TULSI GABBARD | The Dark Side of Power | How it Destroys the Foundations of Our Country

they're blinded by this desire for power that causes them to make decisions that ultimately are harmful to the American people or the foundational principles of our country the fundamental freedoms like freedom of speech freedom of religion for me growing up you you just like this is just the way it is in America we are the the Live Free or Die country we are supposed to be a beacon of freedom for the world but now we have people in Congressional hearing saying that Free Speech doesn't apply to everybody you mentioned Bobby Kennedy told a little story in my book about his experience in front of the committee on the weaponization of the federal government against the American people and I'm so glad that they formed this special committee to expose this cuz a lot of people aren't really dialed in to what what is going on but it is very dangerous and it is unraveling the foundation of our Democratic Republic thank you for coming I know you have a out and and I that's the easiest thing to lead with because really what I want to talk about the most is just this role of partisan politics because I'm not someone that's come from a lot of knowledge about politics at all like I failed the Constitution test to get my GED because I was racing not because I wasn't smart enough to finish school but and I barely passed in eth grade so it's just not an area where I felt strong or called but that's changed now the strong and smart I'm not yet but but the called feels true for love of the country is the name of your book and your journey to leaving the Democratic party so how did that all go like was what was the impetus for being a Democrat and then saying this isn't where I fit in or I don't resonate with this anymore yeah I was homeschooled I'm the fourth of five kids grew up in Hawaii and uh I am so grateful to my parents for choosing to educate Us in that way because it gave us a lot of freedom to pursue you know spend time on the things that maybe we needed more time on and speed through the things that that came easily but but actually be able to explore a lot of other experiences I grew up doing martial arts grew up playing music and surfing and hiking and my parents are small business owners so we all were pitching in in the family restaurant growing up through all of that they they raised us to be independent thinkers not telling us well this is what you must believe and this is what you must do but actually thinking through like okay you know what what are you what do you want to do think through what are the pros and what are the cons if you if you go down this path where do you think it may lead what are the consequences both good and bad and actually just going through that both with little things and obviously very big decisions in life and that really laid that strong foundation for me as I eventually got into politics to to to hold on to that and have that be the basis the lens through which I made uh decisions and so I'll I'll start at the beginning in a minute but just as an example I spent eight years in Congress and one of the things that is commonplace there is that every day if you're a Democrat they have the Democratic Whip or the Democratic majority uh they will send out an email saying here are the votes coming up today and here is the recommended way to vote vote Yes on this vote no on that etc etc for your party for your party and the Republicans have the same sure they send out the very same message and so often times I found very quickly when people would go down to vote there's a lot of votes going on there's a lot of legislation moving through and so a lot of times people don't really know what they're voting on until they get to the house floor and they whip out their printed piece of paper saying okay which one are we voting on okay yep that's a yes vote so no thinking they just did it they corre that's the norm that's the norm unfortunately um I made my staff work really hard and they complain about it sometimes they're like we talk to our friends in the other offices they don't make us they they don't have to do all this stuff it's like every vote that I have that we know is coming up you know sometimes we only have 24 hours of notice sometimes we have longer notice but I want you to tell me what are the Democrats saying about this bill and why it's good or why it's bad and then you got to tell me what the Republicans are saying about the very same bill and why they're saying it's good or why it's bad and then you know reality is somewhere somewhere in the middle uh of that uh but it was important to me to not just see through that partisan lens and actually look at like is this a good bill is this just a political you know maneuver like playing political Jiu-Jitsu if they do this and vote this that way then it'll give them a line of attack on this guy when he's running for re-election in a year and a half all this kind of stuff is what goes into the legislation that makes it to the house floor the decisions that are made unfortunately and this is what's wrong it's what's so wrong with our system is that it is the partisan interests very often that are driving the agenda and the next election and how do we win more seats or how do we keep our seats rather than actually looking at like okay here's a problem right what's happening right and this problem is affecting people in my home state of Hawaii it's affecting people here in Arizona it's affecting people in New York like let's let's figure out how do we solve this problem and sometimes these problems are very small and very easily solved but rather they many times they go unsolved because let's say a republican introduces a bill and the Democrats are in power they say well we can't pass that Republican's bill because then they're going to go back to their district and they're going to say hey you guys sent me to Washington to work I got something done here's the legislation I passed past it'll make him look good and make it harder for us to beat him and this this exists on both sides of the no this is totally this is partisan politics this is Democrat Republican this exactly it's about who is able it's about power it's about power and and this is what I get into a lot for for those who will go and read my book I get into a lot about what are the underlying ills and and root causes of these institutional like problems that we have in our politics today and and it comes down to this insatiable hunger for power by those in Washington both those elected and those unelected who are working behind the scenes and unfortunately these people lose sight of like their purpose for being there in the first place to be public servants to be representatives of the people in their communities and didn't start with that intention maybe they didn't I know I know some you know I I know people who did start with that intention and unfortunately got into you know stuck in this trap of like well I got to