Tulsi Gabbard On Leaving Democrat Party

Today on Sekulow, Tulsi Gabbard is joining us to talk about leaving the Democrat Party. Her big announcement this morning. She'll be with us today and we'll talk to her about why she decided to leave the Democrat Party and why now. That's today on Sekulow.

Welcome to Sekulow. We are taking your calls to 1-800-684-3110. Tulsi Gabbard is going to be joining us today in the second half hour of the broadcast. She made the big announcement this morning that she is leaving the Democrat Party and she went through the reasons why. She's launching a new podcast as well and she said through that podcast she's going to walk through each of those statements that she made today in the more brief remarks and she released her first podcast as well. So she's going to be joining us live on the show. So we'll have a question for her. My dad's going to be joining as well.

And Logan's here with me now. And I thought it was interesting to kind of walk through her points about why she can no longer stay in the Democrat Party. And she started with that it's become the party of the elitist warmongers. Which is a pretty far cry from where they were when she thought, I guess about 20 years ago is what she said when she got into politics. A 21 year old who got elected to the State House that this was the anti-war party. This was the bigger tent party at the time.

And I would say too the Republican Party since I've been working inside of it probably simultaneously when she was joining the Democrat Party I was working Republican politics. And we were the outliers initially. We used to be the outliers. The people listening to the broadcast used to be the outliers. And then we took over the party. And suddenly the party became a lot more diverse. A lot more open to new ideas. Questioning things like not having a strong military.

It's not a question about should we have a strong military with the best equipment. And she's in the military so I don't think it's that either. It's foreign adventurism and using our military like pawns instead of human beings. And that kind of thing. So that's a lot of the stuff she talked about. I listened to the full podcast this morning and just sort of broke down all of her things. A lot of people have been kind of waiting for this announcement from her. We've seen her now show up on a lot of more conservative outlets. She's speaking at CPAC. She's doing a lot of things. So it's not necessarily shocking that she would leave.

But maybe the only negative is no longer we can say oh we have a friend on the other side. That was kind of nice. But it was a really informative podcast.

I would encourage you all to go take a listen. And hey when she's on with dad later on I'm sure they have something they're going to announce. And that's pretty cool too. So make sure you stay tuned for that. She'll be coming up in just a few segments. And I really did like the podcast and really did. It's just her solo kind of breaking down this announcement.

It's about a half an hour. You can watch it on YouTube and on rumble and you can listen to it on the podcast feed. And it was beautifully shot. So as someone who likes the video side of it, it looked amazing. So a very compelling piece.

I'm excited to see this. And what I was really excited was that it did get so much attention and so much coverage. Because I feel like it could have been. I woke up to it this morning. Yeah I feel like it could have easily kind of been one of those things that happened. Yeah and it became a real news story. Six a.m. maybe five or six or seven.

So seven a.m. on the east coast. But then what was interesting to me too going through these terms. The next one I want to talk about.

I'm going to talk about this when we come back for the break. Because she talks about the cowardly wokeness. And what I'm going to ask her about. What I wanted to ask her about was I feel like one there is cowardice behind it because you just you say we're not going to talk about this.

But also it's like keeping up with. Working inside that corporate world that is woke now and trying to keep up with like what are you even supposed to say today. What could get you fired tomorrow that today was fine to say but tomorrow you can't use that term anymore.

Or you know just overstepping. She talked also a lot about the left also is embracing the term. Now it's like if you're not woke that's a problem. It's not like just a word to describe. Right and she talked a lot about faith and faith and spirituality being demonized within the left. And that she's not in favor of that and that was a big portion of it as well. So for our listener base I think they'll find that pretty interesting.

Thank you all too. We've got time to take your thoughts at 1-800-684-3110. Have you watched Tulsi Gabbard since she's been more kind of available in the conservative world. She's been speaking out on these issues. Give us a call at 1-800-684-3110. Support the work of the ACLJ at ACLJ.org. I also encourage you to go to ACLJ Action Final Day to file your own comment.

It doesn't cost you a thing to do it against the VA being turned into an abortion clinic. That's ACLJAction.org. We'll be right back.

I'd ask you this question folks. Tulsi Gabbard is going to be joining us the second half hour of the broadcast. Rick Grenell is joining us next segment. I'm talking about this breaking news on Saudi Arabia because the White House through John Kirby announced that they are rethinking and willing to work with Congress about what is the right relationship with Saudi Arabia. Again, I know that they weren't happy about the 2000 barrel cut by OPEC, but that's more I think personal to Biden than it is about the United States. Now it does talk about where the United States stands in the world today, but I don't think we've yet crossed over that line where we can't come back very quickly with the right leadership. And obviously we had a previous administration and most previous administrations, they were able to work with the Saudis, not to say that they are perfect, but that they've been a pretty solid ally when it comes to intelligence, security, fighting against Islamic terrorism. They started having to deal with Islamic terrorism in their own country and fighting back against Iran. We were building an alliance through the Abraham Accords and this idea that we could have a bigger than just US and Israel going it alone against Iran, but the entire Middle East saying we're all going to unite. They're very wealthy, they have the resources, they have the militaries, they have the security, they work closely with us, they use our American equipment, we have bases in these countries, so now we're going to rethink. This is not a good time to rethink relationships that were good.

