congress, is that she perhaps defines in her career the new fissures that are appearing politically and the impossibility of old taxonomies in describing what's happening at the heart of American life.
00:23:46.000Tulsi's here because she's got a new book, her first book, For the Love of Country, Leave the Democrat Party Behind.
00:24:47.000Having dedicated so much of your life to the American military and having dedicated so much of your life to the Democrat Party, I mean I suppose the title of your book gives a pretty clear indication where your alliances lie and how you have evolved, but you must love to a degree both of these institutions and yet one of the main reasons you've left the Democrat Party is because you say they are a party of warmongers now.
00:25:12.000Can you tell me how the establishments for Well, thank you, first of all, just for the purpose of clarity.
00:25:18.000My love is for our country and the reason why I serve in our military now for over 21 years, serving as an officer in the U.S.
00:25:51.000I saw back then a party of free speech, a big tent party that welcomed people with different backgrounds, different religions, different views, that stood up for civil liberties and free speech, even for people they disagreed with.
00:26:04.000And it was a party that fought for the little guy.
00:26:07.000You fast forward to where we are today, that party has become wholly unrecognizable.
00:26:12.000And so just as my being part of the Democratic Party was driven by my love of country and my desire to serve, so too was my decision to leave the party because it has become a party that stands diametrically opposed to the fundamental principles of freedom that make this country the great country that it is.
00:26:32.000I've spoken to a number of West Point veterans, military personnel and former and current, and it seems to me that there is a pervasive sentiment throughout the US military that of powerful anti-establishment feeling, that they believe that the government is out of control, that numerous wars that your country has been involved in and remains involved in either through aid or direct military involvement are put in it succinctly corrupt Do you feel that there's a real danger that the military could become an anti-establishment force?
00:27:07.000That patriotism in America now means not the love of your government, but as you have described, a love of your nation, distinct, discreet, and very definitively separate from your government.
00:27:19.000Yeah, I think that the prevailing sentiment is because oftentimes those who serve and wear the uniform, they understand the costs of the decisions that politicians make and have the clarity to be able to see that even as we have a civilian-led military, as we should, when you have politicians, too often from both political parties, who are putting their own self-interests first, who are putting the party's interests first, Or as we see very often, the interests of the military-industrial complex first.
00:27:51.000Nothing could be more offensive and insulting to a service member willing to lay down their lives in service to our country, to have a politician who has the power to send us to war, not caring about our country at all, and not asking the most basic question is, is this decision?
00:28:09.000Do we get involved in this war or that war?
00:28:11.000Do we go and wage this war or do we choose peace and diplomacy?
00:28:17.000Those decisions are not very often being made answering the question, does this actually serve our national security interests?
00:28:23.000Does this serve the interests and the well-being of the American people?
00:28:29.000Bobby Kennedy and Donald Trump, in their own ways, of course, to a different degree, are enjoying extraordinary success.
00:28:37.000And perhaps it's reductive to say that both are regarded as anti-establishment figures.
00:28:42.000I know that there are detractors of both who would deny that.
00:28:45.000And I know that the Biden critiques of Trump would be that he's crazy.
00:28:49.000And so and the establishment critiques of Bobby Kennedy would be that he's a crazy pro-vaxxer and all of that kind of stuff.
00:28:56.000But does not the rise of both of these figures suggest that there is a steep yearning for significant change in American cultural and political life?
00:29:08.000I know that both of these parties are at least purported to have courted you, your support and your membership, maybe even as vice president in both cases.
00:29:18.000I wonder if you believe that either one of those purviews could represent the kind of change that America requires on the basis of your analysis of deterioration during the time that you've been involved, in particular with the institution of the Democrat Party.
00:29:35.000There was a Gallup poll that was done a couple of weeks ago that showed 43% of Americans don't identify with either party.
00:29:45.000We've seen how that number is growing over time.
