Tulsi’s Bizarre and Creepy Nuclear War PSA

Summary

Bulwark Takes: Tulsi’s Bizarre and Creepy Nuclear War PSA

Release Date: June 10, 2025
Host/Authors: Sam Stein and Tim Miller from The Bulwark

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Introduction: Unveiling Tulsi Gabbard’s Mysterious PSA

In this episode of Bulwark Takes, hosts Sam Stein and Tim Miller delve into a perplexing and unsettling video released by Tulsi Gabbard, the Director of National Intelligence. The video, hastily posted in the early hours following her trip to Hiroshima and other international destinations, has sparked confusion and concern among viewers. Stein and Miller aim to dissect the content, delivery, and underlying messages of this PSA, offering their critical perspectives.

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Dissecting the Video: Visuals and Delivery

The episode begins with Stein and Miller expressing their bewilderment over the video's production quality and setting. They describe the background as "a blue screen" and the overall visual presentation as "uncanny" and "creepy."

Notable Quote:

Sam Stein [00:44]: “Let’s just ignore the slander and the misrepresentation of my record and we’ll go right to the video.”

As the video progresses, Tulsi Gabbard delivers a somber message about the horrors of nuclear warfare, recounting the devastation of Hiroshima. Stein and Miller highlight the juxtaposition between her serious position and the soft-focus, almost documentary-like style of the PSA.

Notable Quote:

Tim Miller [00:57]: “It was some part of some larger tour she was doing.”

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Content Analysis: Escalating Nuclear Threats

Gabbard's message takes a dire turn as she compares the Hiroshima bomb to modern nuclear weapons, emphasizing the catastrophic potential of today’s arsenals. She warns of scenarios where a single bomb could "kill millions in just minutes," highlighting the devastating "shockwave" and "radioactive poison" that could follow.

Notable Quote:

Tulsi Gabbard [04:16]: “A single nuclear weapon today could kill millions in just minutes.”

Stein and Miller express skepticism over the dramatic claims, particularly questioning the assertion that the current global nuclear threat is unprecedented.

Notable Quote:

Tim Miller [07:55]: “Closer to nuclear annihilation than ever before. Ever before.”

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Conspiratorial Undertones: Elites and Nuclear Warfare

As the video continues, Gabbard shifts to more conspiratorial themes, suggesting that "political elite and warmongers" are intentionally heightening tensions between nuclear powers. She insinuates that these elites are securing access to nuclear shelters for themselves, implying a sinister agenda to survive a potential nuclear fallout at the expense of the general populace.

Notable Quote:

Tulsi Gabbard [09:06]: “Political elite and warmongers are carelessly fomenting fear and tensions between nuclear powers.”

Stein and Miller interpret this as aligning with QAnon and deep-state narratives, suggesting that the PSA is designed to resonate with conspiracy-minded audiences who believe in elite-controlled underground bunkers.

Notable Quote:

Tim Miller [10:24]: “This is Russia propaganda is what this is.”

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Critique of Messaging and Audience Targeting

The hosts critique the PSA’s effectiveness and target audience, arguing that its frightening imagery and dramatic music are reminiscent of Cold War-era propaganda intended to instill fear and compliance. They question the rationale behind Gabbard, as the Director of National Intelligence, producing such content, which traditionally falls outside her professional responsibilities.

Notable Quote:

Tim Miller [08:46]: “The delivery is solid. I think they nailed it. I really do.”

Despite acknowledging the professional delivery, Stein and Miller remain unconvinced of the PSA's intent, suggesting it serves as a tool to manipulate public perception regarding nuclear threats and geopolitical tensions, particularly in the context of the Russia-Ukraine war.

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Implications and Broader Context

Stein and Miller connect the PSA to broader geopolitical narratives, positing that it serves as a warning to the American public about impending nuclear conflict orchestrated by elites. They reference contemporary media and fictional portrayals like the TV show Fallout, drawing parallels between fictional underground civilizations and the alleged real-life bunkers for the elite.

Notable Quote:

Sam Stein [10:28]: “I think that the whole show is premised on this... if they can just facilitate a nuclear war that annihilates the earth.”

The discussion further touches upon potential misinformation campaigns, suggesting that the PSA could be part of a false flag operation to distract or manipulate public opinion regarding ongoing conflicts and nuclear policies.

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Conclusion: A Deeper Look into Propaganda and Trust

In wrapping up the episode, Stein and Miller express their unease with the PSA, highlighting its departure from traditional intelligence communications and its alignment with fear-based conspiracy theories. They emphasize the importance of critically evaluating such messages, especially when they emanate from high-ranking officials whose roles should focus on national security rather than public fear-mongering.