do this this and this and this to get to a place where I can be in a position to do the things that I set out to do right but somewhere along the way you're hanging out with all these people who only care about what happens in that little bubble in Washington and they just lose touch they lose touch with reality the reality of of the everyday Americans life and both the the the challenges and the opportunities when people come and tell me that they want to run for want to run for Congress and ask for my advice I always ask them why and you can tell the people who are driven to run for office because they Thrive off of the political games or they want to be in the the centers of power versus those who are like Tulsi I hate politics I hate politics and I hate everything about Washington but I really care about my community and there are very real issues that have to be solved and the guys there aren't doing it so I have no choice but to step up I'm like yes you are what Washington needs we need the people there who are disgusted by the partisan political game manip and are actually there uh not seeing it as um you know looking for the red carpet and the people opening doors for you are telling you you don't have to wait in line anymore you're a member of Congress which all of these things happen the people who are turned off by all of that are the people who should be there yeah and uh there are too few of them politics is very new for me and it's been but it's gone fast in a way and um uh there was a hairbrain idea to have me run for Congress in Arizona and I spoke to it was uh I was on Bobby Kennedy's team and a lady named amaris and I know well she's wonderful she's wonderful and we had a conversation and look I said the I just need you to know that the likelihood of this is extremely low just so you know but I really am fascinated to hear you out she basically said the same thing is that you know to be in a you know in government was to represent your community it was to it was to speak for the issues happening locally and or at least maybe it's particularly for congress I guess it somehow lost its way but originally it was that was the whole role of it and that this and and then later on someone else I spoke to they like the the fact that you don't want to do this is exactly why you're the person that should do this so true right which is kind of what you're saying abely so what is it so it's the power that people want that gets them into a wanting maybe doing the wrong thing so what are those blinded they're BL they're blinded by this this desire for power either to hold on to it or to get it back that causes them to to make decisions that ultimately are harmful to the American people or are har harmful to as we are seeing now uh the the the foundational principles of our country the rule of law fundamental freedoms like freedom of speech freedom of religion things that for me growing up you you just like this is just the way it is in America we are the the Live Free or Die country we are this country that is supposed to be a beacon of freedom for the world uh but now we have people in Congressional hearings saying that um and I can't remember the exact quote but basically that that Free Speech isn't like doesn't apply to everybody and uh you mentioned Bobby Kennedy uh I I uh told a little story in my book about his experience in front of the committee on the weaponization of the federal government against the American people it's a mouthful but it's what's happening and I'm so glad that they formed this special committee to expose this because a lot of people um you know they're just trying to live their lives and work and take care of their family and raise their kids and and aren't aren't really dialed in to um what what is going on but it is very dangerous and it is unraveling the foundation of our Democratic Republic but in that hearing the chairman Jim Jordan he had invited Bobby Kennedy to come and speak because he was part party to a lawsuit that directly addressed how the federal government was a lawsuit against the federal government for agencies like the FBI and the White House and others directing uh social media companies to censor specific social media accounts it's like extremely unconstitutional yeah well it's totally happening and I post something about Bobby I get literally half the views like it's easy to see when stories it's it's absolutely happening and that's just one thing exactly exactly so this hearing was about Free Speech the lawsuit is about free speech he was invited there to talk about he is the opening witness and usually how these committees run is you know the majority they will a few words the minority the will say a few words and then the the witness kicks off their remarks and then you have questions and discussion and whatever before Bobby could even begin his opening remarks the Democrats introduced a motion to remove him as a witness from the committee because they did not want any part of platforming his repre sensible the the words they use anti-asian anti-semitic harmful speech no basis to any of these accusations and and anyway so this went on they took a vote I I I won't get into all of it but but his comment uh I I I have a feeling this was a few months ago okay um I think he was already running for president on the Democratic ticket still though okay and uh and it was um I I have a feeling he set aside his prepared remarks and he just kind of like let loose but one of these one of the things he said was how how ironic it is that I'm sitting here in a hearing about Free Speech huh being censored 100% but but it's those kinds of things when you're saying well what are the bad things that they are doing in their pursuit of power it's doing things like that it is taking away our right to free speech it's trying to control the information that we are allowed to see and hear uh in the name of like well we want to protect you from misinformation and disinformation so we're going to we're we're only going to allow these voices or these accounts or these messages to come through we see how they are in over 32 states across the country have taken some action to try to remove Donald Trump from their ballots so that voters don't even have a right to choose who they want to vote for uh to be president and commanderin-chief obviously there's a lot going on not only against Trump in the courts but against people who challenge the political establishment in Washington and you know their stories go unheard because no one knows who they are but these things these things are also happening and the reason why I I mean I'm I'm traveling across the country speaking about this to everyone who will listen I write about it in the book and I'm I'm maximizing every platform available because it doesn't matter whether you're democrat or republican or if you like Joe Biden or you like Donald Trump or you like Bobby Kennedy or or whatever your feelings about politics are at such a hyper divided time in our country we should