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Oct. 27, 2022 - Stay Free - Russel Brand
01:05:37
Are The Democrats Warmongers? With Guest Tulsi Gabbard - #022 - Stay Free with Russell Brand
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I'm not going to let you do this.
You buy, I buy you.
In this video, you're going to see the sea surface.
Hello, thanks for joining me for a very special edition of Stay Free with Russell Brand, exclusively live on Rumble.
I'm being joined today by Tulsi Gabbard, former Democrat and presidential candidate, political maverick, We've got some great stuff to tell you about over the course of the show.
I'm going to tell you how you can join me for a live conversation with Jordan Peterson.
But first, let's get into some actual news.
Loads of you will be aware that Elon Musk turned up at Twitter with an actual kitchen sink.
It's an unusual thing.
things we have a quick look at that sir any Elon what what
So that's why he's gone in there building, holding the sink.
We don't know.
It's not necessarily a kitchen.
If it was a kitchen sink, then you'd say he's throwing the kitchen sink at it.
But do you say that in North America?
Let us know in the chat.
Do you say kitchen sink?
We've got everything but the kitchen sink.
That sounds very English, doesn't it?
I can't imagine we're going to throw the kitchen sink at it.
But then he's sort of South African, isn't he?
Yeah.
Subhi, I want to tweet him.
I want to tweet Elon and I want to say, now that you, could you please come on our show and explain what you're doing with that sink and could you, that's it really.
Is this the right thing to do?
Before you press send, I think you might need to... Am I making a mistake?
Go through it again, I would say.
Please tell us what you're doing.
Dear Elon, we're going to tweet him.
As you know, if you're a regular viewer of the show, and I hope you are, you can join us every day, you'll know that me and Elon are in contact, but that I, at the moment, am very much the junior partner.
If it was a love affair, I'm doing the pushing and I put in.
Yeah, so I'm not sure telling us what you're doing with that sink is necessarily the right approach.
It's not cool enough, is it?
I've got to be funnier than that.
I can do better than this.
You know like when you're in love with someone and you want every text to have something behind it?
I'm at very much of that phase with Elon.
Wouldn't it be like, love what you did with the sink or something?
How about we jump in a tub?
Right, okay, now we're getting somewhere.
Right, now okay.
Elon, love what you've done with the sink.
How about we take in a shower?
um careful again i think we should love what you've done with the sink baby i can wash you in 140 characters no elon yeah um oh all right but by the end of the show we are going to send that tweet but before that we'll be talking to maybe people could give us suggestions You send us in the chat what you think we should say to Elon in our tweet.
We've had Twitter contact before.
Also, I'm thinking of voicenaming him, but if I can't even organize a decent tweet, I'm not going to hit him straight in the inbox.
That's the last thing he needs at a time like this.
We've been talking about him coming on our show, Stay Free with Russell Brand, and I reckon before long we'll be welcoming him.
Is it too late for Kanye?
Is it too late for Kanye to come on?
I mean, I want Kanye to come on, but Is it, like, will it be troubling for us all?
I don't think so.
Let's get Kanye on as well.
It's time for us to do it.
If you've not pressed rumble yet, press rumble now.
I don't know why I need you to do it, but by God do I need you to press rumble.
It's just nice, isn't it?
You'll find it nice to have done it.
So...
It's not the nuclear button, that's for sure.
It's certainly... Oh, good, Gareth.
Wait a second, you wait... No, Niora, I will... Elon, I will bathe you in that sink, like in 1940s wartime Britain, when you don't need, like, when your grandparents did.
We used to wash in the sink.
Yeah, they did say that.
This is what they want to tell you.
We washed in the sink.
I slept in a drawer.
They're always on them being in littler things.
We played with a button box.
That's right.
Button box?
Do you mean you're clitoris?
Button box is a sewing thing and it's sewing stuff.
That's all it ever was.
Tulsi Gabbard's on the line?
Oh no, man.
That's the last thing you've said.
That is the last thing you've said.
I can't throw from Tulsi, from Button Boggs to Tulsi.
Don't tell me one minute, tell me here, alright?
She's always coming.
Thank God.
Don't say, don't be saying Tulsi's always coming after I've just said... No.
Do I?
So, like, just as discussed, please tell me when Tulsi is here.
Meanwhile, one person who's preparing for real action, someone who knows exactly where the button box be, is Putin.
Can you see that?
Have you checked him?
Preparing for nuclear drills.
Once again, in a peculiar interior.
That guy's, like, interior design needs some inquiring, but when it comes to preparing for Armageddon, they are second to no one.
Let's have a look.
Not really.
That first bit, you think, oh, that's just a rocket, and then it just engulfs the entire picture, and you're like... And the beep, beep, beep, that's just like, could be a garbage truck reversing.
That's right.
It's like, oh, just go to the curb, this is no problem.
and say, oh no, that's the end of the world.
What is that room?
Like, what is that vibe?
It's sort of neo-classical.
There's a lot of sort of references to Greek architecture, about the triangle above the door, the sort of allusions to pillars.
The round table, very much Doctor Strange-love.
Yeah.
war room and the big board very much strange love in fact young Putin who
the ever more pertinent named young Putin because of his eerie similarities to Putin as a boy yes you've
got you've got the image there that's what Putin looked like as
a lad that's what Putin looks like now here's present day Putin
can you pull up for us while we look at the rest of this video of some
some images of Dr. Strangelove's war room foreign
at land and sea business you know i mean I don't like one minute we're seeing an air missile, then we're seeing a submarine missile.
It very much seems like people preparing for all-out nuclear war.
He's very calm as well, isn't he?
His demeanour... Like, if you... Right, consider this.
If Joe Biden's political power is diminishing, if for example you don't think he really has the authority to exert real control over financial and corporate America, then his power is symbolic.
And look at Biden as a symbol.
He's a symbol of an atrophying democracy, of a weakening democracy, of a democracy that's falling apart.
Well, look at how relaxed this dude is in his sort of scar-faced, strange love war pit.
Totally chilled, just administering death orders.
And also, once again, look at the tech on the submarine here.
Yeah, no problem!
Just do all the buttons, do all the buttons.