You can have spats. Obviously the Khashoggi incident was a spat, the OPEC decision. I mean the OPEC decision is not good for any of us, but I feel like that was more of a shot at Joe Biden and the administration because they really don't like this playing around with Iran and Iran nuclear deal and they don't trust where this administration is going. Are we the superpower? All these countries have to figure out is it still worthwhile to go it alone with the United States and say we're willing to take on these countries like China or again Iran. Are we going to place ourselves in the cross here?

1-800-684-3110, that's 1-800-684-3110. You know this cowardly wokeness that Tulsi Gabbard talks about. I think a lot of you are experiencing that who work in the corporate world, in the education world, and it changes so often. I think you brought up this on our podcast on Secular Brothers that a lot of people are looking for that sort of exit ramp of where they can get out or move on because you get sort of stuck in your own political party and you see it going further and further away and you don't really know how to react. She's kind of one of the first political figures.

Obviously some celebrities have done this. You even have like your Bill Mars who have moved away from it or we talked about John Cleese yesterday kind of moving away from it. You have Tulsi Gabbard who was obviously a prominent Democrat, ran against President Trump in 2020 and now you have a situation where she's leaving. When we showed up for a video this morning, I thought about I may send this around to a few of my maybe more left-leaning friends who are starting to kind of be concerned about their party of association and go, oh, here's sort of your exit ramp. Look what this person is saying.

Not saying you have to go full-blown conservative Republican, but you can look at it from a different point of view and I appreciate that. We do have a call coming in about it. Do you want to take it? Sure. Let's go to Austin in Georgia online. Austin, it's going to be packed after this, so let's take the calls. Austin, go ahead. Thank you for taking my call. I really appreciate everything you guys have been doing for decades.

Thanks, Austin. A quick question. Would Tulsi be offered in which she accepts a position in a GOP 2024 cabinet?

It's a question we could ask. She certainly would be qualified for a number of positions because of her military service, which a lot of times gets overlooked. Interesting, Logan, because they try to, you know, say things because she talks openly about the military industrial complex, not always wanting to support these foreign expeditions, foreign wars. Again, she's independent. She has not joined the Republican Party. No.

But could you be, especially in this new world of politics where Donald Trump has been President of the United States and could be again? Yeah. Yeah, I think that things are on the table.

I think it totally depends on the position. Yeah, when you listen to this, the first thing she mentions in the podcast talks about the environment. I know that there are a lot of views on that, a lot of mixed reactions. Then she talks about war. And look, there's a lot of conservatives who are still out there beating the drum for war. I'd say that the Republican Party split down the middle on that. I'd say that half the Republican Party would already like to be in war in Ukraine.

The other half is much more libertarian leading, a little bit isolationist leading, a little bit more like President Trump. Yeah, America first kind of stuff. Yeah, I mean, let's wrap these up in a good way. Let's not like evacuate Afghanistan the way we did and cause more problems. But let's not be at constant war, which is what we were used to for post 9-11. We've been in two wars. In regions of the world where, again, you're talking about off-ramps, finding those off-ramps are not easy because you're not going to leave a perfect place. It's not rebuilding Germany with the Marshall Plan when you're talking about Afghanistan or Iraq, for that matter. It's just culturally different, geographically different that it's not the West. But again, this is all happening in real time, these changes in the Republican Party.

It doesn't happen in just one cycle. We will see if this idea becomes that. We talked about how it used to be like evangelicals were on the outside kind of looking in. Then we got a seat at the table.

Then we took over. And then it's kind of moved a little bit past that too, to where even evangelicals maybe aren't as hard in line on a lot of cultural issues these days. It's more about, like you said, it's more about putting America first, our economy, a strong country, individual freedom and liberty. And that's what we're seeing.

And not so much about corporate welfare. There's a comment that came in from Rumble, and I think this does speak to a lot of people because people watched that video. I said maybe they're watching Bill Maher now, weirdly.

Maybe they're watching some of these other voices that are coming. And this Rumble comment said, what I do like about Tulsi is that she's what Democrats used to be a long time ago, which is one that could talk political differences without screaming or threats. Yeah, if you listen to this podcast, it's very even keeled.

There's no screaming in it, even when you disagree with her on situations. Look, we don't 100% line up, but you can respect the fact that this isn't coming out of place of just chaos, which is what they want. They want to stir up chaos. Both sides kind of want to stir up chaos.