and must be able to come together around protecting our fundamental freedoms around protecting things like the rule of law this idea that you know Lady Justice is blindfolded for a reason that we should be able to have you know even fiery debates on any issue whether it be in person or on TV or online or whatever and know that like cool we may not agree at the end of it or we might find some areas of agreement that we didn't expect whatever that is this this is the heart of our democracy we're we're in a time where people feel so hopeless and I get asked all the time how is it possible in in uh a country that is so torn apart whether it's based on politics or race or any of these other things social classes or whatever it is how is it possible for us to come together and my message is we've just we've got to get back to the basics look back to our founding fathers when you actually go back and and look at the discussions they had they had huge debates they had big fights they disagreed about a lot of big there's photos of that exactly they they're like all over the walls of the capital but but but how was it possible that in in the midst of such strong emotion big passions really deeply held beliefs they were able to come up with these founding documents that that form the foundation of our country um that that are just as Timeless and relevant today as they were when they wrote them so those those founding principles are the things that we have to be able to come together around why do you think it's harder than ever then for there to be communication for two people that disagree to be able to have a conversation why do you think why do you think that that is not achievable in your mind there there's the mainstream media has a big role to play in it social media big Tech has a big role to play in it um this whole idea of cancle culture and censorship where there are actual like real life consequences in some cases people losing their jobs because of a tweet they put out about who they voted for people are afraid my story that's the only reason why I'm here is because I went to amfest and I posted a picture with my sister like hey we love America so amfest America Fest is the place to be which is where I saw you speak which is you were amazing um and people acted as if I was just radical and then as magga all over the place and it's like uh celebrating America why don't you love it you know if you don't love it maybe that's the problem um but that is truly what happened it was like and and that's why I feel called because I'm like it's a bit more of a like an Fu why can't I love like say that without being criticized coming from being Democratic to being independent you know it's like there's also within the media it seems like you know you can say as a more of a liberal or democrat there are things that you're allowed to be say or believe in but but then as soon as you say something like I love my country all of a sudden that's now the weird thing to say and not okay yeah it's crazy and this is one of the reasons why why I left the Democratic party and there is a difference between the two there are some Republicans I strong disagreements with and others that I agree with on on some or many issues but there there has become and and this is it makes me sad to say this but there has become a big distinction between the Democratic Party where saying something like I love my country is seen as a right-wing conservative statement where uh having a flag displayed in front of your house is seen as oh you must be a Maga Trump voter right I I am almost 21 years in the Army I still serve in the Army Reserve I I do love my country yeah very much yeah and I'm not afraid to say it and this is going back to 2020 when I was a camp when I was a candidate uh running for president as a democrat in the Democratic primary I made it a point to say that on the debate stage and to say the Pledge of Allegiance because that is something that we should all be proud of and I knew that in those rooms there were a lot of people who were afraid to say those words there are so many Democrats who love our country it's not there's so many members of Congress who were Democrats who love our country when I was running for president I had some some of my Democrat colleagues at the time would come up to me on the house floor and say like whisper in my ear in the corner of the room where there were no cameras and no one could see saying like oh my gosh I love everything you're saying please keep it up but don't tell anyone I said that there is so much fear of those who challenge what has become the agenda of the democratic party which is like this radical woke I don't know it's hard to sum it up in just a few words because when you think about it it's just insane it's insane at least in the Republican party uh at least in many circles they still celebrate Free Speech you can see some pretty Fierce debates and dis disagreements within the Republican party and it's okay it's okay let's break it down then if it's like I'm you know I love my country yeah and I'm proud of be proud of my country what does that mean like what what what are what do we love what what are we proud of well you know I think for me um when I hear the Star Spangled Banner and when I say I love my country and when I'm saluting the flag um I think of my brothers and sisters that I've had the privilege of serving with I think of those who I deployed with who paid the ultimate price and never came home I think of their families who never got to say goodbye and I think of all of those from every generation who have come before us motivated by that same love love of country love of Freedom um and love for that which makes us unique as a country uh and and it really is fundamentally based on freedom and not just freedom in kind of a Blas sense but going back to again our founding documents our our god-given rights that are enshrined in the Constitution um that allow us to be in a position whatever our background or our story or our experience to love God and express our faith if we choose or not or not if that's own IND to be very outspoken about how strongly we feel about an issue or not live a quiet life go live in the jungle on the big island of Hawaii and you don't have to be bothered by anyone for any reason whatever it is I mean to me that is what we who wear the uniform swear to uphold when we take our oath and when we enlist and and I do I still get goosebumps and I still get a little choked up uh when they play our national anthem and it's unfortunate to me that there are those in this country many of whom are in the Democratic party uh and the Democrat Elite who cringe when they hear the national anthem that's CRA because they think of all that they hate about what goes on in our country or all that they hate about the bad things that have happened in our country forgetting some of our heroes you know when you look back at Martin Luther King when you look at the extreme adversity that he and his cohorts