00:29:48.000And really, so it shows the minority of Americans identify with the Democrat Party or identify with the Republican Party.
00:29:54.000And even those who still identify with those parties.
00:29:57.000I meet people all the time, talk to people almost every day who are disenfranchised Republicans, who are disenfranchised Democrats.
00:30:05.000Most Americans very frustrated because we see too often a system and currently the party that's in power again, who is not looking after the interests of the American people.
00:30:16.000So how this election season shakes out, we will see.
00:30:20.000But I agree with your analysis that more Americans recognize how deeply rooted the corruption and the rot is within our government, both in elected officials as well as those who've either been appointed or are bureaucrats who are acting for their own self-interest instead of the interest of the people. And so while that is a very bad thing, the
00:30:43.000fact that more and more people are waking up to it because they're seeing the consequences
00:30:47.000impacting their everyday lives, their families, their communities, the hope is that, my
00:30:53.000hope is that this is an election where we can actually bring about serious change. Plainly, you'd
00:31:00.000prefer either of those candidates to the current incumbent of the White House.
00:31:09.000I'm focused on, in my book, in delivering the message of my experience within the Democratic Party, the danger that the Biden-Harris administration pose to our fundamental rights and freedoms and how they are undermining our democracy.
00:31:28.000Once we get a little bit closer to election day, I'll share my plans.
00:31:33.000Yeah, that's something you have to be careful about because it's still divisive.
00:31:36.000And do you suppose that even between Trump and RFK now there will be more hostility rather than a kind of alliance based on the idea that in spite of Each instance indicators that in some regards they are supporters of establishment edicts such as Trump voting for that 95 or being supportive excuse me of that 95 billion dollar aid bill and Bobby Kennedy's position perhaps on Middle Eastern conflict that ultimately they will turn on one another.
00:32:09.000I don't know much about how your politics works particularly when it heads into the sort of white heat of November.
00:32:15.000Is it for you a difficult thing to get involved in?
00:32:19.000Well, for me it's more so about where I feel that I can make the most positive impact.
00:32:27.000I have a message that I can deliver that shares my experiences, that talks about the very, in detail, the very real consequences.
00:32:35.000Not of saying, well, you know, the Democrat approach to education versus the Republican approach to education.
00:32:41.000For example, I tackle these issues like freedom of speech, like the rule of law, how increasingly the Democratic leader fomenting racism in our country and tearing us apart.
00:32:55.000Looking at each of these issues in detail so that voters can recognize the problem first of all.
00:33:02.000In order to be able to find a solution, we have to first correctly diagnose the problem.
00:33:06.000And I left the Democratic Party because they are the party that is undermining freedom and willing to sacrifice the rule of law, our democracy, and so forth in their pursuit of power.
00:33:18.000There's been some back and forth between President Trump and Bobby Kennedy.
00:33:43.000Having spent a good number of years within the system, do you have anything that you
00:33:49.000can share with us about the actual practical abilities of a man like Joe Biden?
00:33:55.000Because someone like me, who's just anti-establishment in the most broad and sweeping way, would assume that whoever were in the White House, whether it was a A socially capable individual like Barack Obama or George W. Bush, who at the time was kind of regarded, you know, attacked as being a kind of a dope and a joke and stuff like that.
00:34:16.000I wonder how much actual executive power is wielded by a figure like Joe Biden.
00:34:23.000And the recent claim that he speak only in soundbites and do less PR and much short speeches seems to be an indication They're acknowledging his senescence and cognitive decline.
00:34:36.000What's your feeling about this man who once was a sort of a pretty potent firebrand, albeit a career congressperson and seemingly pretty corrupt in a bunch of ways based on what I've learned.
00:35:00.000And over time, we've seen how, and this is something that Congress has either allowed to happen or willingly executed, which is an increase of a transfer of power away from the legislative branch and into the executive branch, into the hands of the White House and the President of the United States.
00:35:19.000It's an unfortunate thing because our system of governance, of course, is set up with three co-equal branches of government.