So you can find those things. Even what we're doing in the podcast right now is kind of finding that middle ground and being honest and truthful with people. That's what, when I talked to Tulsi, she was in our documentary series we did, Revenge of the Taliban, she even said the next kind of political group in younger voters, they're not necessarily looking party to party. They're looking for, is this person at least telling me the truth the way they see it? Even if I don't agree with them. I at least want to respect the fact that they believe what they're saying.

And that's hard to find. So I think that that's what that comment is kind of maybe tied to, which is people who can be honest and at least tell you how they feel, even if you disagree with them. Yeah, let's go to Bill in Wyoming online too. Hey, Bill.

Hi, thanks for taking my call. I had a question for Ms. Gabbard. I'm wondering how she felt about, or if she got any information from any of the constituents, how they felt about this.

Well, look, she's going to be on a little bit later in the show and I'm sure we'll bring up that kind of question. But they've been kind of going after her for the last few years. And if you look on social media, I was just flipping through, it's the same stuff they were saying years ago. This is what they say about most Republicans. Hillary Clinton went after her when she was running.

This is nothing new for... I would say she poked the bear. If I click share... As a kid, when she decided to run for President, she did poke the bear. And listen, one person can change significantly because people watch that happen in real time and they watch the way they basically also pushed her to the side. The same thing they said about Donald Trump on a little bit more micro level, they were saying about Tulsi Gabbard.

It's like, if you didn't walk our line, exactly right. Even if you were on the debate stage, it's like, Vice President Harris, she could call Joe Biden racist. And she talks about that too, everything now being racialized. And we've seen a lot of that this past week.

We talked about it on the show. But the idea again, the Democrat party seems like to be the party that if you don't walk every point of our line, if you don't stay in line, then you're out. And she was making waves when she ran for President. People liked it. I don't know if she would have won. Well, we saw that. I remember seeing in the chat and seeing the comments, a lot of our listeners said, well, I'm probably still going to vote for President Trump or whoever it was. But if I had to, she would be the one that I would go with. That came up a lot. And see, that's when you ask that question, like Bill was asking, in Hawaii, she's now independent.

In a state like that, which is a pretty independent state, and very unique, and she's born and raised there. I would imagine it's probably not as difficult. If you wanted to, I don't know if she wants to go back into elected politics. I think right now, it's more than this. Some of the questions too, like cabinet, this, that.

But if you're already thinking that way about bringing someone right onto your team. And I think, listen, she spent a year or more talking directly to conservatives. Yeah. And that's what's nice about having a new podcast. It's not just like a one day for a podcast. Right. We do this. Like you said, we do this kind of coming at some point, it seemed like. Yeah, it's a good way to launch a podcast.

A good way to get attention. Of course, we get a statement to have our Democrat, like you said. Right, yeah. There's millions of people now who have already seen her statement.

I mean, we've seen that happen already just in the last few hours. But like you said, what's actually kind of good about podcasting, and we do our own podcast as well, The Secular Brothers, so go subscribe to that. Is it gives you a chance every week, typically, if not multiple times a week, to hear an extended conversation with someone who you may consider for a Presidential run or something like that. Whether that's a Ted Cruz or a Tulsi Gabbard, now they're on the record for hours at a time. Oh, yeah.

Going over these issues. So that's where podcasting can really be helpful. Yeah, my buddy, Ben Ferguson, who's in my wedding, that's kind of the friends we are, I was in his, is going to be co-host of that now. The Cruz podcast.

With Ted Cruz. Yeah, very cool. So take it to the next level. Yeah, and then you have, on the record, hours of content to go back and check on pretty much every issue. Yeah, you shouldn't be surprised by who they are. Right. And I think that's cool because it was pretty hard to pierce that veil in three minutes on cable news.

You just can't. And so, again, we're taking your calls. Rick Renells joining us next. We're going to talk Saudi Arabia and Tulsi Gabbard's second half hour. Don't want to miss it.

All right, welcome back to Secchio. Folks, this is a huge point that we need to focus in on with Saudi Arabia that's come out of the administration. You just saw, if you're watching the broadcast, if you're listening, you were in commercial break.

But if you're watching the broadcast, we just played this slew of Democrats. They are in line on this message, cutting off military aid to the Saudis. Maybe we don't want our military on the ground there. So you think about it with all of the different conflicts. And I know that they're upset about the OPEC move, but there's that question of was it about how much was it about the United States? How much was it about the current administration and where it's kind of placed the United States? So we're going to Rick Renell, our senior advisor for foreign policy and national security.

So, Rick, right off the bat, it just seems like at a time there's a lot of turmoil in the world. I know that they're not happy about this OPEC move, and that speaks a lot to how they view the Biden administration and then, of course, then how you view the United States. But the first point I'd say is we put ourselves in this situation where they could even have this kind of power over the United States to say we're going to cut 2,000 barrels a day, and that could send us into massive inflation and gas prices. Yeah, the thing that I would say is the Biden administration put us into this dilemma.

