Former Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard speaks to Turning Point Action's Conference in Detroit, Michigan.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Aloha! What a beautiful sight. I love this great country, and I'm so grateful to be here
00:22with all of you. I was walking around earlier today, and I feel this sense of hope, of inspiration,
00:29and motivation, because you know how serious the task at hand is before us. Never before
00:38in my life did I think that we would be having to gather here in a place like this with the
00:43knowledge that our fundamental rights and freedoms, the principles of this great country,
00:49are under attack. Not by some foreign power, but from those in some of the highest positions
00:57of power right here in our own government. It's for this reason that this is the most
01:04important election of our lives. Now you may have heard this over and over again. Oftentimes
01:09this is a line that's used by politicians as they are running for office. I'm not on
01:15a ballot. I am here because I am terrified for what our country looks like if those in
01:24power today, abusing their power, are allowed to remain there. This country that we love
01:30will become unrecognizable, and my concern is that once our freedoms are lost at that
01:37point, it will be virtually impossible to get them back. We are seeing attacks on freedom
01:45of speech. We are seeing an unprecedented assault on the rule of law, the weaponization
01:52of our Department of Justice and law enforcement, the national security state, to go after Joe
01:57Biden's political opponents. We're seeing the fundamental pillars and foundations of
02:03our democratic republic being undermined. The mission that we have before us is a no
02:11fail mission. It is a no fail mission. And it's not up to someone else to fight this
02:20battle to defend our freedom. It is up to every single one of us as Americans. I know
02:32there are a lot of you who are here today who have worn the cloth of this country, who
02:38have served both in peacetime and in wartime. Every one of you, like I did, raised our right
02:45hand and swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against
02:51all enemies, foreign and domestic. I took that same oath as a member of Congress, and
03:01it's something that, like you, I take very seriously. And so to those who are attacking
03:08our freedoms, who are throwing our Constitution in the trash, this is real. This is real.
03:17Even if you have laid down your uniform, that oath is written onto our hearts. I joined
03:26the Democratic Party over 20 years ago. I was 21 years old in Hawaii, and maybe like
03:32some of you, back then I saw a Democratic Party that actually stood for free speech.
03:39It was a big tent, open party that welcomed people from all different backgrounds, different
03:44views, even those they disagreed with. It was a party that stood up for civil liberties,
03:49a party that fought for the little guy and still celebrated that vision of Martin Luther
03:56King Jr. Fast forward to where we are today, that party is completely unrecognizable. I
04:05left the Democratic Party because it is now under the control of an elitist cabal of woke
04:13who are doing all that they can to destroy our freedom, to take away our constitutional
04:28rights, to divide us by racializing everything. Everything has become about race, going directly
04:36against that dream of Martin Luther King Jr. They are attacking our freedom of religion.
04:44They are pushing us closer and closer to the brink of World War III and nuclear war. How
04:50could I in good conscience, as someone who took that oath to our Constitution, be associated
04:57in any way with a party that hates freedom and is destroying the Constitution?
05:10These are very powerful people with powerful tools that they are weaponizing against us
05:17and against our freedoms. But as we look to the next five months before us and this no
05:23fail mission that we have, it's important for you to know that I'm not the only Democrat
05:29who's left the Democratic Party. There are many more of us than you may realize. I meet
05:38or hear from people every single day as I travel across the country who will come up
05:44to me and say, I did the same thing that you did. I felt the same way that you did. Just
05:51here today, I met a woman who came up to me and shared that she was unable to convince
05:57her daughter, who was working for Gavin Newsom, to leave the Democratic Party. But once she
06:04heard my story, she said, enough is enough. I'm out. Let's go fight to save America.
06:11If Alexandra is watching or listening out there, keep staying strong and spreading this
06:23message of freedom. This is our opportunity, our privilege, and our responsibility as citizens
06:31in this country. We can gather together in rooms like this and build our strategy on
06:38how we will reach out to those who may never feel like they belong in a room like this.
06:44But people who love this country deeply and who are terrified about the direction the
06:49Biden administration, the Democrat elite are taking us, reach out that hand and welcome
06:56them to the cause of freedom. This is our opportunity and this is how we win in November.
07:09So what's at stake here? Nothing short of our freedom and the very identity and foundation
07:18of what makes this country the greatest country in the world. We've seen over just the last
07:22few years the brazen abuse of power that gets more and more brazen as the days go on. It's
07:29becoming harder and harder to ignore, even for those who are already paying attention
07:34We look at how, on the one hand, the Biden administration says one thing and the thing
07:39that they do is the exact opposite. President Biden has said his whole foreign policy is
07:44about democracies defeating autocracies and that he is somehow the champion of democracy.