00:35:26.000But on the issue of war and peace, for example, we've seen that the last, uh, we have been in many wars and many conflicts, and yet Congress has not exercised its constitutional responsibility to be the body that actually declares war before that action can take place.
00:35:43.000They've given that over to the president and the executive branch because they don't want to be held responsible for it.
00:35:51.000This administration, the Biden administration, there are certainly challenges.
00:35:57.000There are certainly questions about his state of mind and his ability to be present and focused in the decisions that are being made.
00:36:07.000But ultimately, I hold him responsible.
00:36:10.000I have no doubt about the fact that he is surrounded by people who have They're handing him the note cards and they're shaping the
00:36:18.000We see over and over how they go in and he says one thing and then they come back and
00:36:28.000There's no doubt about it, but he was elected as president of the United States.
00:36:32.000He is making the decision to run for re-election.
00:36:35.000He is the person that we as American voters must hold responsible for the decisions that are being made and the very dangerous consequences of those policies.
00:36:46.000We're continually invited to regard the haunting and ghoulish figure of Donald Trump as a kind of reincarnation of the militaristic despotism that blighted the 20th century, but it's my belief, Tulsi, that what we're Sliding into is a new kind of technological dictatorship, a despotism that is kind of that bears the aesthetic of bureaucracy that owes more to Kafka and to Huxley and Orwell than Hitler.
00:37:22.000Or Stalin, through the increasing power of the censorship industrial complex, through the ability to shut down protests, through the ability to shut down free speech, smear political dissidents and opponents, use the judiciary as a tool of weaponry, shut down the campaigns of active political opponents, whether it's through censorship or lawfare, Seems to me that the thing that we are being instructed to fear in the form of Donald Trump is already upon us in the form of this technocratic yet technological dictatorship.
00:38:05.000The evidence backs it up and it's a very intentional strategic move for the Democrat elite's narrative to be Warning the American people saying crazy things like if you vote for Donald Trump, if he is allowed to win this election, it'll be the last election the United States ever has, that he will be the dictator-in-chief, painting this dark, bleak picture that you've just outlined when the facts and the evidence show that they have already created this.
00:38:35.000They are weaponizing our public institutions.
00:38:38.000They're using the Department of Justice and law enforcement to go after their major political opponent and Donald Trump, but also going after our fellow Americans.
00:38:46.000You know, when President Biden said, you know, over half the country, I think he said 76 million voters in America are MAGA extremists and they pose this greatest threat, domestic threat to our democracy.
00:39:01.000He painted a target on the backs of tens of millions of Americans who voted against him and for the other guy, voted for Donald Trump.
00:39:09.000And President Biden spoke to the country saying they are the greatest threat we face.
00:39:13.000When you look at the kind of implications that has on our society and you look at the reality that parents are getting arrested for going to Board of Education meetings and standing and very passionately speaking about their child's education or their fear and anger around the fact that their gentleman in Loudoun County in Virginia, where I happen to be today, he stood up and his daughter was sexually assaulted by a boy who claimed to be a girl in the girl's bathroom.
00:39:42.000And instead of the school and the Board of Education actually doing something about it and holding this kid and his family responsible for this, they quietly transferred him to another school without saying anything, without telling the parents of this girl who was sexually assaulted.
00:39:59.000Within a very short period of time, this boy went on to sexually assault another girl in the girls bathroom, even as he claimed to be now a girl.
00:40:08.000There are so many examples of how Donald Trump is the face of this figure who is being targeted.
00:40:16.000They are throwing everything but the kitchen sink, trying to tie him up in court, drain him of time and money and resources, smear his character, put out this narrative that they hope will cause voters to turn away from him and throw up their hands and say, well, I guess Joe Biden's the only option.
00:40:32.000But it's also happening to Americans who you will likely never know the names of, the consequences of this and the precedent that it sets.