They're the ones who picked the fight with the Saudis in the beginning. Remember, too, that the Senate Democrats have made strategic mistakes over the last two years. They dropped the sanctions, the Trump sanctions, on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, the Russian pipeline. When the Senate Democrats dropped the sanctions, they said this was the better path, this was a better policy because we didn't want to stick it in the eye of Russia, and that caused a war in Ukraine. Remember, too, the Senate Democrats worked with the Biden administration to remove the Houthis from the terrorist watch list.

And what happened? We immediately saw a war where the Houthis were shooting missiles at the UAE. So now we have Senate Democrats coming forward and saying, block our relationship with the Saudis. This is yet another example of their strategic blunders.

We should absolutely not do this, and we should absolutely not follow the path of the disastrous ideas that the Senate Democrats have put forward. They've caused a war in Ukraine, for God's sake. And it seems to me, Rick, it's kind of easy, I think, to Americans if you could demonize the Saudi Arabian, the kingdom, the family, and all these different aspects, but I think when you actually learn about how much, how involved we are there with military bases, with shared military equipment, when it comes to global and international issues or regional issues in the Middle East, they're a very close partner. Is it stretch to say that they'd be the closest major military partner after Israel in the region? Well, look, they're one of the partners that we absolutely need to work on.

And let me be very blunt. After the Khashoggi incident, we absolutely pushed the Saudis and punished the Saudis in the Trump administration and made sure that they understood that this was a terrible mistake that was going to greatly impact our relations. We improved on that.

I think that there was a huge improvement and we were trying to set a new course in our relationship. And then the Biden team came in and Avril Haines, who is the director of national intelligence, repackaged the entire portfolio on Khashoggi and released it like it was new information. It wasn't new information. It was a strategic way for them, the Biden team, to message to the Iranians that they were going to beat up on the Saudis because they wanted to have new negotiations with Iran. Meanwhile, we're seeing Iran get worse with human rights abuses and this Biden team continues to negotiate with them on a nuclear deal. This is yet another blunder in the Middle East by the Biden team and Senate Democrats.

We should absolutely do the opposite of what they're saying. To me, I would say that after this OPEC move, it would be with an ally like this who does have a lot, they rely on the U.S. for a lot for security and for the equipment they use, their military equipment. And it's not exactly just a two-way street there. But instead of trying to rebuild that relationship, whether it's behind the scenes, strategically, uniting around the common enemy in Iran, instead it's playing this out publicly. Just another issue, I think, where the American people are going, you know, are we going to have another disaster? This is like how many on the list can we handle at a time when, you know, it doesn't say this is the best administration to be balancing all these at the same time. Look, we see a history from the Biden administration of weaponizing government against their political enemies. And this is yet another example. We've seen him weaponize the DOJ.

We've seen him weaponize the FBI, the IRS. When they don't like someone, they use the tools of government to go after them. So now what's happened is they beg the Saudis for an OPEC deal. The Saudis said no.

And what do they do? They throw a tantrum and they say, well, now we're going to completely freeze everything because we didn't get our way. They're weaponizing diplomacy now. And this is just a childish behavior. Again, the Senate Democrats dropped the sanctions on the Russian pipeline, the Trump sanctions on the Russian pipeline. They dropped them.

And what happened? We saw a war in Ukraine. If we were energy independent, one, this decision wouldn't have been the same kind of impact. But second, I feel like that also gives us more leverage over countries like Saudi Arabia who ultimately are looking down the road to say they got to figure out a post-oil economic structure too for them.

And yet when we become so dependent on the world, I mean, we've seen so many mixed signals, Rick. We're going to Venezuela, Chevron's going back in there and we're lifting sanctions on them while at the same time we're punishing and they're allied with Iran. And then we're punishing the Saudis because we don't like their OPEC decision. Now we're putting them in and saying that they are Putin. And to me, it just appears like what you said, these are self-inflicted blunders. I mean, this didn't have to happen this way.

For sure. When you look at the policies of President Trump and getting us off Middle East oil, he was very successful in telling the Middle East, we don't need your oil. We're going to be energy independent and we're going to be an energy exporter. That went over like a lead balloon in the Middle East because they love the leverage that they used to get from being able to put one over on the United States with gas prices. President Trump completely changed that. Joe Biden put us back into that.

He made us beholden to Middle East oil again by canceling the XL pipeline, by making sure that we're not energy independent, by drilling and making our own energy and producing our own energy. And so now what we see is we're back to the old ways where we have to beg the Middle East leaders for some sort of gift and they're saying they don't want to give us the gift. So we're back to putting ourselves into this leverage again.

We got to get out of it. Yeah, Rick, we're going to follow this closely because I think this is one to educate people about it, the relationship, the strategic relationship, the importance, because the other side, they quickly try to demonize. They'll even start bringing up 9-11 again. When it fits their narrative that they're trying to blame someone else for where we are on gas prices. Rick, as always, we appreciate your insight on Sekulow.