faced what they were fighting for how they religiously stuck to the discipline of peaceful protest even as they were getting beat sometimes to death and instead of reacting to that violence and that hatred and that darkness and evil with lashing out and striking back with more Darkness Martin Luther King talked over and over and over again about how essential it was to respond with love and how essential it was to remember the promise of what it means to be an American to remember the promise of the words that are in our founding documents that all men are created equal endowed by our creator with these unalienable rights to pursue life to to life liberty in the pursuit of happiness even in those darkest of times which is hard to us hard for us to imagine having to live through that today during those darkest of times Martin Luther King was reminding his friends his brothers who were criticizing him saying hey it is time to take up arms we have to fight we have to fight for our lives and our families and our babies and their future even at that time he said no m we cannot allow them to win we can't allow them being those who are are covered in darkness to win the problem that we're one of the problems that we are seeing today is that there are people who look back to Martin Luther King's dream they look back to his words and they say well that was true then but it's not true today and that's where you get all this craziness of like well all white people are racist if you're white you cannot not be racist and if you say that you're not racist and you're white that just proves that you really are racist but you just won't admit it just all of this craziness that goes on it it it defies and dishonors uh to me the the the dream of Martin Luther King but even more than that everything that all of these civil rights icons sacrificed so that we can sit here in a place today and and that their reality is not our reality I almost feel like we're at a point in time where it feels like more is coming to the surface I don't know if you get spiritual at all but very much so but it feels to me like a time when traumas are coming up Division and issues are coming up more and more to deal with and a lot of times it goes so far one way to find its middle and it's been repressed and now it's expressed and some of that is not the best expression whether it be anger rage violence or cancelling or whatever it might be I have hope that there's some common ground to be found and that this is a phase that we're in because there's so much of this like frustration and anger on sides that feels irrational I I agree I think there's a lot that is maybe has been simmering below the surface and things that that are coming to light uh a lot of people blame Donald Trump for bringing all of this to light uh the the problem is what aspect would that be bringing what what uh you know they they accuse him of um you know Awakening A A A whole generation of racists or you know I mean they use really horrible terms that I think are uh intentionally incendiary for political reasons and quite dangerous actually things like oh he's the Nazi of this generation and and all of all of this stuff that has resulted in people like Hillary Clinton saying well Trump supporters are I forget her exact words but she said there they belong in a blasket basket of deplorables then you have President Biden giving a speech saying that you know all of the Maga Republicans which you know there's like however many millions of people voted for the guys half the country essentially they pose the most extreme threat to our country and essentially called them domestic terrorists wow so there are very real consequences to the language that's being used but but the problem with the way that they are responding to things like they say well there's a rise of hate speech there's a rise of this there's a rise of that is censorship when all that that will do is make people really angry and superficially perhaps bury it yeah and only temporarily and leave it to Stew and get worse exactly below the surface when we know again we look through history the best way to respond to hate speech is with better speech and the better way to respond to a negative argument is with a superior argument and so it only further proves the point of why free speech is is so important and this is specifically relevant very much so to what we're dealing with today with with social media and these big corporations and some of them as you said uh I've seen it too Facebook and Instagram very clear decisions to to literally shut off people's accounts or Shadow ban or whatever if they don't like what you're saying and there's nothing you can do about it no obviously Twitter now X is is um in the crosshairs of of all of this as people are accusing them because of Elon musk's decision to keep it as a free speech platform they're saying well what are you going to do do you agree with that I do are you glad he took it over absolutely it's it is it's the only big Tech social media company um that has taken that staunch position um but it hasn't come without problems for them as they are accused of why are you allowing hate speech on your site and I think their approaches is the right one which is hate speech in our society is a problem what I may be offended by and consider hate speech you may not right and vice versa totally this is what's called being triggered if you don't have the trigger inside of you for it if you don't see things like that we don't see things as they are we see things as we are yes exactly and so why would some employee at X or the CEO or even Elon Musk why should they be in a position to tell me what is hate speech and what is not and and so their position is is correct in my opinion which is we as a society have a responsibility to elevate the speech in our society amen and not rely on some Corporation or some government entity to tell us oh here's what you're supposed to be offended by Danica get with the program or here's what you're not supposed to be offended by if you are you're wrong it's it all of these things that we're talking about to me they all come back to the same basic Foundation of Freedom individual liberty allow us to think for ourselves make our own decisions that decision might end up being a mistake cool we got to learn from those lessons but those decisions need to be ours uh um they need to be ours to make in a society that that is supposed to be free and and this is my concern in this in this uh time that we are living in and why this election is so critical is uh a society that was built to be free is increasingly not free 100% one of the things that I find so frustrating I think is the is just general partisan politics at all like have red or blue at all like you just talked about at the beginning about how you you'd get the sheet that said what to vote for that had nothing to do with actually applying your mind and your um your team to a project to figure out what what is really going on that