00:40:48.000It is the administrative state, many layers down, who are executing And the dangerous thing is they're doing this in the name of democracy.
00:40:58.000They're telling us we have to do this to save democracy.
00:41:02.000They are so terrified of free people in a free society getting the information wherever we want to get it, discerning that information and making up our own decisions, particularly as it relates to this upcoming election, that they're trying to get Donald Trump off the ballot.
00:41:20.000That over 32 states tried to unilaterally remove Donald Trump from the ballot, so we wouldn't even have the choice to vote for him.
00:41:27.000And their excuse for that is essentially, well, we are trying to save our democracy.
00:41:32.000We are too afraid of voters making the quote-unquote wrong choice in this election that we have to undermine and destroy our democracy in order to save it.
00:41:42.000Save it from the American people from actually exercising our freedom.
00:41:47.000That's how twisted their mindset is, and it paints that picture of exactly where we will go as a country if they're allowed to do this and get away with it.
00:41:58.000And it creates that certainty for me and for others paying attention.
00:42:06.000If they're allowed to stay in power, this country that I love, that we love, will be gone.
00:42:13.000Yes, I understand that you're saying that we already face a far greater threat and many people point to the four years that Trump has already had in office and his record on war and a variety of other issues as indicators that the level of polarisation and hysteria You've referred to the culture war and the significant power and disruption that it caused around a variety of issues.
00:42:44.000You mentioned the issues around gender and how that plays out culturally.
00:42:51.000One thing I thought that was interesting that Trump said when referring to abortion, and this caused a degree of controversy, was that he would leave it to individual states.
00:43:03.000I took that to mean that decentralisation and federalism could be part of the solution to this increasing polarisation, this growing contempt Between people on both sides of the aisle, even though you are an indicator that those taxonomies are starting to melt with positions that previously have been attributed to one party now migrating.
00:43:24.000The issue of free speech, the issue of war being but two of the issues that have altered and they continue to flip and change.
00:43:31.000As protests in the colleges currently around matters in the Middle East demonstrate and reflect.
00:43:38.000I wonder, given that it's unlikely that post the November elections we're unlikely to see a happy and gracious secession of power, do you feel that federalism and decentralization may at least in part hold the solution to what seem to be pretty seismic problems Yes, I do.
00:44:03.000And it's something that I've seen throughout my time serving in Congress and have understood how destructive it has been and counterproductive at best it's been when you have this big brother, big government overreach into into our lives, into our schools, and into our communities.
00:44:29.000And going back again and looking at the Federalist Papers, looking at the thoughts and the intent behind our country's founder's vision as they crafted our founding documents, it really was.
00:44:42.000Our Constitution speaks to the very real limitations of government, the federal government, And it's intent that power be decentralized really to the lowest level possible where people know their communities.
00:44:56.000My home state of Hawaii is vastly different from California or New York or Montana or Texas or Florida.
00:45:03.000Every state has its own unique culture, has its own unique constituency.
00:45:08.000Our communities are best served and best able to impact decisions that are made, important policy decisions that are made when they're made at the lowest level.
00:45:19.000We have this deep loathing that many of us feel for institutional, political figures and lawmakers from across the spectrum because of the assumption that they are investing in stocks and shares that they have the ability to regulate and therefore benefit from.
00:45:36.000The assumption that companies like Lockheed Martin and Raytheon wield incredible power over American foreign policy, including the participation in wars that simply wouldn't happen if a more diplomatic perspective were allowed to thrive, or even, let's face it, a more democratic or representative perspective.
00:46:01.000Are there, like, points where you feel like, well, I know this, that this bill's likely to be passed, I should buy some stocks in Lockheed Martin?
00:46:08.000Or are there, like, what's lobbying like on the ground?
00:46:36.000One of the first things that happened is every member of Congress, you get elected, you go through what they call orientation briefings.