Rick, of course, part of the ACLJ team. And when these issues, I mean, this just happened. We're able to bring Rick right in to get you up to speed because it impacts us. I mean, the OPEC decision impacts all of us driving the strategic, of course, military relationship there, which hopefully is able to build a barrier so we don't have to go to larger conflicts. And again, you see it just kind of gets thrown out the window very quickly. And everybody on the Democrat Party is in line saying, you know, it's time to stop sales.

It's time to rethink the relationship. And I don't think there's enough education on that. You know, it's kind of easy to say about them and then not explain why two months ago the President was there. We'll be right back on Sekulow. Tulsi Gabbard joining us. For decades now, the ACLJ has been on the front lines protecting your freedoms, defending your rights in courts, in Congress and in the public arena. The American Center for Law and Justice is on your side. If you're already a member, thank you. And if you're not, well, this is the perfect time to stand with us at ACLJ.org where you can learn more about our life-changing work. Become a member today.

ACLJ.org Keeping you informed and engaged. Now, more than ever, this is Sekulow. And now your host, Jordan Sekulow. Hey, welcome to the second half hour of Sekulow. So, folks, you don't want to miss it. So, coming up after this short segment, Tulsi Gabbard joining us live.

Big announcement today. She's left the Democrat Party. She walked through in about a 30-minute in her new podcast about why and is going to use that podcast to kind of walk through the different issues that have brought her to this kind of 20-year move where she entered politics at about 21 years old. So, you know, I relate to that different side of the aisle politically, but also just it has changed a lot at the Republican Party, the Democrat Party, and also what it means to be an independent where a lot of Americans, I think, find themselves so they don't fully align necessarily 100% of the time with either party.

But certainly, you know, you trend one way. And so we're going to talk to her about all that coming up. So share the broadcast with your friends and family. If you, again, are watching the broadcast online, whether it's on Rumble, Facebook, YouTube, make sure to share. And my dad will be joining us as well for that interview.

So you definitely want to check that out. At ACLJ Action, just to remind you, this final day on the VA comment, and we've had over 11,000 folks take part in that, but I encourage you, if you want to get your comment in, remember the VA tried to open up for abortions and almost in a way tried to act as if they would perform elective abortions. They didn't get into detail, but they bragged about the first time they did one. They put the VA secretary forward on that. So we're going to talk about, we want you to take action on that. It doesn't cost you a thing, but we've got the tool in place where you can get the comment into the federal government.

They have to respond to you. So the more comments, the better. And we've got a preloaded text there, but we encourage you to write three to four of your own sentences. So take just a couple minutes of your time.

That's at ACLJAction.org. And coming up too, we're going to talk to Tulsi, and then we're going to hit a new issue with Iran as well. And we were just talking with Rick Grenell, all the issues that we've been covering today on the Saudi Arabia kind of this, and it was obviously planned. This, we need to check our relationship and maybe we should stop selling military equipment. The list goes on and on and on and on. And then you saw, we had the clips of all the different Democrat senators repeating this same line that John Kirby started, came out with. Which, again, it just seems like we're in a time in the world where do we really want to be reassessing relationships that might not be perfect, but that we're still working relationships. Calling out publicly between countries you work with.

How much of that before you start pushing those countries to, again, take different actions to protect themselves in a regional world where they're nervous about a nuclear Iran and the moves this administration has taken. So I think my dad's joining us now. 1-800-684-3110 to be part of the show. My dad, Tulsi, is going to be joining us in the next segment of the broadcast. It's a huge day for her.

Millions have already seen her short video on Twitter and then, of course, her new podcast launching today as well. But taking the brave step to leave the Democrat Party, which means to leave all of the mechanics that come with that as well. Well, you have to also put it in the perspective that Tulsi was a Presidential candidate for the Democratic Party on the rise during those debates, if you remember. And as you said earlier in the broadcast, when she was getting popular and when her popularity was increasing and her attention was increasing, boy, the whole machine came after her aggressively. Now, you know, Jordan, you know this, of course, we've known the Gabbard family for, my goodness, three decades almost. And I represented her dad in Hawaii years ago. So we know this family well, but it's a very big news day. This is a very big decision for her to leave the Democratic Party, but also becoming an independent.

And she got some other announcements, too. So I'm looking forward to having the conversation. All right, folks, again, we want you to share this with your friends and family. It's very cool that we're able to do this today on the broadcast when she's making a lot of news online and, of course, in both sides of the aisle, to say the least.

So share it with your friends and family. You don't want to miss Tulsi Gabbard coming up next on Sekulow. As always, we encourage you to go to ACLJ.org. And if you can't support the work of the ACLJ, I think this show shows we were able to bring in Rick Rinnell to discuss the Saudi issue right away. Tulsi Gabbard joins us the day she leaves the Democratic Party and makes that big announcement, as she did this morning. And now she's going to be joining us on the air. We'll be right back on Sekulow. All right, welcome back to Sekulow.