Because those buttons, that means launch a nuclear missile, those buttons, doesn't it?
Yeah, it's almost robotic, isn't it, the way he's doing that?
He don't give a toss.
Like, when I think about how anxious I am before sending a text to Elon Musk, or shall I send it?
Is that right?
Oh God, am I going to look silly?
Okay, launch nuclear missile.
No problem!
No problem!
If you do like to do this off a washing machine or turning up an iron, This will mean the end of you and everyone you love.
No, it doesn't make no difference.
Don't make no difference.
No problem.
The Russians, they're harder.
And even their propaganda is harder.
Our propaganda is so finessed and Calvin Klein and on a beach with a bit of perfume.
Their propaganda, we will kill you.
We're preparing already for practice to kill you.
It's pretty hardcore.
Yeah.
We were joking before about the built-in obsolescence.
We were joking before about the ludicrous machinery and accoutrements that Putin surround himself with.
And you see that sort of like that fax machine thing in the background when they were administering their last set of threats about our bluffing.
But I believe that's because they've not been on the trajectory of consumerism and commodification.
They're in an alternative narrative.
So they don't need to update phones every 10 seconds to keep people happy because they're simply Ready to destroy planet Earth at a moment's notice when it comes to it.
There's nothing very fancy about this switchboard of kill buttons, but I bet they do the job.
They look like they're off a 1995 Bosch washing machine, but they could Bosch planet Earth into oblivion.
Somebody who left the Democrat Party denouncing them as warmongers, giving us new insight into bipartisan politics in the United States and the apparent, what do I want to call it, moral posturing of the Democrat Party.
He's our guest today.
We're most honoured to welcome Tulsi Gabbard to the show.
Tulsi, thank you so much for joining us.
Good to talk to you.
It's good that we're both in complimentary denim.
Yes, exactly.
We got the memo in advance.
Absolutely.
Tulsi, at a time where it appears that we are on the precipice of a potential war, already engaged in a proxy war, your denunciation of the Democrat Party as a warmongering party seems even more damning than it ordinarily might.
Are we in a proxy war right now with Russia?
And I say we as a meaning sort of like the West, And how high do you regard the potential that this could escalate into something even more serious?
Great questions.
We are absolutely in a proxy war with Russia, with unfortunately the people of Ukraine being the ones sacrificed in this proxy war.
This is not a war that has the United States' efforts to go to war with Russia, to remove Putin from his regime, didn't start with his invasion of Ukraine.
This is something that's been building and going on for years and years.
This is why I ran for president in 2020, because I saw the writing on the wall of this new Cold War building, these tensions growing, and where a Cold War leads, a Cold War very quickly can turn into a hot war.
And when we're talking about two nuclear-armed countries, the two most powerful, nuclear armed countries in the world, Russia having over 6,000
nuclear warheads, the United States having over 5,000 nuclear warheads.
We are talking about the existential threat of nuclear war.
Fast forward to where we sit today.
We have seen how this administration, the Biden administration, has at every opportunity,
rather than taking advantage of negotiations between Russian officials and Ukrainian officials,
being, hey, where do we find this window of opportunity to be a voice for peace, to truly
help the people of Ukraine by pushing for a negotiated agreement that would end this
war?
Instead of doing that, the Biden administration has instead chosen to escalate this war at every opportunity, throwing tens of billions of American taxpayer dollars towards Ukraine and through weapons and trying to escalate this war, pushing us to the point where, you know, the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists and other experts say that we are at a greater risk of nuclear catastrophe now than ever since the Cuban Missile
Crisis. We're seeing, as you showed, Russia is testing their nuclear capabilities. The United
States has just, I guess, had a show of force with their hypersonic ballistic missile
capabilities. Both sides put edging and rushing closer and closer towards the brink of nuclear disaster,
which doesn't just affect people of This is why I've been talking about this everywhere I go.
We, the United States, you there in the UK, people around the world, are the ones who will be directly affected by a potential World War III and nuclear war.
It really exposes how potentially hollow the humanitarian support of Ukrainian suffering is, and how little investigation there has been into the geopolitical reality that that might lead to.
It seems implausible even to imagine, Tulsi, that the modality applied in Conflicts like the Iraqi wars of a decade or so ago or the until recently ongoing conflict in Afghanistan could be applied in a situation where the opponent is able to respond with nuclear force.
Is the power of the military-industrial complex over congressional politics so serious, so severe and so absolute that they would Take the action that, you know, against Iraq or Afghanistan seem risky, ridiculous, inhumane, but at least not ultimately apocalyptic.
How little insight and how little reflection is there and how great is this power that is external to Congress and actually Where does that boundary lie?
Is there a boundary between the military-industrial complex and the Democratic Party?
Is this what you fundamentally meant with your accusation, or I suppose diagnosis, that they were a warmongering party?
Yeah, the proof is in the pudding, as they say.
The relationship between the military-industrial complex and Congress right now is exactly what President Eisenhower warned against.
It is incredibly cozy.
The revolving door that we see in the halls of Washington, both with former members of Congress, people who leave Congress either as members or as staffers, people who leave the Pentagon and the DoD either uniformed military leaders or civilians, then immediately
going and working within the military industrial complex, profiting essentially off of their
position and their power.
It is a really dangerous thing.
And I know you've talked about this in previous shows about the legislation amendments put
forward in the U.S. Senate that would essentially literally give a blank check for the DOD to
give Ukraine whatever they want, whether they need it or not, and allow big defense contractors
to charge whatever they want to the American taxpayer for this so-called aid.
I want to go back to what you opened up with about, you know, this guise of humanitarianism
that this administration and, frankly, warmongers, Democrat and Republicans in Congress are using
to fatten the pockets of the military industrial complex, saying, we have to do this to help
the people of Ukraine.
You know, we have to do this to save democracy and freedom.
But again, at every opportunity, going all the way back to March, about a month after
the invasion of Ukraine happened, it was the Biden administration that told Zelensky and
the Ukrainian officials, walk away from the negotiating table.
In April, there was an off-ramp that looked to be opening up to say, hey, we could bring about an end to this war.
In a negotiated agreement, nobody walks away getting everything they want.
