#1295 - Tulsi Gabbard

Joe Rogan (0:00)

Three, two, one, and we're back. What's up, how are you?

Tulsi Gabbard (0:04)

We're back, aloha, I'm good. Nice to be back here.

Joe Rogan (0:06)

When you first came here, you were thinking about running for president, now you're out there.

Tulsi Gabbard (0:11)

We're all in.

Joe Rogan (0:11)

It's happening.

Tulsi Gabbard (0:12)

Yes.

Joe Rogan (0:12)

Are you nervous?

Tulsi Gabbard (0:13)

No.

Joe Rogan (0:13)

Is it weird?

Tulsi Gabbard (0:14)

No.

Joe Rogan (0:14)

No?

Tulsi Gabbard (0:15)

Not at all.

Joe Rogan (0:16)

Do you feel like this is like destiny?

Tulsi Gabbard (0:18)

No.

Joe Rogan (0:18)

So how does it not feel weird?

Tulsi Gabbard (0:19)

I'm on a mission. Oh. I'm on a mission.

You know, there's a lot of issues I think we're gonna talk about, about why I'm running for president, but being out and connecting with people all across this country, bringing this message really of ending these wasteful, destructive foreign policies that have been so costly on the American people for so long, costly on our troops, costly on our veterans, ending these wasteful regime change wars, ending this new Cold War and nuclear arms race, and taking the trillions of dollars that we've been spending on these programs and that we will continue to spend if the status quo is allowed to continue, and investing those dollars back into serving the people in our communities, serving the people of this country. Things like healthcare, education, infrastructure, protecting our environment, clean water. There's so much that we need to do. We've got limited resources to accomplish that.

Joe Rogan (1:16)

These are my favorite things that you talk about.

My question is always, though, why do we spend so much time and money at such a titanic human cost for these regime change wars? What do you think is the cause? Like, other than the obvious, if you have a dictator that's in place, there's an obvious outcry like Saddam Hussein post-9-11. Other than that, what is the reason why we invest so much time and energy into regime change wars? So much so that we've just accepted that this is a part of our gross economy. Like, if you're going to take all the money that the United States earns and all the money that goes to taxes, we just automatically put a gigantic chunk of that into investing in these wars in other countries.

Tulsi Gabbard (2:07)

Blindly. Blindly almost, without any kind of real accountability.

Six to eight trillion dollars is what's estimated that's been spent since 9-11 alone on these regime change wars without even taking into account what the cost will continue to be to take care of our veterans. Those who have gone and fought in these wars and have come home, dealing with visible and invisible wounds that they'll have to live with for the rest of their lives.

Let's start back. You mentioned Saddam Hussein. I don't think it was necessarily an obvious outcry. Saddam Hussein and the toppling of his regime was done for oil. Right? It was done for financial reasons. And the architects of that Iraq War sold it in the guise of, hey, Saddam Hussein is working with al-Qaeda, those terrorists who attacked us on 9-11, and he's going to give them his weapons of mass destruction, both of which turned out to be false, intelligence and lies that were sold to the American people, sold to soldiers, people like me, who believed what they said. You know, I enlisted after 9-11, like so many people in this country, to go after the terrorists who had attacked us on that day, killing thousands of Americans. And they sold this lie for financial gain, for oil. You look at some of the architects of that Iraq War, guys like John Bolton, who today is President Trump's National Security Council Director, and you look at what's happening in Venezuela.

Almost the very same playbook being used, where they're selling this regime change effort, threatening to use US military force to go in and topple a regime under the guise of humanitarianism, when in fact, and Bolton has said this on national television, that, well, we really want to make sure that American oil companies are able to go in and access that oil-rich country in Venezuela.

Joe Rogan (4:06)

So do you think that's why there's so much turmoil in that country right now? That this battle over regime change because of the fact they want to control the oil?

Tulsi Gabbard (4:15)

I think the US coming in and trying to insert itself into what is happening in Venezuela is what is the problem. So they're doing that through very, very heavy sanctions.