00:46:42.000And first they happen in a bipartisan sense where you have Democrats and Republicans, you go and sit in a room and, you know, you get a brief on ethics, the ethics rules, you get a brief on, you know, here's how the process works, you get briefs on here's the big issues of the day.
00:46:58.000That you should be somewhat educated on, kind of a 101 introduction.
00:47:03.000And then they break us off into two different places and rooms and buses.
00:47:08.000Democrats go one way, the Republicans go the other way.
00:47:11.000And the briefings that I got as a new Democrat in Congress at the end of 2012, sworn in early 2013, were very much the same as those that my Republican colleagues got in a few distinct ways.
00:47:22.000Number one is I remember they had a PowerPoint slide up showing how your average day would look.
00:47:31.000I got to find that image because I remember capturing a picture with my phone.
00:47:35.000But the predominant amount of time, hours in the day, spent lobbying or spent at fundraisers with lobbyists or on the phone calling lobbyists and asking for money was the majority of the day.
00:47:50.000Really, so the amount of time you spent in your committees doing policy work or on the House floor for votes, on average, let's say it's four or five hours a day.
00:47:58.000The rest of the day you are spending fundraising.
00:48:02.000I went and I saw, okay, go to two different fundraising breakfasts every morning.
00:48:07.000You'll sit around a table with a bunch of lobbyists and, you know, you talk about different issues or whatever, and you leave with a bunch of envelopes with political campaign contributions.
00:48:17.000And then on average, a member of Congress will go and have one or two lunches.
00:48:22.000And then you'll probably go and have another fundraising dinner on any given day of the week and make sure you go in and pop in and make sure that, you know, get those phone calls to make sure that people show up to the next days of fundraisers.
00:48:32.000And this is how people raise tens of millions of dollars all in the course of a day's work.
00:48:41.000I saw this, I experienced it when I first got there, and I was just like, man, this is wrong.
00:49:27.000I talked to some grassroots organizers who were working on different issues who came and visited me and they said, oh my gosh, Tulsi, you stopped taking lobbyist money and PAC money.
00:49:38.000You must obviously be running for president.
00:49:41.000And it was just a funny contrast that happened in the course of a couple of days between the Washington insider perception, which is you will never go anywhere in politics unless you take our money.
00:49:53.000And the opposite coming from people who were like, you know, the $5, $10 donations, the small dollar donations to support the candidate that they like going out and knocking on doors and making phone calls, joining the cause of actually bringing about grassroots change.
00:50:08.000And their perception was exactly the opposite.
00:50:10.000Like, oh, thank God you don't have anything to do with those, those corrupt Washington insiders.
00:50:15.000Uh, it is the power of the people who will prevail.
00:50:21.000I want to talk about the stocks, because this is a big one.
00:50:29.000To answer your question directly, I never sat there and looked at a vote coming up and saying, hmm, I wonder how Microsoft is going to react to this vote.
00:50:36.000Let me go and buy some Microsoft stock.
00:50:41.000I went in knowing that perception is reality.
00:50:44.000And I did not do any stock trading at all of any sort for the eight years that I was in Congress, because whether or not they are acting on insider information, or it's just some happy coincidence that they, you know, buy a million dollars of stock that magically goes up 200% within the next week when a vote is taken.
00:51:04.000It doesn't really matter because perception is reality.
00:51:08.000Members of Congress, elected leaders are held and should be held To a higher standard, uh, and should not, should not be in that position where there's even a perception that you are acting in your own self-interest.
00:51:22.000So I introduced legislation when I was in Congress that would have prohibited a member of Congress, their spouse or their senior staff, their chief of staff from trading in any stocks, because you have access to information that the public does not have, whether you're acting on it or not.
00:51:41.000Uh, perception is reality and, um, it's just wrong.
00:52:09.000They're still doing it, if that answers your question.
00:52:13.000Yeah, in a way, that's an indication of the kind of systemic problems that need to be Addressed, obviously.