That is the definition of a negotiation and compromise.
But there was an opportunity then to end this war.
It was Biden and his administration, once again, who shut that door completely and instead chose to escalate it.
Now, just a few days ago, we see how in control the Democratic Party is of the warmongers and um uh the military industrial complex when we had these you know 30 or so so-called progressive democrats in congress write a letter to the president saying uh just the truth diplomacy exercise diplomacy because if this war continues on it will only continue to bear a heavy cost on the people of ukraine and the people of the united states and i want to um i want to just read a quote from that letter because
It's so interesting.
It's very brief.
They wrote in this letter, a war that is allowed to grind on for years, potentially escalating in intensity and geographic scope, threatens to displace, kill, and immiserate far more Ukrainians while causing hunger, poverty, and death around the world.
The conflict has also contributed to elevated gas and food prices here at home, fueling inflation and high oil prices for Americans in recent months.
They wrote this letter on October 24th.
On October 25th, after getting a huge backlash from their warmongering Democrat leaders and their cohorts in the mainstream media, these so-called progressives could not retract that letter fast enough, could not completely change their position to say no diplomacy.
At all.
And the quote in their letter on October 25th that jumped out at me was Pramila Jayapal, a congresswoman from Washington state, said, every war ends with diplomacy and this one will too after Ukrainian victory.
She clearly doesn't understand what diplomacy means, how a war, a negotiated end to this war can come about, It's a nonsensical statement.
They are cowering in fear of the backlash that came from these warmongers controlling the Democrat Party.
This is one of the main reasons that I left, and I think it's a reason why more and more people in this country are recognizing that this party and those who are in control, this elite cabal of warmongers, are putting all of our lives and the world as we know it at risk.
We appear to be alighting into the monomaniacal language of absolute tyranny in so many ways.
A figure like you, a voice like yours, in this homogenized landscape always stands out.
At this moment you are, as I understand, independent, but there is a sense that you are moving towards a kind of Republican position and affiliation.
This ultra-political position that you currently occupy, a condemnation of systemic corruption, the alliance between the political state and the corporate and financial world, the support of globalist agenda, the inability of ordinary people to have their voices heard, do you think that you can maintain that position In the Republican Party any more than you could within the Democrat Party.
And what does it say about our systems that these outlier voices such as yours and obvious notable ones in both the Democrat Party and the Republican Party are emerging?
And how will these voices ever be ultimately heard?
How will these voices become anything other than rhetorical with the intransigence that currently exists within US politics?
Oh, first of all, I'm an independent and I don't have any plans to join the Republican Party.
It's not something I'm thinking about.
I've always been a very independent minded person, and I will continue to be that way.
I've always Made sure that as I looked at policies and positions that I've taken, my interest, my objective, my goal is to put the interests of the American people in our country ahead of any political interest, for that matter.
I have been even-handed in my criticisms and praise of, while I was in Congress, of both Democrat presidents and Republican presidents, Democrat leaders and Republican leaders, because that's what we need.
We need leaders in both political parties Who have integrity and who can speak the truth.
Who aren't just thinking about, well, what's my next political step and I will do anything and everything to get there.
This was something, and I was elected in 2012 to Congress and it really struck me when within just the first few weeks of being there, we had, I think it was 84, 85 new members of Congress, a mix of Democrats and Republicans.
We were there talking about meeting each other and how do we start solving problems?
How do we work together to start solving problems?
Well, very quickly, unbeknownst to us, our group would be separated into two.
Democrats went into one room, Republicans went into the other room, and we were both essentially given the same message, which is You have to put party first.
You have to put team first.
It doesn't matter if you want to work with somebody because they've got a great idea.
You might actually help them look good and make it harder for us to beat them in the next election.
Or, you know, there might be a Republican who has a great idea, And putting forward strong legislation.
We're not going to push that legislation forward because there's a Republican name that's sponsoring it.
We'll just kind of take the idea and put a Democrat name next to it.
It's this hyper-partisanship and this team spirit mentality that is everything that's wrong with Washington.
And it's why people here in the United States feel so left behind.
You know, we have people in Washington who are continually trying to advance their position,
strengthen their party's position.
And meanwhile, people who are trying to make the decisions about whether they can afford
to fill up the gas tank or buy groceries for their kids, that is the reality that they
are dealing with.
Meanwhile, leaders in Washington are just out of touch.
So I think it's most important for us as Americans and as we look to leaders in this country
and to be leading voices ourselves, to really think about how do we put the people first,
fighting for peace, recognizing that without peace, we cannot achieve prosperity, we cannot
truly be free.
The more we do that, then the more we can get past empty rhetoric and empty words and actually bring about change through leaders who have their priorities straight.
You think that you can make a significant difference in this tribalized and entrenched system independently then?
Do you, as people, have I suppose, reflected, imagined, speculated, consider it a possibility that you could form an alliance with Donald Trump.
Is that something that you've thought about?
Is it something that you would consider doing?
It's not something I've thought about.
I don't know what he's doing or what any other political official is doing in the coming years.
What I'm 100% focused on is finding fellow Americans who share my love of country, my goal of being of service to the American people and putting their interests first.
And upholding the Constitution and protecting our God-given rights and freedoms that are enshrined in the Constitution from those who seek to undermine them.
You know, there are a lot of voices in the mainstream media here and in our politics whose goal is to try to divide us and distract us By being one group against the other, just as President Biden did in his speech in Philadelphia, where he basically said that anybody who voted for Donald Trump are an extremist threat to our country.
Many of his supporters saying that these people are a greater threat to our country than the Al Qaeda terrorists who attacked us on 9-11.
They are doing this Not addressing the substance of the real challenges and struggles that we are facing, not addressing the fact that their policies and actions have gotten us to this point where we are closer to the brink of a nuclear war than we have been since the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Instead, they're just focused on trying to silence those who are dissenting voices.
Smear the character of anyone who dares to take a stand for peace, to take a stand for the people, anyone who dares to challenge whatever their narrative of the day is.
And this is why I left the Democrat Party and why I'm speaking out so forcefully, calling on other Democrats, my fellow Americans, to take a stand With me, because regardless of party, we as Americans, we need to take a stand to protect our freedoms before they have been so eroded and so far gone that it will be very difficult to get them back.