just has to do with following orders and you know I feel like that feels it feels unnatural even in a voting process that you just go oh I just vot vote this way exactly you're not listening to anyone and just like in in Congress you weren't having to listen it was just follow these rules and so I wonder like at the I really wonder what's the point like where did Democrat Republican Come For What is the value of it and do we even need to keep it um again going back here you are as an independent which is neither going back to the Federalist Papers and and some of the the warnings that were sounded by uh some of our founding fathers they they warned against the power of political parties that they would ultimately serve their own purpose rather than serve the interest of the people and almost to a word what they warned against is exactly what we are living through now part of how the political parties got so powerful is through the uh campaign spending and campaign Finance laws so as you as you probably know at this point even as you're beginning your entry into to this this political mess that we're living in right now if you were to run for Congress there is a limit if I wanted to donate to your campaign there's a limit on how much I can donate to your campaign depending on what party right or depending on part for any Congressional candidate if you are a candidate running for congress the federal elections commission the FEC laws say uh and it changes I think it's probably close to $3,000 right now but it says that okay any individual can donate up to that amount to your campaign okay so if I write you a $5,000 check I'm breaking the law and I'm not doing you any favors and in that case' be like hey Tulsa I got to you got to take back a couple Grand of this so you're you're following the law you have these limits at a certain point uh political parties used to have those same limits that ceiling was lifted so while I could only write you a $3,000 check if I wanted to and if I was had the money which I don't but I could write I could write uh the Democrat Republican party a million dollar check what this did was it put the political parties in such a position of power to hold an incredible amount of Leverage oh yeah over you as a new member of Congress I'm just I'm not I'm hypothesizing here D simma down now as you from a state like Arizona where you know some would say it's purple is where a lot of there there's there a few districts here at least a few it's called a Battleground state is exactly and there are at least a few districts that are considered Battleground districts that constantly switch sides either Democrat or Republican and and so and I've seen this happen to friends of mine in Congress who um they're there on the house floor and they got a tough vote where they can vote their conscience and the way that they feel their constituency would want them to vote and then the other side uh of that the the opposite vote is one that the party wants them to do because the party wants a win on whatever the issue is and so in that moment at that time it was then either speaker or majority leader Nancy Pelosi it's a close vote she's going saying hey where is so and so where is so and so I need to I need him to vote for this and there are threats that are made saying if you don't vote with us on this those $5 million that the party had earmark to go towards helping you get reelected that's gone we're out oh yeah uh big Industries like big Pharma they do the same thing a lot of lobbyist Industries are the arm of the political party and if you're not with them on the issue it's like yeah cool uh we're not going to be there for you when you need us to come in with a $10 million adby to help you win your election and so the idea of an individual member of Congress being the elected representative for your community or your state going to Washington to represent their interests and voting your conscience regardless of whether the bill is a Democrat bill or Republican bill that has largely been squashed because of the massive amounts of money that these powerful interests have and the ability for them to to make it so you can't do your job well you look at just how much money was spent even just through the Iowa and New Hampshire and some of these states with ad you know for um advertising and tens of millions of dollars for for one state in a couple weeks away work it's like you know it just I just look at that and I'm like what else could that money be doing right like what else could it be doing so is there a value in having the two having parties at all or I mean I like I just love to Invision idealistically this environment where you just have people speaking and you have to listen to them and that's it like we are still going to disagree 100% a married couple still disagrees and they choose to stay together and love each other right still going to disagree on some stuff so it's not that they're you're going to take away cuz I do think that it's important to have disagreements because that is the only place where growth happens I love personally having my mind changed I think that's the best because it it means I learned something so you need that but people are already naturally going to do it and it just seems like the parties are just a a just a device of division and there's corruption within it and there's all the money that it seems to me along um a politician's path that when they start locally and grow and go with their plans they have to compromise their integrity along the way because they need to get elected and they need money and then that seems like part of it and if you didn't have all this money backing everything to perpetuate it along the way maybe people would hold more Integrity too along the way yeah it doesn't have to be the way but it is often what what happens there there are a few examples of of different people both in the house and the Senate both currently and in the past um who have you know been the outliers in maintaining their independent voice while also remaining pragmatic of understanding that in the house you're one of 435 people and if you want to pass a piece of legislation you're going to have to work with your colleagues to be able to get that across the Finish Line this is one of the reasons why I didn't run for re-election in 2020 I felt that I had maximized my ability to make an impact in House of Representatives where I was and that perhaps I could I could be of more influence and impact outside of that body mostly because you know there's four or five individuals who call the shots there regardless of which party is in power they decide which bills come to the floor for a vote who are these few people it would be the speaker of the house and their top couple lieutenants and then whoever the minority leader is so M as as power shifts hands back and forth there's always a couple of people in the house who are the ones making decisions um and they're influencing everybody underneath of which so you