Notable Quote:

Tim Miller [15:20]: “No, definitely.”

The hosts conclude by underscoring the value of dissecting and understanding the motives behind such unsettling content, advocating for vigilance against potential propaganda efforts that exploit public fears for ulterior motives.

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Final Thoughts:

Bulwark Takes provides a thorough and critical examination of Tulsi Gabbard’s nuclear war PSA, unraveling its content, stylistic choices, and underlying conspiratorial messages. Through insightful analysis and pointed commentary, Sam Stein and Tim Miller offer listeners a comprehensive understanding of the video's implications in the current socio-political landscape.

Transcript

[Sam Stein]

Hey, guys. Sam Stein, managing editor at the Bulwark. I'm here with Tim Miller and we are going to be diving into, I don't even know, a very dark and odd video from Tulsi Gabbard that was posted in the wee hours of this morning following a trip she made to Hiroshima and a number of other countries.

[Tim Miller]

Very weird video. I would say it was deeply weird and creepy and kind of a little bit in the uncanny valley of real and fake. And yeah, I'm interested to dive into it. I'm also excited to dive into it with you because I know you were a longtime Tulsi Gabbard kind of, Stan. Actually during her early years in Congress.

[Sam Stein]

Is that so?

[Tim Miller]

That's what I recall. I recall doing very favorable coverage for her when you were back at the Huffington party.

[Sam Stein]

What are you talking about? There was this. I think you're confusing me with Chris Moody who went surfing with her in Hawaii.

[Tim Miller]

Maybe your hands were Chris Moody.

[Sam Stein]

I'll ignore the slander and the misrepresentation of my record and we'll go right to the video.

[Tim Miller]

This.

[Sam Stein]

Let's just start with a video. We're going to go through some of this stuff and we'll get some reaction. But here's Tulsi. Yeah, here's Tulsi.

[Tim Miller]

Hold on. Before we start, before we press play. What. Where are we? Are we in like a one of those Walmart studios where you bring your family for Christmas photos? Is that where we are? What is this location?

[Sam Stein]

Do we think it's an orb of some sort? I don't know. It's odd. There's no background here other than this, what appears to be a blue screen.

[Tim Miller]

It's very strange.

[Sam Stein]

It's a strange one. I haven't really seen a DNI do something like this yet, but let's just get a little taste of it from the get go.

[Tulsi Gabbard]

I recently visited Hiroshima in Japan and stood at the epicenter of a city that remains scarred by the unimaginable horror caused by a single nuclear bomb dropped in 1945. 80 years.

[Tim Miller]

Okay, we'll stop. What is the. What's the. We have violins and violas coming in. I just like again, this is. This is the Director of National Intelligence. Yeah, very serious, sober job. I don't understand why we're doing kind of this soft focus, you know, sort of video that you would expect from, I don't know, like a non profit organization that is trying to get people to support Court.

[Sam Stein]

She's trying to make like a fog of war type documentary. But she happens to be the Director of National Intelligence.

[Tim Miller]

Okay, that's very strange.

[Sam Stein]

No, I. I don't know. You. You have to think about, like, the. The strategy sessions in the office before doing this. She probably was like, I just got back from Roshma. Deeply moved by it. I want to cut a video. And they're like, well, what do we do?

[Tim Miller]

Like, I also should note that she said she's deeply moved, but, like, her tone and face does not indicate that. It's an interesting. Let's try to get back to the uncanny valley.

[Sam Stein]

All right.

[Tim Miller]

Deeply moved.

[Sam Stein]

Deeply moved. So she. We're gonna. Just to be clear, we're gonna jump ahead a little bit to about a minute and 18 or so seconds prior to that. She goes through the history of Hiroshima. The number who died, the number who suffered, you know, the radiation, the sickness, the drawings of the survivors. And then, like, you'll see it takes a really dark and odd turn around a minute, 35 seconds. But let's play.

[Tulsi Gabbard]

Those paintings. And the suffering that they conveyed, the pain and the sense of loss, were almost more powerful than the photos themselves. Yet this one bomb that caused so much destruction on Hiroshima was tiny compared to today's nuclear bombs. The bomb that was dropped on Hiroshi had a yield of just 15 kilotons of TNT. Whereas today's nuclear warheads range in size from 100 kilotons to over 1 megaton. A single nuclear weapon today could kill millions in just minutes.

[Sam Stein]

Just one second. We're going to back up when we get into this, but that was a, like, very hard turn.