If within the limitations of Congressional, or in our country, Parliamentary democracy, it seems that there is no possibility of real change, it seems that the parameters of neoliberalism, which are extraneous to party division, are what truly defines political discourse, are what truly defines policy, when it seems that more than ever the edicts that we see expressed in Parliamentary or Congressional democracy are coming from Supernational agencies such as the WHO, IMF, even WEF.
How is it possible to, within these institutions, instantiate real change?
Are we not, at this point, looking at a type of politics that truly is grassroots, that truly is about the mobilization of ordinary Americans and indeed ordinary people around the world?
We've seen now that there is this ongoing tendency to use crises, whether it's the pandemic or the current war or the 2008 crash, to create division among people and to utilize these times of crisis to bring about measures of regulation, opportunity for big tech.
We know that there was a wealth transfer during that pandemic.
Is it possible, Tulsi, to bring about change within these institutions, or ought we be looking now at the creations of systems that are outside of conventional and traditional politics?
Essentially, something that is, you know, when you talk about mobilizing American people, It's pretty clear that with the influence yielded over both the Democrat Party and the Republican Party by their lobbyists and donors, no meaningful change can take place within that framework.
It's very similar in our country.
It's very similar across Europe.
Are we not in fact therefore talking about entirely new and genuinely democratic political movements that are outside of Congress rather than changes from within it?
Look, I think, you know, I think we need to pursue change across the board.
I've been spending the last, gosh, week and a half or so, and I'll be on the road for the next couple of weeks until our elections, looking for those who have stepped up courageously to go and try to bring about change within the existing system.
Because we cannot afford to wait.
We can't afford to spend, you know, however many years building some kind of
external system, I'm not sure exactly what that would look like, while there are threats
to our children, to our safety and security, to our freedom that are occurring right now.
We need strong leaders within this political system who can be a check and balance on the
power of this administration and those who seek to abuse their powers now.
We can't afford to wait.
There are people like a guy named Joe Kent, who's running for Congress in Washington State.
He served as a soldier for 20 years in the Special Forces.
His wife also served.
She was killed by ISIS in Syria, leaving him to raise their two young sons together.
He is taking no money from any corporate PACs or lobbyists.
Every dollar that he has raised has come through those grassroots donations.
His, in just a few examples, his entire staff, everyone from his campaign manager down to, you know, the college kids who are knocking on doors trying to get out the votes in the final days of this election, every one of them has refused to take any pay from the campaign
during this final month so that they can use every one of those dollars
to continue to get their message out to voters in the district.
He has seen the cost of war.
He has experienced that incredible, unimaginable loss in the death of his wife in combat.
And he is a truly brave and courageous voice calling out for an end to this proxy war with Russia,
calling out for an end of the United States policy of being the policemen around the world,
launching one regime, change war after another.
And he speaks from such a powerful place of experience.
There are others like him.
It's going to take a lot of work.
It's not the majority yet by any means, but it's people like Joe who I'm supporting to bring about that exact change from within the system now.
I'm curious as to whether Joe Kemp, forgive my ignorance, I've not heard of him before, is running as a Republican or a Democrat.
My assumption is that what the emergent political force or energy appears to be internationally is a kind of anti-elitist, pro-populist sensibility that currently need not be necessarily conventionally right-wing or conventionally left wing, that there is a sense, in my opinion, Tulsi, a
kind of fusion of libertarianism and decentralization, that ideas around community, whether
they are progressive or traditional, appear to be more important than ever.
Can I ask, what do you think is the significance of Elon Musk's potential takeover of Twitter
and how this relates to free speech?
Why is Elon Musk regarded as a distinct billionaire, as opposed to the other billionaires that
own other comparable sites?
And what are your concerns around the subject of free speech?
And do you think that what we're witnessing is a curation of new public spaces in order to manage the discourse around power and to ensure that grassroots movements cannot compete on a level playing field?
Yeah, gosh, there's a few points, really important points that you brought up there.
The first one, you talked about populism and how there is this growing anti-elite sentiment
by people both here in the United States, people who are from across the political spectrum,
who are just sick and tired of being seen as the subjects of our rulers, the elite,
the permanent Washington here in our case.
But we're seeing similar kinds of energy and I guess movements building in other countries
in the world as well because as you mentioned, there's a number of these multinational globalist
entities who are seeking to exert their mandates on us as a people in this world.
And they are very directly tied to, you know, the corporations who profit based on based on their edict.
So it's no wonder.
It's no wonder that there are people who are standing up and just saying, look, we've had enough.
And it does across party lines.
And that's a good thing.
I remember I had a conversation with someone when I was in Congress in Washington and I don't recall what organization they were with, but they were sitting in my office and they were talking about the rise of populism as though it was one of the greatest threats to society as a whole.
And I smiled and I just asked them why.
Why is populism such a dirty word in your mind?
And they didn't really have a good answer, but the subtext was very clear that with the rise of the people and the power of people's voices challenging the few, the powerful, the elite, of course they feel threatened, which should just empower us even more, which goes to your next point about Elon Musk and free speech.
It is because they are so threatened by a free people who can think for ourselves, speak, you know, speak our mind and our views and our beliefs, very robustly engage in this marketplace of ideas that scares them, that scares the power elite who are in charge.
So of course, and this includes some of these billionaires who are so afraid to stand up and take a stand
like Elon Musk has.
It's why he's gotten such a backlash with his purchase of Twitter and his true commitment
stringently to free speech, whether you like it or not, which by the way, the ACLU and Democrats used to be that.
They used to be those champions of speech, no matter how abhorrent that speech might be.
I.
What's dangerous about what's happening here is with Elon Musk continuing to forge ahead very correctly in his commitment to free speech and how he wants to change Twitter to be a truly free marketplace of ideas.
The power leader so threatened by it that they are launching the muscle of the federal government against him, basically saying, well, we're going to just start investigating Elon Musk.
We need to start looking at what rules he may have broken or what regulations he may not be following.
Not because they've got evidence of any wrongdoing, but here's a guy who poses a threat to them because they want to be the ones to say, well, these are the only voices we want heard.