This is Jordan. All right, folks, it's great to have Tulsi Gabbard, especially today, a big announcement from Tulsi on leaving the Democratic Party. She's launching a new podcast as well to kind of walk people through this. So Tulsi, I appreciate you joining us today. I had a big day for you. And it's exciting news.

I retweeted it, right, when I was up this morning here on the eastern side of the country. My first question to you, and I'm going to go to my dad, but my first question to you, you talk about the cowardly wokeness. And I talk to folks all the time in the corporate world, and it's like every day tiptoeing around every issue, because you don't even know what's coming the next day where you've got to change your entire way of thought, the language you use, the words you use, or suddenly you're on the outside looking in.

Yeah, you know, that's exactly right. And what does that really point to? It points to the fundamental problem with today's Democratic Party, which is they're opposed to freedom. They don't support freedom of thought. They don't support, you know, critical thinking. They don't support freedom of speech. And given these are the principles that make up the foundation of our country and our Constitution, and they're diametrically opposed to them and actively seeking to undermine those freedoms, religious liberty being one of them, this is the problem. And this is why so many people are walking around on eggshells, because it's not enough that they're attacking our right to free speech, our freedom of religion. If anyone dares to step outside the line, if anyone even dares to question their logic or their narrative or their argument, they're immediately attacked and smeared. In some cases, their livelihoods are threatened, their ability to support themselves and their families. It is antithetical to who we are as Americans and the vision that our founders had for this country.

And therefore poses a direct danger and threat to our democracy. Dad, go ahead. Absolutely. So, Tulsi, I said earlier in the broadcast when I was on just with Jordan that I've known you and your family for, my goodness, a long time.

I mean, many decades. And this is a very appropriate time to say something to you that I only think I've shared with you before. But when we were covering the debates, we all said on air that in the Democratic debates that you were you were really taking it.

You were really doing a great job. And when we asked people who were they going to vote if they weren't voting for Donald Trump, who would be their favorite candidate? You'd think they would pick one of the 20 Republicans that were running.

And everybody was saying Tulsi Gabbard. So this, you know, you always kind of have been outside of what I would call, you know, party speak and really speaking your mind and which is great. So but leaving the party that and leaving the apparatus is a big decision.

And just for a moment, I think it would be great to share with our audience around the country and around the world that are listening on our social media platforms. What was the what was the process like? Because this was obviously a big decision. You ran for President in the Democratic Party just a few years ago and now you're leaving that party. Yeah, you're exactly right, Jay.

And I appreciate being able to be here and to talk with you guys this morning. You know, frankly, because of the work that you've dedicated your life to, you've dedicated your life to defending freedom in a lot of different circumstances. And that's really what this decision came down to, is that today's Democratic Party is is controlled by, you know, these woke war mongering elites who hate freedom. Whether we're talking about freedom of speech, freedom of religion, they have no respect for our civil liberties.

They don't they don't recognize that there is such a thing as truth. And so when you look at all of these things put together, you can see how insane today's Democratic Party has become. I think there are a lot of folks, a lot of Democrats across the country who have been increasingly concerned over time, as I have been, about the direction that they're taking this country in and are wondering, hey, what what can I do to try to be a part of the solution?

Which is why I issued that call to action. Join me. Leave this insane, woke, crazy and dangerous Democratic Party. And let's take a stand to put country first. Fight for freedom. Fight for our fellow Americans. God-given rights that are enshrined in our Constitution that they seek to try to take away. You know, you've experienced that the demonization or attempt to demonize. And I always want to remind people, not only you're outspoken and clear with your views and not afraid of these party apparatuses, but you serve our country to this day. And with these these accusations that get thrown, you know, we all see it.

It's online. But but you're still willing to take that stand. I mean, how much of it? Because I was probably the other side of the aisle spent most of my life working the Republican Party. And, you know, you do get to points where you think, OK, is this still where I belong? And so you went through that that process.

And what is it like? What are your your former constituents? What are you what are you hearing for them? Is more of them feeling that way as well, like taking that maybe an independent route, not necessarily running to join another party, but say, you know what, let's take a step back and talk through the issues. And Jordan, I've always been I've always been an independent minded person. So even as I joined the Democratic Party 20 years ago and throughout the time that I've served in various public offices, from City Council to State House, to Congress and then running for President, I have maintained that independent might have been an independent Democrat. And so, you know, whether it's people who I had the privilege of serving here in Hawaii, colleagues in Congress, people who actually know me understand that that my loyalty is to our country and the Constitution, as it always has been. And so taking this step really is a recognition, again, of what is most important to me in my life. I love our country and I have dedicated my entire adult life to serving our country and to defending those freedoms, whether it's in uniform or in public office.