[Tim Miller]

Yeah. Well, also, I just again want to emphasize this is the Director of National Intelligence. Your job is actually to protect the country from nuclear attack. That's true. It's a big part of the job. You know, if there's loose nukes, you know, trying to identify threats out there in the world. I don't know that traditionally part of the job has been doing like a, you know, Cold War era scare video for kindergarten students. That's like, the nuclear bombs are bigger now than ever before. It's like, yeah, we got it. Like, we got that. I think people are pretty attuned to that. The fact that a nuclear or nuclear war would be bad. I don't know why we're doing this, though, from her.

[Sam Stein]

And it just gets a little bit weirder. Let's back up three seconds before we press play here because there's some choices editorially here that I want to dissect. All right, let's press play.

[Tulsi Gabbard]

Single nuclear weapon today could kill millions in just minutes. Just one of these nuclear bombs would vaporize everything at people, buildings, life itself. The shockwave would crush structures miles away, killing and maiming countless people.

[Sam Stein]

What city is that?

[Tulsi Gabbard]

And then comes the New York radioactive poison spreading through the air, water and soil, condemning survivors to agonizing death or life.

[Sam Stein]

Okay, this is incredibly dark.

[Tim Miller]

I do notice the Blue State attacks. There's like a little bit of.

[Sam Stein]

Hey, the Golden Gate Bridge. Seemed totally unnecessary. Like, that's. I love the Golden Gate Bridge. I love San Francisco. But like I am also.

[Tim Miller]

What is the relevance of the collapse of the bridge? Like a lot of bombs, any bomb. You don't need a nuclear bomb to collapse the Golden Gate Bridge. I don't actually know what they're.

[Sam Stein]

Yeah, it's like that doesn't seem like if you're trying to go for scare tactics, I don't feel like the Golden Great Bridge is top of line here. There's plenty of other targets that I would be worried about. No offense. Symphony Francisco. And then it's just the ominous music.

[Tim Miller]

Like who is the orchestral conductor of this?

[Sam Stein]

I want to know who picked up the music.

[Tim Miller]

We've got Andrew Lloyd Webber.

[Sam Stein]

No, it's not Lloyd Webber. It's much darker. Come on now.

[Tim Miller]

You know and long time. I don't know my musicals. I. I'm only, I'm naming the only musical man I know the Phantom of the Opera.

[Sam Stein]

She. And she's just like. I mean, she's very. I mean her delivery is very dark here. I think she's actually hitting, hitting it pretty out of the park.

[Tim Miller]

You do, she's going for.

[Sam Stein]

Oh yeah. If she's trying to scare the fuck out of you.

[Tim Miller]

I'm like, she's trying to scare the fuck out of a child. Yeah, it seems like, it seems like it's kind of like the type of video you would show, you know, in a classroom before a drill. Yeah.

[Sam Stein]

Like in the midst of 60s.

[Tim Miller]

Yeah. This is why you must, you know, stop, drop and roll. You know, this is why you might tuck and get under your desk. But I don't know what the why that is.

[Sam Stein]

Who's the audience for this?

[Tim Miller]

I think we're going to find out towards the end. So let's, let's, let's take a look.

[Tulsi Gabbard]

A nuclear winter could follow. Smoke and ash completely blocking the sun, plunging the world into darkness and cold, killing crops and starving billions. Acid rain would scar the earth, wiping out entire ecosystems. This isn't some made up space science fiction story. This is the reality of what's at stake what we are facing now because as we stand here today, closer to the brink of nuclear annihilation than ever before.

[Tim Miller]

Stop right there. Stop right there.

[Sam Stein]

I don't think that's true.

[Tim Miller]

Closer to nuclear annihilation than ever before. Ever before.

[Sam Stein]

That's bullshit.

[Tim Miller]

More closer than the Cuban Missile Crisis.

[Sam Stein]

Yeah, bullshit.

[Tim Miller]

Why? On what? Like, over what? And this is what we're going to get to at the end, right? Which is what the subtext of all this is to the Russia, Ukraine war.

[Sam Stein]

Or the Iran nuclear deal or something.

[Tim Miller]

This is Russia propaganda is what this is. Sam, come on. This is about. All about the Russia, Ukraine war. I do. What we're about to find. We're about to demonstrate.

[Sam Stein]

I'm about to show. I just want to warn the viewers because it's all so weird at this point, but then it takes a turn a little. Like about 20 seconds, maybe a little less. It's going to take the turn into the surreal.

[Tim Miller]

I will grant you one thing, though, on her delivery, she's good. The teleprompter work is good. As somebody that's been in the guest chair at Fox News gotten some reps, the teleprompter work here is.