This is what we deem to be information versus disinformation.
Nobody else gets to do that but us.
They're afraid of a free people with free voices and a free society, and that's why it's dangerous as we are seeing how they're trying to take down people like Elon Musk, who has the means and resources to actually join the people in standing up and fighting to uphold those freedoms, obviously here in the United States, but with Twitter it affects People around the world.
Tulsi, I believe in God.
I wonder if you believe in God.
From this position of my love of God, I am confused at times by the ferocity of the current cultural war.
Believing myself that whether these arguments are approached from the libertarian right or the socially justice-oriented left, that individual freedom And a continual undergirding and recourse to principles, undergirding by and recourse to principles such as compassion, kindness, tolerance and forgiveness would seem obvious on both ends of that spectrum.
It confuses me that there is so much vociferousness, angst and antipathy, particularly in American culture, but across the world now, around these cultural issues.
You've spoken about some of these ideas at the moment, recently at least, and I wonder what it is that informs your opinion and how you align them with what I would understand as spiritual principles that amount to love and unity and acceptance.
You know, I do my very best to please God and to love God with all my heart every day.
He is the center of my life and I have dedicated my life to service because what better way to make God happy than to work for the well-being of God's children and our planet.
One of the things that I talked about in my statement of leaving the Democrat Party is because these people, the leaders of this party, are so hostile towards anyone who is a person of faith or those who have their own spiritual practice.
They are directly undermining Our constitutional principle of freedom of religion.
It's not freedom from religion.
It is freedom of religion for every one of us to develop our own personal loving relationship with God in whatever way we choose or not at all.
And you can directly link this hostility towards people of faith and towards spirituality really with their own desire to see themselves as God.
to see themselves as controllers and rulers of others, of the people.
And so it's no wonder that we hear such hatred and vitriol coming from them, rather than allowing God, who sits in every one of our hearts, to inspire that kindness and compassion and understanding and forgiveness that really comes from His unconditional love for every single one of us as people.
As the culture appears to continue to disintegrate and become more and more defined by tension and conflict, it seems to me that centralised power, whether it's government or corporate, seems less and less legitimate and less and less valid and less and less tenable.
For there to be real change, is it not clear that what we need is a type of new confederacy?
A new dissolution of power?
More ability for people to organise their own communities along the lines of their own values?
And doesn't this principle negate the necessity for this ongoing cultural conflict?
Isn't true freedom the freedom for each community to decide what their values are?
Outside of what would seem to me to be some pretty obvious Sesame Street values around kindness, compassion, tolerance, not killing one another, that kind of stuff.
What are your views on decentralization and how decentralization might diffuse much of this current cultural conflict?
You know, I think that with many of the things here that we've seen play out over the last few years,
especially, but really over a longer period of time, more and more people are opening their eyes to,
you know, big brother, big government, intruding into just about every parts of our lives
and dictating to us what we can and can't do, what we can and can't read or see or hear or believe
with the force of law and really serious consequences coming behind it, forcing compliance.
Just one example that we're seeing happening here now is with the Biden administration
taking this transgender ideology and rather than changing the definition
or basically going to Congress to try to make the changes that they want to make,
they're instead backdooring them through executive branch rule changes to our schools and telling our schools that.
You know, are charged with teaching our young kids that unless you implement what they call gender-affirming care, I know you've talked about this, which essentially is this very harmful gender ideology that they're imposing on our kids, unless these schools allow, you know, young boys to go into young girls' bathrooms and locker rooms just because they say, well, you know what, I'm identifying as a girl, putting these girls at risk, If schools don't comply with that change, the federal government, the Biden administration, is saying, well, we are going to yank federal funding for kids who qualify for free and reduced lunches.
It's a designated category for kids who are living in poverty, who don't have money to be able to come and afford to buy their school breakfast or lunch.
Putting at risk the most vulnerable among us so that they can force compliance amongst parents and teachers and our society.
So I think a lot of people seeing this sort of thing play out,
people who may not have been involved with politics before, are waking up to how dangerous these policies are
specifically, but really looking at limited government in a whole new way
and promoting the self-governance that our founders had for the United States of America.
I would certainly advocate for any young person to express themselves and their identity however
they wanted to.
I feel that what I'm hearing you say, Tulsi, is that you don't believe that this is something that should be legislated for or enforced, imposed or engineered at a governmental level.
But my understanding of individual liberty would certainly include the liberty to freely express yourself as you want to.
Is that basically where you see that line as being?
That's right.
Parents have the right and responsibility to raise their own children in the way that they choose with their own values and their own principles.
Parents should not be under the situation we are now to send their kids to school
and have these different values and ideologies and principles being imposed on their kids,
oftentimes without their knowledge in our schools.
Of course, people should have the freedom to express themselves,
but when we're talking about kids who are being fed propaganda and lied to
and put in a situation where at 10 years old, 11 years old, they're being given puberty blockers
and told to get irreversible surgeries, that is something that is actually harmful to our kids
because they're not in any kind of position to be able to make a life-changing decision at that age.
Tulsi, I wonder if this aspect of the culture war is yet another way that people are being divided, that divisions are being stoked, and could it not be said that this also serves as a way to distract us broadly from our general Unity and our necessity to come together wherever we are on the cultural spectrum to focus on the true challenge that we have facing centralized elitist power that responds not to the democratic will of ordinary people but to edicts that come from a kind of collusion between a co-opted state and corporate and financial interests.
How can we galvanize people who may traditionally ...have regarded themselves as being at odds.
If we continue to stoke these kind of arguments, how do we categorise the significance of these various strata of challenges, from centralised financial power, military-industrial complex, and these cultural issues, which I recognise bring about a lot of energy and bring about a lot of division, but by my reckoning are an area that we I think that the word culture war is often thrown about without it having a clear definition.
I'll tell you, Russell, what I hear from parents as I'm traveling across the country as we speak.
I'm here in Salt Lake City, Utah today.
Parents are concerned for the well-being of their children.
They're concerned about what kind of education their kids are getting.
Families who live along the southern border are worried about their safety and security.