00:52:21.000You said before that you're economically populist and it seems to me that populism oughtn't be, as it has become, a kind of dirty word conflated, as many things are, with racism and the right, but it ought be A contract between the people and their elected officials and lawmakers.
00:52:42.000Do you feel that part of what we're experiencing, whether it's with the TikTok ban
00:52:46.000or the antisemitism bill, is the understanding in the houses
00:52:51.000and institutions of power that what currently yet exists with social media,
00:52:57.000even impeded as it is, with the rise of independent media,
00:53:01.000with the phenomenal ability to generate and spread counter narratives,
00:53:06.000is first of all the requirement of categories that didn't even exist, like malinformation,
00:53:10.000which obviously I know I've heard you talk about it.
00:53:12.000It means information that's true, but it's really inconvenient that it's true.
00:53:16.000Do you feel that, in a sense, the underlying agenda of power
00:53:22.000is currently to ensure that no populist movement that opposes the real interests
00:53:29.000that are masked behind the masquerade and charade of American political life,
00:53:35.000as you have just described it, never get any purchase, never have any impact?
00:53:40.000Yes, and it speaks to that elitist mindset of people in Washington who do see populism or populists as a bad word.
00:53:49.000They see it as a bad word because they think that they know what's best, and they and they alone should be able to make the decisions that the rest of us have to live under.
00:53:59.000They're afraid of us actually having access to information that we can gather, opinions or views that may not be sanctioned or They're not constructive for the objectives of the Washington elite and the power elite.
00:54:14.000They may not be helpful to the corporate elitists or the political elitists.
00:55:31.000We have people at Board of Education and City Council and state legislatures and in Congress.
00:55:37.000And of course, for president, we have to bring about this kind of change to get the right people in office who are actually focused on serving the people rather than serving the interests of the elite or the bureaucracies.
00:55:49.000You're obviously a pretty potent and unusual individual having served in two such extraordinary institutions so successfully and for such a long time.
00:56:01.000How do you feel having served in Iraq?
00:56:05.000And I know that you were honoured in Kuwait and stuff, or at least for your service in Kuwait as a part of that conflict.
00:56:11.000When the definition of terrorism seems to be becoming as vague and as applicable according to utility as many of the other vague pieces of legislature that appear to be currently passing.
00:56:29.000I know that you have said, for example, that you are anti all war except for when it involves, I think you maybe said Islamic terrorism, I know that you'll correct me if I'm wrong.
00:56:38.000And someone mentioned it in the chat and I feel like it's a pretty important point.
00:56:40.000But when it seems now that the powerful are able to designate as terrorists their opponents, when we are increasingly seeing in my country and in yours elite deep state units that were set up to oppose terrorism, inverted commas, abroad, deployed domestically to target the threat ultimately of free speech and the kind of unified personal power that you represent and are advocating for in your book, do we have to look Even at the categorisation of terror and what we mean by that, as well as perhaps considering the origins even of specific forms of terrorism such as that which you oppose.
00:57:19.000Briefly on my foreign policy views, I see the world for what it is, not the fantasy land that too many of our politicians view, the lens that they view the world through and how they make decisions that ultimately so often end up being counter to the interests of the American people.
00:57:39.000to peace and to our security. I'm not a pacifist or an isolationist. I just believe that we should
00:57:48.000exhaust all diplomatic measures, means, outreach before we look at the potential of war. It should
00:57:56.000be the last result. Sometimes it is necessary. The adversary may change in different situations,
00:58:02.000but we the people, as well as those who wear the uniform, must be able to trust that our
00:58:09.000elected leaders are going to do all that they possibly can to prevent war and know that if we
00:58:14.000are sent into harm's way, it's not going to be a peaceful war.
00:58:17.000It is for a mission that is necessary, that is unavoidable, and that serves the safety, security, and freedom of the American people.