could have the best idea in the world right and you could even go and and convince half of your colleagues in Congress you could get 20 you know 18 people to sign on to your bill if the people at the top don't want to hear it it won't see the light of day so you know for for me at that at that time and I've not regretted this decision uh being being in that position was incredibly frustrating um especially for someone like myself who wasn't Towing the party line and sometimes I agreed with them and sometimes I didn't I was openly critical of of of the leadership when they were wrong and you know commending them when they were right uh but you know there wasn't anybody trying to fast trck my legislation through uh even though you know so I I did my very best to introduce legislation that was always bipartisan which was which was more often than not the case I don't know the actual stats but uh you know when you're in a spot where you're not playing their money game and you're not playing their power game then what's left you know what I mean what happens then what does happen well for me I I just felt like if if if my ab to make an impact in the House of Representatives is limited to giving a speech on the house floor and introducing legislation and giving speeches about the legislation that the leadership is never going to pass because I'm not part of the in club then uh so much of what influences policy happens within our communities and happens within society and so being able to uh help influence that pressure and create that pressure externally was a path that I chose to take at that time it's not to say I wouldn't go back into public service uh my my position that because you've been in the news a whole lot lately my my salty for VP is what the you know well yeah Fox Town Hall was calling you out with Donald Trump so I heard I I was sitting at on my friend's couch in Virginia watching and was was quite surprised to be honest I know enough about Washington know that nothing is real until it's real but say that my goal is to be in a position of great impact to help solve these problems that we're talking about period And I don't exactly know what that position may be or where or when but uh I'm going to keep fighting the fight and um speaking the truth and you know we'll see how things shake out well VP seems like a pretty powerful position it seems like where you'd be able to do the good that you want to do it could if that was an opportunity it could you know with that position in particular um it I think it depends on on the partnership and the relationship that's there uh I'd hate to be in a position where your only task is to uh be like vep in the show where you go to the ribbon cuttings and you know you do the you know uh ceremonial things but but um I don't know if that's a right comparison but uh the point is I want to be able to to work on the things that matter most for our country and uh I would love to have the opportunity to do that what are those matters what do you think are the most important pressing issues that need to be addressed in this next four-year term look they there there are so many issues domestically and related to foreign policy that that require urgent action everything from securing the border to drastically overhauling this thing we call an education system in this country that's unfortunately terribly failing kids and you know kids turning into adults entering into uh their lives uh when when you look at the statistics and this is the beauty of writing a book is you do a lot of research I bet I bet and and seeing the statistics of of how many kids graduate from high school like basically unable to read or write in a way that will that will allow them to function in society homeless is a huge problem in Hawaii as it is growing in many other parts of our country uh lack an affordable home in my home state of Hawaii that a qualif qualifies you qualify for an to purchase an affordable home that cost $750,000 for a single family home wow I mean who can afford that I mean this is one of the things that I was listening to Bobby speak one night at a fundraiser and he said that kids these days don't even entertain the idea of buying a house how can thought how can you you know they're they're not making the the the salaries are not commensurate with the $750,000 affordable things get more inflation is definitely happening but it doesn't feel like people are getting paid more necessarily and that that is exact really dramatically swung during Co I feel like yeah and and it's just and it's continued to get worse uh and this this goes you know if you listen to again the politicians in Washington they're like oh the economy is great the numbers are great the number of jobs are great ionomics is great it's working like why don't you get out and actually talk to some people yeah listen to what they have to say about how the cost of a head of lettuce has doubled the cost of a gallon of milk has doubled just the basic things have doubled maybe what they got a dollar to raise per hour that doesn't even come close uh to covering just the basic necessities what to speak of anything on top of that there there are a lot of issues here there are a lot of issues related to foreign policy where we have um people who are are beholden to the military-industrial complex in Washington from both parties whose answer for just about everything is war whether it's a new cold war or a proxy war or let's go drop some bombs on this country because they're the bad guys but not actually in any of these scenarios thinking through does this serve the interest of the American people does it uh increase our national security or undermine it what are the short and long-term consequences of these decisions and actions both on our economy and our our freedom and our security um what are the cost and consequences going to be in in the people in these countries where we are proposing to go and drop bombs this issue of of War and Peace um was one of the main reasons that I ran for Congress and that I ran for president because I came back from my first deployment to Iraq where I served in a medical unit uh where for the year that I was there every single day confronted with the High human cost of War every day confronted with the the glaring uh profiteering of military of huge defense contct like can you put in layman's terms the bus of War yes like how what is the what is happening I'll start with what we're dealing with right now where um we the taxpayers have sent well over a hundred billion dollar to Ukraine uh to wage what is essentially a proxy war against Russia uh if you hear any of our senior level officials or the people in the Biden Harris Administration talking about it their goal is to is essentially to get rid of Putin which is regime change uh they of course never talk about well who then goes and fills that position what kind of person could it be would it be better for us and the world or Worse none of these things are part of the