And this is this is fulfilling, continuing to fulfill my commitment to do that. And like I said, I think there are a lot of folks, whether it's people here in Hawaii or people who I've worked with or I've heard from across the country who share these concerns, but like you said, are too afraid to say anything, which is so sad when you think about it, that here we are in the United States of America, that's supposed to be this beacon of freedom for the country or for the world. And yet Americans are afraid to voice their opinions or to think independently outside of one party line or another. That is what has to change. And I hope that people who are seeing my my what I'm doing and listening to what I'm saying will feel emboldened and inspired to take that stand themselves. Let's talk about your podcast, because this is obviously a new venture and something we're really excited about and happy that to promote. And we think getting your voice, having your voice out in that venue, in that platform, the podcast platforms, a great idea. So I want to start with that.

That launches. Tell us a little bit about that. And then I'm going to ask you a political question.

Yeah, sure. Jay, I've been wanting to put it put together a podcast, an online show for a long time, really, because the limitations of the mainstream media are real. The demonization thing is real. Their ability to control a narrative is real. So even on a good day, if you go on live television, you're lucky you get four and a half minutes to make your point about like the greatest threat to democracy that we face. Like, my gosh, how do you talk about that in four minutes? And so being able to to have my own show where there's no time limits, there's no corporate boss telling me what I can and can't say, it really provides that opportunity to to share my thoughts and views, to go in depth on different issues and challenges we face and to have really interesting conversations with people about those.

And I'm grateful to you, Jay, we recorded an incredible conversation about religious liberty and freedom that I'm excited to share with our listeners and our viewers for The Tulsi Gabbard Show, which is on YouTube, Rumble and on all audio podcast platforms. Yeah, that's a great political question. There is a we've got a situation in Eastern Europe that is a war. Unfortunately, the United States policy is very hard to define. We've got an economy that's teetering right now. And then you look at the oil and gas situation and energy costs are exorbitant as our food costs.

All of these issues are happening. Some would say, well, you've left the political process, but the truth is your voice will be much more amplified outside. But how what kind of point are we at in in America right now as you see it, as you launch your podcast, as you leave the Democratic Party, where do you see the country? Because I know for you, that's first the country. It is.

It is. And regardless of whether people identify as a Democrat or Republican, independent, libertarian, whatever it is, the reality is there are a lot of Americans across the country who are struggling for all of the reasons that you're talking about. Whether it's inflation or, you know, rising gas prices, all of these different things, it comes down to a failure of leadership, a failure of leadership. That's that is what we see when we look at the White House and in Washington is selfish politicians who care more for their own power or winning the next race than they do about actually fighting for peace, fighting for prosperity for the American people and upholding and protecting our freedoms.

We can change that. We've got to cast our votes in the coming election and make sure our voice is heard and vote for the right people who will fight for us and for the Constitution. Folks, you can learn about everything that Tulsi's doing. It's TulsiGabbard.com.

So the podcast, Substack, again, it's all available there. So, again, I encourage everybody to go there and to share with your friends and family. I was talking about this with my brother earlier, is that Tulsi is able to reach people that were not able to reach and talk about these issues directly. So go to TulsiGabbard.com. We appreciate Tulsi joining us on this, such a big news day for her, a big decision to leave the party. TulsiGabbard.com. We'll be right back on Secular.

All right, folks, welcome back to Secular. So, yeah, it was great to have Tulsi Gabbard on. Some of the issues that we're talking about today, getting into specifics on Saudi Arabia earlier, that announcement by John Kirby and the Biden administration, and then a slew of Democrat senators, you know, that we need to, again, fundamentally alter that relationship, really putting it on the line, saying maybe we shouldn't sell them equipment anymore. I mean, in a way, because of the OPEC decision. And I thought with Rick Renaud and Rick really separated the idea from, you know, one, all these countries are looking out for themselves, and we put them back in this situation where they have this leverage that they didn't have under the Trump administration when it came to oil and energy.

So you had to work together in a more cooperative way, in a security way, almost more like a closer alliance. And I know that people hear Saudi Arabia and they think, are those the bad guys? But if you really go through our military bases there, the equipment, and our shared interest in a real enemy in the region, Iran, which, you know, if you say Israel is kind of a front burner when it comes to Iranian propaganda and talk, Saudi Arabia is a close second to their second enemy in the region, and they fund, just like they do with Israel, funding terror groups like Hezbollah and Hamas and working with them to attack Israel. They also do that in Saudi Arabia working with the Houthi rebels. So that issue is at play, but then there's the bigger issue, which is I thought we were building a coalition.

I want to go to Wes Smith on this from our team at the ACLJ. Wes, we have a new report out of the IAEA on Iran's centrifuge, and this is what the IAEA does know about their underground facility in Natanz. But before we get to that specific, we were building this alliance through the Abraham Accords of defense against Iran in the region, not just the Western world, but in the Middle East, to say it's not just going to be the U.S. and Israel, it's going to be the U.S., Israel, about every other country in that region, especially the major economic players in that region who have pretty serious military capabilities of their own.