00:58:24.000To your second point about the vague use of the word terrorism and how these institutions that were created, many of which were created after the terrorist attack on 9-11 here, in our country have been turned and used against our fellow
00:58:41.000That abuse of power, the warrantless surveillance that in the recent legislation that was passed
00:58:46.000was just strengthened that allows these intelligence agencies to target Americans.
00:58:53.000There was language in the TikTok bill.
00:58:54.000I heard you talk about the TikTok bill earlier.
00:58:57.000Language in the TikTok bill that included very vague language about who the president is allowed to designate, who is a foreign adversary, or who may own a business.
00:59:09.000that they believe is under the influence of or directed by a foreign adversary.
00:59:16.000Anytime you do that, anytime you put down in legislation this vague kind of language, there should be no doubt in our minds that it's just a matter of time before it's deployed against a political opponent.
00:59:32.000For Elon Musk to rightly say, okay, yep, today it's TikTok, tomorrow it may be X. There's a huge divergence between X and Meta, Facebook, Instagram, Google, Big Tech, these other entities that have been doing the bidding of the Biden-Harris administration, that have gone along, whether willingly or feel they've threatened or bullied or whatever the case may be, they have been actively censoring Free speech on behalf of the Biden administration.
01:00:06.000Elon Musk has made clear that X won't do that and they won't play that game.
01:00:10.000And so is it really a stretch of imagination for him to believe that if he's not willing to play ball that their targets may be set on him next?
01:00:21.000Also, Rumble and Chris Pavlosky, the CEO there, have been extraordinarily bold on the subject of free speech in Brazil and in France, and certainly in their support of me when I was under attack.
01:00:32.000Tulsi, thank you so much for coming on our show.
01:00:36.000If only we had some image of your book's cover that we could Anchor in our consciousness to help us to purchase it.
01:00:43.000The book For Love of Country Leave the Democrat Party Behind is available now.
01:00:48.000We'll post the link and you should follow Tulsi at Tulsi Gabbard across all social media platforms.
01:00:53.000Tulsi, thank you so much for joining us today, Russell.
01:01:00.000Now listen, we've got a little bit of time and we're going to use that time to celebrate what I'm going to call an extraordinarily successful and professional interview.
01:01:11.000Thank you very much for remaining with us.
01:01:14.000Now, what have we got to talk about now?
01:01:15.000We can talk about that lady who keeps shooting her dog and suggests other people shoot their dogs also.
01:01:23.000Also, we're going to go over to locals in a minute, and if you become an Awakened Wonder, which you can do using the code ISURRENDER, you can get one month, you can cancel at any time.
01:01:35.000If you think this ain't worth it, I'm not enjoying this experience of being part of a radical movement that encourages spiritual awakening and revolution, you can cancel at any time.
01:01:44.000But if you join us, You can participate in our conversation with Mike Benz.
01:02:39.000Operation Mockingbird was a still-little-understood operation undertaken by the CIA to convince Americans that Russians were bad.
01:02:46.000While the full extent of the CIA's reach is still not known, a former investigation in the 1970s revealed 50 journalists at the country's most influential newspapers all had secret links to the CIA and were compensated to run CIA-approved articles.
01:03:01.000This is one of those conspiracy theories, but not really, insomuch as Well, it's actually demonstrably true that Operation Mockingbird was a thing and may yet be a thing.
01:03:19.000Use the code ISURRENDER, you can get a month free and see what we're doing.
01:03:23.000We're going to go straight over there now and do another 10 minutes, have a little bit of a laugh together.
01:03:55.000Do you want to learn a little bit more about that and what it's ultimately going to mean for us?
01:03:58.000I'm thinking that we should talk even more about censorship and you know let me know and you nipples out no chance for phoenix snake uk no way i'll nary do it i'll take it off take it off says brandon esco i won't maybe i will on locals i'm no i'm not doing that it's not only fans we're better than this we have to be better than this uh see you in a minute on local see you tomorrow if you ain't coming remember i surrenders the code there's a link in the description join us stay free