So a lot of these different things that are often labeled as culture war issues
that are being used to tear people apart, well, if you go and actually talk to people
who are being impacted and affected by a lot of these things,
it's not some fancy rhetorical debate that's going on.
These are very real things that are impacting their lives.
And I think these are the things that we need to be able to unite around, making sure that
our kids are safe and are able to be kids and grow in a free society, making sure that,
you know, our loved ones are safe in the communities that we live in, making sure that we as people
are free to make our own decisions for ourselves and our families.
So I don't think you can separate the two as well.
Neither of these issues fall in the bucket of culture wars, whereas these other issues,
which are very important, that have to do with our governance and the systems that we
have in our society that are not working for the people.
We can't, we can't separate the two.
I think we got to get past the labels that are being used to divide us and tear us apart as people.
And actually, once again, just focus on how are these different policies and actions at different levels of our government impacting us?
And are they helping us?
Or hurting us?
Are they making us more free or less free?
Getting back to the basics, I think, is the key for us to be able to start to move forward, to come together as people, and to figure out how we actually start to solve some of these problems together.
Tarsi, thank you for being such a vital voice in this new, hopefully transcendent phase
where it's no longer considered malignant to have a conversation, where it's no longer
considered toxic to speak to people from across a variety of potential political and ideological
territories.
Ultimately, human beings are going to express themselves in myriad ways, and if we're looking
for some kind of homogeneity, how will we ever challenge hegemony?
We can't ever challenge this elite power that is being expressed globally unless we're willing
to find new forms of alliance.
Unless we are willing to find new ways about speaking about being human.
New ways, I believe, of expressing our common humanity, our common divinity, and our shared relationship with God.
And I'm very grateful to you for spending some time with us.
I really hope we get to spend some time in this same physical space and continue this conversation.
I'd love that, Russell.
I want to add one last thing because you ended that perfectly on a beautiful note, which really encapsulates what we in Hawaii know and call as the Aloha spirit.
I know you've been to Hawaii.
I know you've been surrounded by Aloha, but that's really what Aloha is.
It's not It's not just hello or goodbye, it doesn't mean that at all.
The reason why we in Hawai'i greet each other with aloha is because it is a recognition that no matter where we come from, our background, our views, our politics, or any of these things, it's a recognition that we are all connected, we are all children of God, and when we can engage with each other in that space, anything is possible.
I've known that when I was in Hawaii because what I actually felt was that I was there for three months and I was on one of the islands which I think was near an Air Force base and I was making a movie there and I felt a little bit trapped there and anywhere where you're contained for a little while can become a bit like a penitentiary.
I think I got cabin fever.
You know if you stay somewhere for too long that's a holiday destination?
I bet you spend a lot of time in hotels on various campaign trials.
You can go a little bit crazy.
If I'd known that in every greeting I was being accepted for who I was, I think I wouldn't have panicked so much.
You gotta come back.
We'll show you the real Hawaii.
Tulsi, thank you.
Thank you very much.
My next phone call will be to you to book a short, brief, and nevertheless intrusive holiday.
Sounds good.
Thank you, Tulsi.
Thank you for your time.
Thank you so much.
There we go.
There's an interview with Tulsi Gabbard.
Next Tuesday we're going to be speaking to Jordan Peterson.
So that's JB at 5 a.m.
PT and 8 a.m.
ET, 12 p.m.
GMT.
You can work out what all of those letters and numbers mean because I'd be lying if I said I understood them.
Now, let's, among ourselves, do a little review of how well I'd just done, and if I did anything that was a bit odd.
You were very good.
I think I did quite well.
Some of the sentences might have been a bit too long.
A little bit long, a couple of them.
I know, but I was trying to pack in a few questions per announcement.
No, I thought you did very well.
Alright, wasn't it?
Yeah, I thought it was great.
And the ones that strayed a bit long, I thought, I wonder how she'll do with this, but... She actually was categorising, thanks.
People in the chat, Shadow726, loved it.
Gin Phenomenon, or Gin Phoenix, sorry.
Great job, Russell.
You did excellent, Russell, says BiteyDog.
It was worth the wait.
Well done, well done.
Great pace, says Mama Barlow.
Go Russell, says Rosie3.
See, lots of mostly praise.
Thank you.
There was that one moment where I thought, oh no, what's he doing?
What's going to happen now?
What bit?
Where you said, I love God.
See, I believe in God.
And then there was a pause and I thought, what's he going to say?
Sometimes I like, I do this pretty regular in my interviews, the old God announcement.
I don't know if you've seen that before.
I'll just tell people I believe in God, see what they do with it.
Yeah.
Well, she liked that as well, I thought.
You're much more safe with an American with the old I love God announcement.
You know, like you try it sometimes with an atheist, like we've had great people like Sam Harris on the show, Ricky Gervais, you know, and you start proudly announcing you love God to them.
They're like, well, it's made up.
They're not on the old pathway with old Russ and the loving Lord.
Anyway, I think you're feeling good?
Yeah, what I thought I'd do is be really respectful and quite still.
Yes, you were very still.
There was hardly any movement.
I know, I've been nice and still.
Normally you're fidgeting all over the place, usually.
I don't know what it's done to the pound.
It's probably been beneficial, I'd have thought, that kind of stillness.
That's what the pound was requiring at a time like that.
Did you ever get a bit where you thought, I really want to scratch that itch or anything like that?
Nah.
Nah?
You were just firmly focused?
I just was glad my hair was looking pretty good.
Got it.
Occasionally I glance at someone and think, yeah, hair's good.
I did want to know, can they see me when I'm not on camera?
That's what I want to know.
Yeah, good.
Can they?
I think we need to have it so they can, because I'm doing some pretty good eye contact, and like when Eckhart said it, so I think that's another thing we need to sort out.
Elon tweet.
Oh, Elon tweet.
Yeah, let's do that Elon tweet.
OK.
The tech thing we should sort out so that they can see me, because I want them to be able to see a lot more, because I'm doing some great faces.
Oh, I thought James just meant Elon's tweeted.
Elon's tweeted.
What?
I love it!
What does it say?
Oh, my!
This is the day!
Tss, tss, tss, tss.
Elon, you're gonna need that sink for what I call a gentleman's wash.