conversation they're especially lately President Biden and others and his administration are telling us we shouldn't be so concerned about this most recent trunch of $60 billion don't worry about it that money is staying here because it's going to our big military defense contractors who are providing them with all the Weaponry so this is a job creation bill it's not a foreign aid package it's a job creation bill so rather than saying okay well gosh there's a lot of struggling small businesses in this country there's a lot of struggling Farmers there's a lot of struggling uh folks who are are really trying to revive Manufacturing in America again who are trying to make it so that clothes can be made in America again that we can be proud to wear and all of this stuff no forget about that we're just going to dump 60 billion more dollars into these big defense contractors who are making trillions in profiteering off of us constantly being in some state of war and trying to tell us that it's Joe Schmo who's working in the factory line uh in you know Pennsylvania or wherever in this country that we're really doing this for him because he gets to work and get paid tell me what the ratio is of that $60 billion of how much goes to Joe to take care of his family it's a fraction of a fraction of a fraction while the CEOs and their lobbyists and all these people they're raking it in they are raking it in it is disgusting to me to hear this coming from our president and people in his administration looking into the camera to the American people celebrating this as ukrainians are being killed as Russians are being killed as innocent lives are being taken and these very same people in this Administration who claim to be doing this for Ukraine have stopped multiple attempts at a peace uh a treaty being negotiated from the first weeks of this war occurring and throughout this process now it's going on almost two years everyone no matter your position on the war or whatever it may be I mean I I don't know how to feel other than absolutely outraged by this who are the most corrupt people in the government right now I mean you want a list or yeah like I feel like I've heard like the clintons are horrible and there's like there's there's some people that are just they're just they've created such horrible climate in the government and they've done so many horrible things yeah I mean who needs to be out who needs to be out President Biden cannot be allowed to stay in power he can't even talk that's one of the reasons my opinion is also there's a lot of evidence of it but there's a lot of people who are invested in him staying in that position because of the power it provides them I was asked last night at an event that I spoke at uh you know what do you think's going to happen you think they're going to replace Biden and like maybe maybe not I don't know but that's the wrong question H what's the right one well what happens if he's replaced with KL Harris what happens if he's replaced with uh I don't anybody fill in the blank what's going to change nothing right right they the the policy the agenda and their objectives are the same no matter who they put in power in today's Democratic party like especially in the Democratic party it's very very corrupted and it's especially then you look at people like Mitch McConnell I mean you know uh there there are many of these criticisms that can be made about him as well and there are others so I I obviously I've been a Democrat for 20 years I joined the Democratic party at one point so in the hopes that I could influence him uh unfortunately there was no opening for that but but I joined the Democratic party you know over 20 years ago as a 21-year-old in Hawaii running for state house to protect the environment and take care of our home because that was a value of a more democratic sort of liberal perspective was like let us on our own take care keep the keep the air clean yeah organic you know like right and and welcoming of people with different ideas welcoming of people who uh you know understanding the importance of free speech welcoming and and actually taking strong positions back then the ACLU really did defend Free Speech they really did defend civil liberties they really did stand up against the government when they were trying to spy on Americans and that sort of thing the ACLU now unfortunately it has become an extended arm of the democratic party and they only defend the the speech of those who they like and who they agree the speech that they agree with the speech that they're offended by they're like n nope you're on your own there's a lot of change there's a lot of change that has to be made and and I think what's most important is for you know I can tell you the people who I know or the people who I've come into contact with but it comes down to to me we have to be Discerning every one of us in the information that we're consuming don't take anything your at face value do your own research when t as a kid exact and it's what I do I listen to a lot of podcasts and I'm at the gym working out and I don't just listen to the ones I like cuz you know they say things that I like I'll listen to ones coming from people who I probably don't agree with on a lot of things but I really want to know how they think right and I really want to know why like what is their argument am I missing something here and if I am I want to know don't be afraid to be exposed as you said earlier to these ideas that that you you may not be natur these voices that you may not be naturally uh drawn to and and have have those conversations and and to me most importantly because because you know in in our personal lives in our professional lives and certainly in politics I can't think of a single person I agree with on everything exactly like I said you marry someone that you don't agree with on everything right hopefully us yeah that would be really boring yeah it's 100% right that'd be really boring but how boring would be would we be as a cuz this is this is a very real thing though where where people think like well I'm not going to invite anybody I disagree with in my family to my Thanksgiving dinner or whatever and the what was it this last Thanksgiving was it the New York Times or or somebody was like here are the the rules you should have around your Thanksgiving table around politics yes it was horrible it actually came it actually came from Biden though I remember now they put out this Instagram post that was just bizarre but you know we could call it the Biden Camp right yeah yeah yeah we can call it that we can call it that as as we head into this election I just really encourage people no matter your political persuasion or affiliation or your feelings be very Discerning in in your information gathering uh don't take anything at face value question things that normally you wouldn't have questioned maybe a year ago or 5 years ago or 10 years ago there was a bill that was introduced Rec L for example I think by Rand Paul or Tom Massie