07:50Let's look at what he's doing to our democracy right here at home. Tearing it apart. Trying
07:56to take away our right to vote for the candidate of our choosing, take away our right to express
08:02our freedom of speech. You look at how many years that they said we've got a secure border.
08:08Trust me, we have a secure border. Anyone who's gone to the border like I have can see
08:13that it is not only not secure, it is wide open. Even with this latest action taken by
08:19President Biden's executive order, all he has done in the name of securing the border
08:25is institutionalizing illegal immigration, crossing this border, aiding and abetting
08:32the multi-billion dollar human trafficking industry that the cartels are running. We
08:38can't trust a single thing that they say because every time they say they are doing something
08:43they are actually doing the opposite.
08:47We have seen in the news a few days ago you had the FBI Director Christopher Wray going
08:57before Congress asking for more money because of an increasing foreign terrorist threat
09:03growing within our own borders. I thought it was interesting to me as he said this and
09:10shortly after he said it they caught eight people who crossed through Joe Biden's open
09:15borders from Tajikistan who are actually a part of ISIS. He never actually mentioned
09:21well the open borders are what is allowing this wide open welcome back for these infamous
09:26terrorists to come into our country and plan an attack from within. He also didn't mention
09:31about how much of the FBI's resources that he is asking for more of are being used against
09:37our fellow Americans, targeting those who are exercising their right to free speech,
09:43targeting and looking at those who are peaceful pro-life protesters, targeting and looking
09:48at those parents who are going to Board of Education meetings and protesting and saying
09:52no my daughter is a girl and she should not have to compete against boys and girls sports.
10:07So when we take a step back and we look at all of the powerful entities who are waging
10:12war against our freedom, we have the democratic elite in Washington, the Washington establishment,
10:18law enforcement, the national security state, you have big tech, you have big propaganda
10:24media. Why are they doing this? Why are they fighting so hard? It's because they're afraid.
10:31They are afraid of a free people in a free society exercising our freedoms, our voice
10:38and making sure that we actually have a government of, by and for the people. Because that means
10:44we will throw them out of office and send them home on election day.
10:56We're the only people who can stop them. How do we hold them to account for their brazen
11:01abuse of power, their destruction of our democracy? We are the only ones who can hold them to
11:07account by sending a strong message, an unequivocal message on November 5th on election day saying
11:14that those like Joe Biden who abuse their power, who reject our constitution will not
11:22be allowed to remain in power. We will send them home and vote for Donald Trump on November 5th.
11:28I want to leave you with an important and chilling quote from President Lincoln. He
11:43gave a speech on January 27th in 1838 to the young men's lyceum in Springfield, Illinois
11:51and he said, quote, at what point then is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer,
11:58if it ever reach us, it must spring up amongst us. It cannot come from abroad. If destruction
12:06be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of free men, we
12:16must live through all time or die by suicide. Those in power in America today are the ones
12:28who are leading our great nation towards this suicide that Abraham Lincoln mourned against.
12:34If we don't act now, if we don't take this no-fail mission to save our country seriously,
12:42we will regrettably find ourselves on the other side of this election looking back and
12:48saying we had no war. So how do we do this? How do we save our country? We come together
12:56filled with hope and motivated by love. Love for God, love for our fellow American, love
13:03for our country and a deep, visceral commitment to the defense of freedom.
13:17I was in Hawaii recently going and doing my PT. I was running around the track at the
13:22Kaneohe Marine Corps base and it was in the morning. I had my earphones in as I was running
13:27around the track and in the corner of my eye I saw a guy who was mowing the lawn there
13:31all of a sudden stop. As I went along jogging more I saw a woman pushing a stroller down
13:37the sidewalk all of a sudden stop. A car driving down the street stopped. Finally I stopped,
13:45took down my airpod wondering what was going on and I heard the beautiful sound of Reveille
13:52playing. This beautiful sound of a trumpet that occurs every morning and every evening
13:59on every military base in America and around the world that sounds the call for us to stop
14:05and reflect as our beautiful flag is being raised in the morning and lowered at the end
14:10of the day. In those moments it is our opportunity to reflect on the many who have sacrificed
14:23and given all in service to our country and our freedom. So as we go forward over these
14:30next five months the days that you may feel tired or weary or the days that you may be
14:36attacked simply for saying how much you love this country draw strength and courage from
14:42the sacrifices of those who have come before us and know that we the people must prevail
14:49in this election and save this country that we love. Thank you so much for being here.
14:55Thank you so much for being here. God bless you. God bless America. Thank you.
15:06Thank you very much.