That's a quick rinse of the most necessary... The gentleman's wash, the gentleman's wash.
There it is.
Let it all out now.
Why do top to toe when we all know it's only one part that's required?
This is it.
From here to here, especially if you're British, if you haven't had the good old snip.
This is what's actually going on in Russell's mind.
Do you ever hear Tulsi interview?
Hot and cold blend.
Hit it back and wash it off.
There's my little friend.
Why am I pretending to be so nice when this guy's in charge?
When he's little I give him a smile but boy do I love him when he's large.
Oh, Tulsi did you like that chat?
But this is who I really am.
Please, please, please tell me Tulsi's still watching.
Russell, I didn't like that song.
That was childish.
It undermined... Who's washing what in the sink?
Oh, sorry, Tulsa.
Sorry, Charles.
Sorry, Charles.
I believe in God!
Do you?
Sorry, I meant to say, what was that song?
I believe in God!
I believe in God, pals!
Do you believe in God?
Pals!
God pals.
There you go.
Is it all out now?
A lot of people have said no more Mickey Quimby goes, no more Aloha for you after that little performance.
Yeah, no, I've blown it.
I've blown it!
Right, what are we going to do about Eckhart Tolle before we go?
We've got some great guests coming up over the course of the week.
Jeffrey Sachs, who's joining us Wednesday.
You know Jeffrey Sachs.
He's coming on the show, isn't he?
Yeah, he sure is.
That's Wednesday.
Very excited.
Thursday we've got booked.
There he is!
That's my mate, Geoffrey Satt.
I can't wait.
We're deciding whether or not to just try and get him to do that the whole time, aren't we?
Yeah.
He does that when he feels censored or shocked.
Yeah, we just need to shut down everything he says.
Hi, Geoffrey.
Hello.
Oi!
Don't say hello!
Do you know that that actually is a nautical greeting?
It's not even... People used to say hi, hello.
Actually, hello used to be an expression of surprise.
You know that, don't you?
Say aloha instead.
Say aloha.
Oi!
No, not like that!
You said it in a racist way!
Say it properly!
What, five minutes till the end of the show?
Okay, look, so we've got a great week coming up, but I want to, um... You want to do a song again, don't you?
I do want to do some more songs, girl.
I'll level with cha.
But also, I want to do... I want to... Are we going to tweet Elon?
Because we've got to get him on.
Right.
Have we got suggestions?
Why haven't you suggested nothing?
And don't suggest something stupid because what if I do it by mistake?
You know?
Have anyone got any ideas among us as a group what I should say?
Elon, do I base it on The Sink?
I think base it on The Sink.
Base it on The Sink?
Yeah.
Right.
Elon, you've bought The Sink.
I'll bring The Stink.
How about me and you?
No, that doesn't sound right.
Does it always come to this?
You turn up the horseship, I'll turn up the... Elon, do you want me to wrench around your plughole?
No.
Elon, I've got... What am I going to say?
Right.
That's just none of these so far.
So far, is it because it's always too much sexual?
Maybe so.
Has he been sexual in the past?
Not at all.
There's been no sexual element to our conversation.
It's been two types of what I would say weird guys.
Got it.
Sort of dotting about in a constellation of ideas is what I would say.
Sort of a vague cosmic mist of savantism.
Right.
How about that?
How about we use that sink to cook up a vague savant... What did I say?
Cosmic mist of savantism?
Yeah.
How about... Join me for a cosmic... To cradle, maybe.
Oh, yeah.
Elon!
Join me on the show!
We can use that sink to cradle a cosmic mist of savantism.
That's good.
That's pretty good.
If I saw that, I'd go, fucking hell, this person's on an interesting trip.
And then if there was a gif of me singing the old, let's call it the helmet-washing song, I think that I'd say that's the full gamut.
Yes.
That's everything we need.
Yeah, who could turn that down?
Nobody, I don't think.
Nobody could turn that down.
Alright, too much chest-hitting.
Who's chitting their blessed old butt?
Who's been chitting their chest?
No, chest-hitting.
The Cosmic Missing.
Did you write that down, Soobs?
Oh, hell!
First bit was easy, that was like, hello, wasn't it?
Right, what was it again?
Um, lost you at cosmic.
Right, cosmic mist of, uh... Cervantism?
Cosmic mist of Cervantism, yeah.
Elon, let's use that sink of yours as the cradle or crucible to create a cosmic mist of Cervantism on my show.
Yeah.
Great.
That's good.
That's what we're doing.
Press send!
Give it to the universe now!
Give it to the Twitter bots!
Give it to the 90% of my 11 million followers who are just in Russia somewhere going, oh, Donald Trump says this.
Hey, why don't we hold a BLM rally?
How about we hold a WLM rally on the same day at the same time?
That sounds like some fun.
That's what goes on in it, young Putin.
Everything's just a farce.
Were you listening, men?
You're still thinking about the false skin wash, aren't ya?
Aren't ya?
Aren't ya, Putin?
Christ, isn't it marvellous, eh?
It really is.
You work your fingers to the effing bone to create a channel.
We've worked so hard.
So hard.
Some people don't realise how hard we work.
Probably because of the low quality of the work.
But the fact is, we're working... But we've got a lot of it we could have said, so... What could you mean, could have said?
Well, what I mean is, we could send them the documents if they really want to challenge us.
What documents?
We've made documents.
About what this show might have been if we'd stayed on track.
Exactly.
That's right.
Well, if we'd have stayed on track, here are some questions that I might have asked Tulsi.
Democratic Party warmongers, covered it.
Republican Party demonstrators, that came up.
She said independent.
She sort of covered the Ukraine war, proxy war, I think we've got good stuff there.
Big pie military-industrial complex, covered that.
Nord Stream, I didn't bother with Nord Stream.
That's alright, we'll do Sachs to do that.
Yeah, Sachs.
Hey, that Nord Stream, how dare you!
How dare you say America might have done it!
China.
I didn't do China, unfortunately.
I thought about doing China, but by then I'd already talked about God and I can't go back.
I did wonder.
I can't go back to atheist China.
Buddhist derived, but ultimately atheist China.
I knew you were wrapping up once you got to God.
Did you?
