Bulwark Takes - Tulsi Gabbard Believes in Nothing

Episode Date: March 3, 2026

Will Saletan revisits Tulsi Gabbard’s past warnings that Trump “lied” about ending wars—and compares them to her current role defending new bombings in Iran and moves in Venezuela.Delegate smarter and grow faster. Post your job for free at https://Upwork.com and connect with top freelance talent today.

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Hey, it's Will Salatin from the Bullwork. You know, it's a tough call trying to be. figure out who's the biggest liar in the Trump administration. But now that we're in the middle of another bombing campaign in Iran, I can tell you who's the biggest sellout in the administration. The person who claims to have deep principles about war and peace, but when it matters, she just walks away. And then she lies to you about it. And that person is Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence. Today I'm going to show you just how empty she really. really is. So let me take you back seven years. It was 2019, and Gabbard was a Congresswoman

from Hawaii. She was a Democrat, and she was running for president. And here's what she said when she announced that she was running. President Trump campaigned against regime change wars when he ran for president. But now he bows to the wishes of the neocons who surround him, clamoring for regime change wars that he claimed to oppose this time in Venezuela and in Iran. Venezuela and Iran. Again, that video is not from this year. That was seven years ago in Trump's first term. Gabbard was pointing out that when Trump ran for president, the first time he promised not to wage regime change wars. And two years into that term, it was already clear that he had lied. Gabbard knew he had lied. And the countries he lied about, specifically,

were Venezuela and Iran. And just before she gave that speech, Gabbard posted this tweet about John Bolton, quote, it's about the oil. Again, Bolton just exposed the real motive for intervention in Venezuela. And then she quoted Bolton. He said, speaking for the Trump administration,

he said, we're in a conversation with major American companies. Bolton said, the plan was to have American companies extract the oil in Venezuela. So Gabbard specifically complained that the Trump administration was threatening military action in Venezuela to get oil, to get American companies into Venezuela to get the oil. Again, this is not 2026. This is 2019. And then a few months later in 2019, Gabbard,

warned that Trump was moving toward attacking Iran. And she said it would be a catastrophic mistake. So when we talk about a potential war with Iran, which is looking like we are walking very dangerously down that path, what I think is important for the American people to know is that a war with Iran would make the war in Iraq look like a cakewalk. The devastation and the cost would be far greater than anything we've ever experienced. And she pointed out, again, that Trump was saying one thing, but doing another. What's concerning to me is that while Trump and others in its administration are saying that

they don't want to go to war with Iran, when in fact the actions that the administration has been taking are telling us another story, that it's actually pushing us closer and closer to the prospect of a war with Iran. This is what I'm very concerned about. And then Trump did it. In January of 2020, a few months, After Gabbard issued that warning, Trump ordered the assassination of Qasem Soleimani, Iran's most important military commander. American forces killed Soleimani, and Gabbard went off. The next day, she went on Fox News, and she said Trump had betrayed his promise to stay out of wars.

Trump talked a lot in his campaign for the presidency, and even since he's been in office, about how he wants to end forever war. but his actions tell a different story. All of these actions pushing us closer and closer to this war with Iran. And this step that he just took last night seriously, seriously escalated the situation. And after she gave that interview, Gabbard posted this message. She accused Trump of escalating a regime change war against Iran. And then she added this, quote,

to all who voted for Trump because of his anti-war, rhetoric. It's time to realize he lied to you. He lied to you. That's what she said. And then she decided to forget all about it. So that was 2020. Trump lost the election and Gabbard gave a seat in Congress to run for president, which obviously didn't work out. But then in 2024, Trump came back. He won the Republican nomination for president. And in August, of 2024, guess who went on stage to endorse Trump? Tulsi Gabbard. So I'm going to show you what she said when she endorsed him. But before I do, I want you to take a couple of deep breaths because this is just unbelievable. So I mean what I say when I share with you that I know that

President Trump understands the grave responsibility that a President and Commander and Chief bears. We saw this through his first term. in the presidency, when he not only didn't start any new wars, he took action to de-escalate and prevent wars. Yeah, she actually said that. Four years after she admitted that Trump betrayed his promises and attacked other countries, four years after she said, it's time to realize he lied to you. She turned around and repeated his lies. And she explained why she was, endorsing him. Because I am confident that his first task will be to do the work to walk us back from the brink of war. Oh yeah. This guy who lied to you last time, I promise he's not lying this time.

And then Gabbard did several more speeches and rallies with the same message. She just erased everything she said before. And she pretended that Trump was totally on the level. Here she is. at a Trump rally in North Carolina in October of 2024. President Trump has pledged to end wars, not start them. And a vote for President Trump is a vote for peace here in America and around the world. And here she is at Trump's rally at Madison Square Garden. A vote for Donald Trump is a vote for a man who wants to end wars, not start them. and who has demonstrated already that he has the courage and strength to stand up and fight for peace.