Exactly, and it was remarkable progress, remarkable progress over the last several years. Here's the thing, President Biden and his administration, they have a penchant, and it's not a good one, for declaring political war on anyone who does not see the world the way they see it, to anyone who does not agree with them. For example, to his political opponents in our own country, he can't just disagree with them, he demonizes them.

They're fascists, they're immoral, they're corrupt. He also declares political war on parents who attend school board meetings, on pro-life Americans and crisis pregnancy centers. He declared war his first day in office on the U.S. fossil fuel industry, and now he's basically declaring political war on our most important ally in the Middle East after Israel. What it will do, it will push not only Saudi Arabia, it will push our other Gulf Arab allies into the arms of Russia and China, if they don't stop this.

I can't believe the rhetoric I'm hearing from some Democrat senators and from the President and his administration, that they're actually willing to sacrifice a country that is so important to our intelligence, to our own national security, to Israel's national security. Saudi Arabia is our chief ally in opposing Iran, and they're going to lay this on the line. And what makes it even more ironic and crazy is that we have more oil and gas under the ground in America than Saudi Arabia does. And we were energy independent, so he declares war on our own industry, and then when our other ally in the same industry doesn't keep lockstep with him, and there's a reason for that. I mean, he called the nation of Saudi Arabia a pariah when he was campaigning. And then his first week in office, he temporarily suspended arms sales to Saudi Arabia while they were being attacked by the Houthi rebels, and while there was this looming threat of Iran at the same time. So now, you know, he's doing the same thing again.

It absolutely makes no sense. What I call it, Jordan, is his bull-in-a-china-closet diplomacy, and he's done it repeatedly. That's what I was about to say. If they're truly an ally, and again, it doesn't mean you always agree, but when you are an ally, you usually take these spats private. Yes. And you can be really tough behind the scenes and say, we saw what you did at OPEC, we don't agree on everything, but here's the consequences. Instead of having every Democrat senator go out with the same talking point. Yeah, and he's really cutting off his nose, America's nose, to spite his face. Pushing Saudi Arabia away from us is not good for America.

It's not good for Saudis, it's not good for the Middle East. Let's talk to people about this new report out of Iran. This, again, we always tell folks that the problem with that initial nuclear deal, and the Biden administration tried to get into one now, even while they're putting down protests, killed another young person there, but their nuclear, they have not stopped, they did not pause, and so they've continued on, and now they've got this, this is what we do know. This is what we know about what's going on inside some of their underground facilities. Yeah, Natanz in particular, which has always had facilities above ground and underneath ground, U.S. and Israeli intelligence revealed just last month that they are doing a vast expansion of Natanz underground with a network of connecting tunnels that will be able to withstand a nuclear attack or a bunker busting bomb, as they call them. So they're expanding that. Fordell already has underground facilities that are very similar to that. And while they're doing that, the IAEA revealed just this week that these new generation centrifuges, which they use to enrich uranium, they have put in so many of those.

They have over a thousand centrifuges at Natanz alone. IAEA earlier this year revealed that they already possess enough uranium to construct their first nuclear bomb. The only thing that was lacking was enriching it to 90 percent, which is weapons-grade level.

The original JCPOA limited it to 3.76 percent. They're at 60 percent now. 90 percent is weapons-grade, and the IAEA says they can go from 60 to 90 percent and have a nuclear bomb in a matter of weeks.

I was thinking about it today. We are today with Iran, where President Clinton was with North Korea in the 1990s. President Clinton, like Joe Biden, vowed that North Korea will never have a nuclear weapon. And the Obama administration came up with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the JCPOA, to stop Iran.

President Clinton's program was called the Joint Framework Agreement. And they gave North Korea all kinds of sanctions relief and all kinds of benefits in cash and aid. And by the time Clinton left office and George W. Bush was inaugurated, North Korea announced they had their first nuclear weapon. We are following that same course with Iran.

We are slow learners when it comes to this. And when they go there, then they get treated like a North Korean, which is a much different approach because, well, you could say this is how they treat their people. Once you're a nuclear power, weapons power, the world has to treat you differently. It changes the game, and it will put Israel and the entire Middle East under the threat of a nuclear-armed Iran.

And it appears this administration is so naive about it, and when they've had the chance, and the previous administration under President Obama, when they had the chance to stop it, they have not done so. Alright, folks, as always, let me encourage you to go to ACLJ.org. I hope you share this broadcast. If you're watching the broadcast, maybe you're listening right now, you can always go back to places like ACLJ.org, Facebook, YouTube, and of course, Rumble, where you can share it with your friends and family. So if you missed Tulsi Gabbard, the last segment, or you missed Rick Renell earlier in the broadcast talking about Saudi Arabia as well, you can share that with your friends and family. So we encourage you to do that. A lot of breaking news today, a lot of big topics that we covered, so as always, go to ACLJ.org, stay updated, support the work, and ACLJ Action Final Day. Put your comment in on the VA. We'll talk to you tomorrow.