I thought he's about three quarters of the way through at this point.
The thing is with Tulsi Gabbard is I thought, I'm not gonna be an idiot here.
No.
I'm not gonna start singing that song that I sang subsequently because... No.
I don't know what she'd have done with that.
I think she's pretty fun.
I think, uh, maybe just a bit of it.
Not the, um, washing the bowls in the sink bit.
That's the main bit.
Right.
That's the best bit.
I don't know.
That's the whole essence of the bit.
I see.
Without that, you've got no song.
Nothing.
That's like saying, like, do, um, the, uh, the immigrant song without...
You can't say to them, don't do that bit.
No, you mean exactly then.
Yeah.
That sounded like some far right song you've been learning.
Yeah.
What do you mean? Are we just...
So how do we do the chat?
I'll do that on my phone later.
How do I do the Stay Free AF chat that I like to do at the end of the show?
Oh, right.
How do I do that?
Because there's not that time now.
Yeah, you'll do it later on your phone.
I'll do it later.
Will I?
Is that what's going to happen?
We're just not going to do one.
We're not obliged.
We're going now.
That's that.
Well, we've sent Elon Musk a tweet.
We've interviewed Tulsi Gabbard.
We've made some jokes.
I'd like to encourage you to join Stay Free AF.
That's our members community.
There's Bogna Babe, Connected Chris, both of those kuh sounds with kickity kays.
Oh well, Spooky Boogie, Dark Mouth, Another Way, Tilly Mint.
What do you think Tilly Mint's a reference to?
Uh, I've no idea.
Well, it sounds like a euphemism, doesn't it?
Might I look at your Tilly Mint?
Might I look at your tilly mint?
Might I have a glance at your tilly mint?
Come on.
What's the problem?
You keeping that tilly mint all to yourself?
Sorry.
Penny Wabbit.
That's another one.
It's another euphemism.
Everyone's name is a genital.
Isn't it?
It's a genital.
Queen Bee Kind.
Genital.
Peachy Gurney.
Genital.
Wind of Change.
Could be a genital.
Depends on what kind of deal you're on.
Isn't it?
Isn't it though?
It is, isn't it?
Is it?
It is, isn't it?
Is it?
Is it?
It is, isn't it?
Are you talking about sex?
All right, look.
It's interesting, isn't it?
Because we do that stuff on YouTube, and I think people think, well, that's obviously who he is.
He's that guy.
He's that guy.
But you're this guy.
I'm this guy, really?
Yeah.
Immigrant song is not Doctor Who.
Who says that?
No.
Immigrant song was... Doctor Who is... Hold on.
nanananan, nanananan, you could make something...
Hold out, keep going.
Nanananan, nanananan, nanananan, nanananan, nanananan, ooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhhh, yeah, but that's not a marathon.
Not a million miles off.
Aaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!
No, because... That's got much more pelvic thrust in it.
Like, Doctor Who isn't coming from the pelvis.
Doctor Who... He's much more in his mind.
He's in this chakra.
How do you think Rumble are feeling about this at the moment?
Rumble?
They don't like it.
Rumble, I would say... I don't know.
These guys, these are the hardcore that are watching us now.
Locals.
They'll go with this.
They'll go...
Cut, people, now the floor manager, Anna's like, that's enough.
I should pay to work here.
She's like, nah, not that much.
I'm out.
Enough's enough.
She can see this in the newspapers.
Alright, this is over.
We've been through this before.
And at one point, he just started singing Led Zeppelin's Doctor Who!
To basically himself, while onlookers seemed baffled.
OK, so remember, next Tuesday, JP at 5am PT, 8am ET, 12pm GMT.
Wednesday, Economist Jeffrey Sachs will be on the show.
Thursday, Books with Brad.
We're discussing 1984 with George Orwell.
There's a lot of things to talk about.
With George Orwell!
What I've done is... Bloody hell!
I've bought it back!
That's an exclusive!
I bought... He's back, baby!
We thought he was dead, did ya?
For ages!
I did!
He was!
But not now!
I'll Lazarus that motherfucker right back!
He won't be there!
Stick it on locals!
People have got to pay for that!
Guys!
I've bought back... Who do you want back next?
Hemingway?
He's a coming!
They're all coming back!
Dorothy Parker?
We're bringing back Dead Orphans!
They're all back!
They're all back!
It's gonna be brilliant, this!
Wow!
Yeah, only if you join Stay Free AF, our membership community.
We're not putting that on the stream.
It costs some money to get these people.
You've got to pay top dollar to have a seance with the dead.
There's no point having the seance with the living, just talk to them directly.
Just say what you want to say.
No point in doing anything else.
Alright, well look, I suppose I don't know what I'm doing after this and that's what's making me reluctant to wrap it up.
I mean, On the French horn.
Okay, definitely time to wrap it up.
French horn!
Me so horny, where's my horn?
Why are we not doing French horn?
How many times do people have to fill in that fucking petition before you'll start listening to democracy?
How many people have signed it now, Will?
Thousands, isn't it?
Absolute thousands.
Lex Freedman's recent podcast.
Just under 150, so 149.
Look at that, Gareth.
Why do you not love democracy?
Someone just wrote, it's Gareth's choice.
Thank you so much.
It's not your choice.
Kendra, so is it literally what we were just talking about?
What if you're a pro-French horn?
I identify as a French hornist.
Lex Freedman's, this is Kendra, recent podcast interview with Yay is worth a listen.
Similar openness of holding space, sometimes heartier, valuable conversations.
Russell might have had a chance to speak with Elon if he has the ex on stay for AF.
Lex and Elon are friends.
Great.
I can get to, I'm not going on some podcast, kiss me quick, like some sort of groovy train podcast.
Although Lex would be great as well.
Lex Freedman, I would like to go on Lex Freedman.
Alright, wrap it up.
Everyone's saying wrap it up.
Thank you for coming.
I've tried my best.
I'm afraid if it's not good enough, you're just going to have to live with it.
You should say that every day at the end of work.
I've tried my best.
This is all I've got.
This is who I am.
You only have to put up with an hour.
This is me forever, till I die.
So, who's the real winner?
Thank you very much.
Stay free.
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