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Gabbard sold out everything she ever said about Trump and his record of lying about staying out of wars. She added her lies to his lies. And it worked. This time Trump won the election and he rewarded Gabbard by making her the director of national intelligence. And he went right back to planning more bombings and invasions in the same countries he lied about before. The first one was Iran.

So last year, in June, Trump bombed Iran's nuclear sites. And the White House posted this picture of Gabbard in the situation room during the attack. And you can see right above the picture, they tagged Gabbard just to let everyone know she was on board with the attack. Did Gabbard renounce the bombing? Did she resign? Did she apologize for having told everybody that Trump was a man of the attack? peace? No, no. She actually put out a statement claiming that Trump was a man of peace because after he did the bombing, he offered Iran a ceasefire. Here's what she wrote. Quote, only President

Trump could have achieved this historic ceasefire agreement that brings us closer to peace. See, if you bomb somebody and then you finish the bombing, you stop it, you're bringing the world closer to peace. And then two days later, she put out this statement. Quote, the operation was a resounding success. Our missiles were delivered precisely and accurately, obliterating key Iranian capabilities. Abliterating, just like Trump said. He's a man of peace, but he's also a man of obliteration. And then in November, Gabbard went to a conference in Bahrain, right next to our Iran, and she gave a speech praising Trump again for pursuing peace and abstaining from regime change. For decades, our foreign policy has been trapped in a counterproductive and endless cycle

of regime change or nation building. And now just nine months into his second term, President Trump's America First agenda is supercharging these efforts and securing peace on a scale that we haven't seen in decades. He secured ceasefires between India and Pakistan, Israel and Iran. Iran. There she goes again. Trump literally bombed Iran. But Gabbard, again, ignored that and bragged that after the bombing, Trump secured a ceasefire

with Iran. So that was November. Two months after Gabbard said that, Trump attacked Venezuela. American forces went into Venezuela, killed a whole bunch of soldiers and some civilians, and kidnapped the Venezuelan dictator, which you might call a regime change. But Trump didn't stop there. He threatened a second attack, and he demanded access to Venezuela's oil. We're going to have our very large United States oil companies, the biggest anywhere in the world.

go in, spend billions of dollars, fix the badly broken infrastructure, the oil infrastructure, and start making money for the country. So basically, this was a revenue-sharing operation, imposed on Venezuela at gunpoint. Here's what Trump demanded from Venezuela's new acting president, Delci Rodriguez. What do you need from Deli Rodriguez? You threat to Delta. Total access. We need total access.

we need access to the oil and to other things in their country that allow us to rebuild their country. So this was an exact replay of what Gabbard had condemned when Trump's national security advisor floated the same idea back in 2019. Remember what she quoted. We're in conversation with major American companies. We'll have American companies produce the oil in Venezuela. Gabbert put those quotes in her tweet in 2019. She acted like that was outrageous. But now she has nothing to say.

Here's what she posted in January. Two days after Trump attacked Venezuela and talked about sending in American oil companies again. She praised the military operation. And she said Trump was delivering on his promise to protect America. Then Trump went after Denmark, an American ally. He suggested that the United States might use military force to take Greenland if Denmark didn't hand it over. And Gabbard had nothing to say about that either. In fact, the only thing she's done about Greenland, according to this report in the Wall Street Journal,

is she has used our intelligence agencies to help Trump figure out how to get Greenland. So that brings us to this week. On Friday, Trump went to Texas, and he stood next to a ship that was filled with Venezuelan oil. Oil that Venezuela gave us after we decapitated their government and threatened to hit them again. Here's what Trump said about the oil. 80 million barrels of oil. Think of what that means. Think of a stadium with 80,000 people. Now say 80 million. That's what we've taken. And it's great for Venezuela.

It's great for us. There it is. We've taken their oil. Exactly, exactly what Gabbard warned about in 2019. And there's our president bragging about it while Gabbard says nothing. And then just hours after Trump said that, he launched another bombing campaign in Iran. And this time, this time, it's not just the nuclear sites. This time, he's trying to take down their whole government.

Here's what he told the people of Iran in a video announcing the operation. Bombs will be dropping everywhere. When we are finished, take over your government. It will be yours to take. In other words, regime change. This is a regime change war. And once again, the White House has posted a picture of Gabbard in the situation room during the attack. can see her right there on the left next to JD Vance.

Look, this administration is full of liars, but there's nobody, nobody quite like Tulsi Gabbard. She told everybody years ago that Trump lied. She said he pretended, he pretended to be a man of peace, and instead he brought war. She said all of that seven years ago, and then she turned around and peddled the same, The same lies he told about who he was and what he would do.

And now he's doing it again. And she sits there and defends it and lies about it again because that's who she is. Tulsi Gabbard believes in what she has always, always believed in. Absolutely nothing.