Tulsi Gabbard warns AmFest crowd that Democrat elites are 'willing to do anything' to hold onto power in 2024

Former Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard spoke at Turning Point USA’s Americafest (AmFest) on Monday evening, speaking out about the weaponization of government undertaken by the Biden administration and Democrat lawmakers.

"The future of our country is at risk and we are the only ones that can save her," Gabbard said. "It’s the Democrat elite and the permanent Washington establishment, the war machine made up of both Democrats and Republicans who are abusing their power, undermining our God given rights and freedoms enshrined in the Constitution with one goal and objective in mind: protecting their power at any cost."

Gabbard noted that all members of Congress, including herself, take an oath to uphold and protect the Constitution of the United States against enemies, both foreign and domestic. 

"The sad reality is that many of these very people who raised their right hand and said those words pose a direct domestic threat to the freedom of our country today."

Gabbard, during her first year in Congress, received an email to take part in the reading of the Constitution into the Congressional Record. "What a great tradition."

She noticed that many of her former Democrat colleagues weren’t present, and when asked why they didn’t attend, they responded that "we don’t participate in that because that’s a right-wing Republican thing."

"I was not only shocked but pretty disheartened and saddened by that response. But now, as we look at their actions year after year and escalating, especially over these last few years, what they said is actually more true. They don't care about the Constitution.

"They don't care about the vision that our founders had for this country. They are so blinded by their hunger, this insatiable hunger for power, that they are putting their selfish interests above everything else and they are launching this all-out assault on our God-given rights and freedoms."

Gabbard said that something "as simple as freedom of speech" is under attack, with the "Democratic elite and their partners in the propaganda media and big tech" doing "all that they can to shut down our open marketplace of ideas (in) the public and virtual town squares."

"They're trying to take away our Second Amendment rights, our right to defend ourselves and our loved ones and our right to serve as a check on the power of its radical government," she said, adding that the Biden administration made it "very clear" with the ATF "relentlessly trying to push rule after rule circumventing the people's house in Congress to turn law-abiding gun owners like ourselves into criminals."

"They are discriminating against people of faith, especially Christians, arresting peaceful pro-life protesters," and most recently, "bending over backward trying to placate pro-Hamas, Islamist protesters, either because they're Islamist apologists themselves or they're afraid of being called Islamophobic and turning a blind eye to the ever-escalating levels of antisemitic attacks.

"These Democratic elite continue to violate our Fourth Amendment rights, our right to privacy and protection against warrantless search and surveillance. Defending gross violations of our civil liberties by the Secret FISA court, Section 702, supporting the Department of Justice's weaponization of law enforcement against the Biden-Harris administration's political opponents."

Gabbard reminded the audience that during Biden’s inauguration speech, he vowed to bring the country together and to be a "president for all Americans."

"He has done the exact opposite on all fronts."

"He has torn our country apart, targeting anyone who didn't vote for him or dares to challenge his administration. He's racializing everything, turning Americans against each other and putting us in a position where the world is on fire, we are on the brink of multiple wars and closer to nuclear catastrophe than ever before. These are just a few reasons why I left the Democratic Party," Gabbard said.

She said the Democrat Party of today is "under the complete control of an elitist cabal of war mongers who are driven by cowardly wokeness."

Noting the upcoming election, Gabbard warned the crowd to "beware." 

"Because we're dealing with people who have no respect for the rule of law, will undermine it for their own political gain, and willing to do anything. We should not be surprised that they declare new national emergencies that allow (them) to grab onto more power."

"We should not be surprised if they declare new, unnecessary counterproductive wars of choice by their cold wars or hot wars, to stoke fear and try to force us into submission."

Gabbard said that the Democrat Party is not the only one guilty of this, but Republican neocons as well, noting Nikki Haley wanting to "further suppress our First Amendment rights."

"These are the people who pose a threat to our democracy, our freedom and our security. Now we're seeing this start to play out with this ongoing proxy war against Russia at the expense of Ukrainian lives. They smear and censor anyone who dares to question hey, maybe this is not serving our best interests."

Gabbard noted that this came to light through Matt Taibbi’s Twitter File reports in which it was revealed that the Biden administration was "directly pressuring Twitter to censor specific individuals because they didn't like what (they) had to say."

When the Biden White House says that they need to "hold on to this power to counter domestic extremism," Gabbard said, "trust me they're not talking about the Islamist terrorist Hezbollah sleeper cells that we know exist in this country."

"They're talking about the so-called moderate Republicans that President Biden has labeled as the greatest domestic threat in America. They're talking about the radical traditional Catholics, who the FBI has pointed out pose a threat because they prefer traditional Latin Mass. They're talking about parents who Biden's domestic terrorism unit is targeting because they have the audacity to go to protest at board of education meetings for parents' rights and against the irreversible mutilation of our kids in the name of gender-affirming care."

"And, of course, the most egregious example of all that demonstrates how far they're willing to go to undermine the rule of law and our democracy, is that the continuous assault and weaponization of the Department of Justice and law enforcement to go after President Biden's major political opponents in this election year."

Gabbard said that this was intentional, and that they are trying to "make us afraid of them and their power because deep in their heart of hearts, they know where the power lies."

"They're afraid of us. They're afraid of a free people. They're afraid of a free people who will lift our voices and lift our votes to stop them and take their power away." 

"We will defend our freedoms by exercising them. We can uphold and protect the truth by speaking the truth to those who reject it. Be not afraid. We are motivated by love for our country, love for the Constitution, love and respect for each other as fellow Americans and children. You will find that courage (...) to protect our future to get us back on track. This is how we save our country."