The Psychology of Power & Control - Tulsi Gabbard

Who actually runs the government, in your experience?

(laughs) Not who you think it is (laughs) . It's, um... And in- and- and- in many cases, especially recently, uh, the- the troubling part about all this is it's not even people who we vote for. When you look at, uh, what happened when President Biden had that infamous debate with President Trump, uh, it- it exposed the reality that many of us have known for a long time, which is that President Biden has not been the guy calling the shots. He's not been the guy making the decisions, nor has it been Kamala Harris for that matter, nor will it be if she is elected president. It is this cabal of, you know, the Democrat elite, the- the woke warmongers, uh, made up of the likes of Hillary Clinton and, uh, Barack Obama, and, you know, Tony Blinken and Jake Sullivan and, you know, people who are in the military industrial complex, people who profit from us being in a constant state of war. It is, um, those in the administrative state and the national security state who derive more authorities and ability to take away, uh, our liberty when we are in a heightened state of crisis or war. It is the- the- their friends and billionaires and people in media who all derive their power from being able to have a figurehead that essentially they can control. And the most troubling part about oth- There's so many things wrong with this, of course, but really at- at the most fundamental level, you look at, um, you know, our country is the oldest democracy in the world, but the reality of a truly functioning and thriving democracy that has brought to life the vision that our founders had for us, that we really have a government of, by, and for the people, and that we have the ability and responsibility for that matter, to ensure that, um, the government we have only exists with the consent of the governed, that becomes very hard to do, to hold people accountable when the person that you voted for is- is certainly not the one making the decisions.

How long has that been the case? Was it ever the case that the president ran the country? Wh- When was the inflection point?

Y- I don't- I don't know that there's one specific. I mean, there ha- You know, as personalities come in and shift here and there, uh, I would say the answer to that has probably changed. But i- i- in the election that we are facing here very shortly in the United States, um, it's our opportunity to hit the reset button, and, you know, however people feel about the choices and the options that we have, and they've changed a little bit recently, but really it's only the faces that have changed. The stakes have not changed, and- and the choices between the Democrat elite, and I've been saying this for months, like, "Hey guys, don't..." Because it's like, "Oh, is Biden gonna stay or is he gonna go? And who's e- they gonna replace him? Is it Gavin? Is it Ka-" All of these different theories, they make for good chatter, I guess, on cable news, but I've been telling people all along, "Don't be distracted." You know, you take one horse out, you put another horse in, you've got the same people who are running the show, and it is- it is between the Democrat elite, will be Kamala Harris on the ballot, and, uh, a- and the- uh, those calling the shots behind the scenes continuing to remain in power versus, uh, Donald Trump, who has a record of... I mean, the reason why they're doing all they can to destroy him is because he won't bend the knee to this Washington establishment, which is- which is made up of people in both political parties, by the way.