in Congress that would get rid of the Department of Education seems like a crazy idea why not talk about it yeah I wonder why they introd is there a better way if not a federal department of education then then what what is the answer to that that we need to be comfortable in having these conversations and we need leaders who are comfortable in US challenging what is seen as the quote unquote Norm those in power are so terrified of people like Donald Trump and they they use this word it's because he challenges every single Norm my view is again regardless of who you like or don't like in politics the norm hasn't been working out really well for us for a really long time and so the only way we change that we go back back to the Declaration of Independence where our founding fathers said our government exists only with the consent of the governed if we don't like what's happening now we are the only ones who can make that change fundamental to that change is protecting our individual liberty and freedom to be able to cast our vote to be able to use our voice to be able to challenge those in power without fear of of retaliation or repercussions so whether your candidate is a democrat or republican or independent I just encourage people to to look at them and ask questions through this foundational framework of freedom in the Constitution because believe it or not there are people who are running for office and in office who don't believe in it they don't believe in freedom of speech they don't believe that the constitution applies to us which is a really dangerous thing wow well I asked you who needs to go but then lot of who needs to stay or who needs to be brought in or back in I don't know if you're willing to say who you think should be president or not but if you're not then I'd love to hear the pros the pros and cons or at least the pros of of of what we have to work with right now and why they might be a good person for the job I don't think we have enough time there there's there's too many issues to get into as we look at each of the candidates who are running for president right now uh I will tell you with full certainty as I mentioned earlier that unfortunately the Biden Harris Administration or anyone that today's Democratic party would put up would only further erode our Republic and undermine our freedom so as you're thinking through your options it is most important in my opinion that we stop the uh stop the destruction we have to stop uh this this quick trajectory we have found ourselves in that is leading us towards darkness and towards a society that is less and less free and more and more like a dictatorship or a Banana Republic the rest we can talk about the rest we can look at and compare and contrast and that's what these elections are for yeah look at the issues and look at where where do they stand how would they handle uh different situations um and and it's important for us to to engage in that process so that we can make the best choice it may not be the choice you want it may not be the ideal situation these elections very rarely are let's be realistic and make decisions that are rooted in Freedom and the Constitution that might be the answer to this last question but with your book what do you hope people take away from it what do you hope they learn from it and what a great time to have the book come out obviously with everything going on for people to learn about you know your journey and the parties and um you know your also your upbringing and what's made you had that have that sort of shift in your own life I I titled the book for love of country because that's what drives me MH I never when I ran for and I was elected to the state house in Hawaii when I was 21 never once in my mind then nor at any point in the period from then to now have I thought well here's what I need to do to further a political career it's never been it's never been a career I don't even know how to think about it in those those terms because the question I've I've asked myself constantly is how and where can I best be of service uh I left that seat in the state legislature because I volunteered to deploy to Iraq with my Hawaii National Guard unit uh in 2004 uh I was gone from Hawaii for almost two years and what I experienced there in combat uh in a combat zone at a time when the irck war was at its height in 2005 it changed me in so many ways and opened my eyes to to to things I had never thought about before growing up in Hawaii it's easy to be a little comfortable and focused on what's happening in our own backyard uh which there just a lot of beautiful waterfalls I mean and beaches and stuff you know we have bad traffic too but yes um so much that I love about my home but when I came home uh I was expected to go back and okay you can run for your seat in the legislature again get back to your life and I couldn't I couldn't do it because I felt a sense of Duty and responsibility uh both to to those who um were killed uh in combat from our unit while we were there uh but also to those who I would never meet to the reason why they were willing to put their lives on the line I knew that I had to take those experiences and to try to make an impact um that would help prevent uh us as a country and leaders from making decisions to go to war unnecessarily again um it is my desire to be of service service to God service to our country service to others has been and continues to be my driving force um it's what made it so that making the decision to leave the Democratic party wasn't n one that ultimately was hard to make because um my allegiance has never been to the party it has always been to our country and I will continue to um to find ways to make that impact to make that positive impact and find ways uh where I can I can best serve all right well that might be in a Vari degree of places and I'm excited to see that unfold for you we barely talked about Fitness but we definitely share love for it podcast will be in the gym yeah that's a good one I like that I like that our real spirit will really come out exactly thank you so much this has been a blast I can't wait to do it again thank you for the time thank you thanks everybody for listening to the pretty intense podcast today I hope you enjoyed it if you like what you heard today and you want to hear more please click on the Subscribe button

Channel: Danica Patrick

Views: 18,621

Keywords: Danica Patrick, Danica Patrick Politics, tulsi gabbard, tulsi gabbard podcast, Tulsi Gabbard War, Tulsi Gabbard Military, tulsi gabbard workout, Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, Who Actually runs the government, Tulsi Gabbard On Biden, Tulsi Gabbard left the Democratic Party, For Love Of Country, Who Will Be President, Why Wokeness Is Damaging, Tulsi Gabbard For Vice President, Insider Trading In Congress, Tulsi Gabbard On Female Sports, Political Greed, Political Criminals

Id: _KcfvSxYYlY

Length: 63min 53sec (3833 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 18 2024