[Sam Stein]

No, she's got the cadence. She's not rushing it. You know, she's staring right at camera. The delivery is solid. I think they. They nailed it. I really do.

[Tim Miller]

Well, nailed what, though?

[Sam Stein]

Nailed this. I don't know. Vibe. I don't know. All right, let's press play.

[Tim Miller]

I don't think you know what Cinema Verte is.

[Sam Stein]

I don't.

[Tulsi Gabbard]

Political elite and warmongers are carelessly fomenting fear and tensions between nuclear powers. Perhaps it's because they are confident that they will have access to nuclear shelters for themselves and for their families.

[Tim Miller]

Okay, stop. This is where we learn everything right there that we need to know about the video. So let's just go back and actually watch this part one more time. I want everybody to really listen to that exact eight seconds. One more time.

[Tulsi Gabbard]

Political elite and warmongers are carelessly fomenting fear and tensions between nuclear powers. Perhaps it's because they are confident that they will have access to nuclear shelters for themselves and for their families.

[Tim Miller]

Okay, so this is all about the Russia Ukraine war and going after elites. This is fucking deep state QAnon stuff. She is under. She is saying that there are these. There's this war happening between nuclear powers and some out there, some in the deep state, some democrats, some elites want us to fight the other nuclear power, Russia Want us to keep this war going because, you know, because they don't care about whether it escalates into a nuclear all out, you know, nuclear war because they will be able to live underground.

[Sam Stein]

Isn't this the whole premise of the show Fallout?

[Tim Miller]

I've not watched it.

[Sam Stein]

I think it is. I think that the whole show is premised on this. Like business tycoons and government officials who can profit from underground civilization if they can just facilitate a nuclear war that annihilates the earth. I think that's it.

[Tim Miller]

This is the audience. The audience is the conspiratorial minded folks that are in the mega coalition. And it is also I think doing a solid for her pals over in Moscow that it's like guys, as you don't, you don't. You're not seeing the real game. That's a foot here, okay? They're saying that they're just trying to protect democracy and freedom in Kyiv. That's not what they're really doing. What they're doing is escalating us to this all out nuclear war. And they don't care about your suffering. They don't care what happens because they have the shelters. They will live in the secret shelters with the lizard people. Yeah, that's what's happening here.

[Sam Stein]

Why did they put this video out again?

[Tim Miller]

Because she's trying to do like she goes to Hiroshima, right? Like why did she go to Hiroshima Again?

[Sam Stein]

It was some part of some larger tour she was doing.

[Tim Miller]

But she's the, again, she's the Director of National Intelligence. She's not the Secretary of State. She shouldn't be doing fucking world tours with other leaders. She is the head of the ic. Like the CIA like that, like they're, they're going after spies and terrorists and shit. That's her job, not doing soft power. So like why did she do this? The whole thing, now I'm going to be the conspiracist. The whole thing is part of. They're trying to, as they want to pull out of Ukraine, they are trying to. Recenter the discussion that was very kind of actually in the public dialogue right when Russia invaded Ukraine, this idea that there's this big nuclear threat out there and that we need to de. Escalate and we need peace. We need to let Russia have Ukraine because we don't want this nuclear, you know, annihilation. And I assume that was why she went to Hiroshima at all, because that they wanted to advance. This, this, this video, this propaganda video, this creepy, weird propaganda video is the point of the trip, I think just.

[Sam Stein]

To cut some B roll and to.

[Tim Miller]

Do an ominous be scared of the Russia nukes video. Yeah, that's the, that's the, that's the subtext here. Be scared of the Russian nukes. And also if things don't go well in the Trump administration, I might have a star turn in the future on the X Files.

[Sam Stein]

Now she's probably one of the elites who would get an underground bunker at this point. You think, well, she is.

[Tim Miller]

Does she know where the bunkers are? You notice she doesn't mention that you would think that again as the Director of National Intelligence. Does it give you any pause, Sam? Does it make you think maybe there are these bunkers for the Bilderbergers that you did? If she is saying it and she.

[Sam Stein]

Knows, did she just let slip something that we weren't supposed to know? That there are underground civilizations? Wasn't this part of a Will Sommer false flag that they, they think there's some. Oh yeah, there is. This is a Tucker Carlson thing. Will was going to write about this. That there's like some underground civilization that they're all constructing and that it's, you know, very hush hush.

[Will Sommer]

There's a whole constellation of underground bases built by the US government in the United States. Like that fact alone, just the physical infrastructure of it. Because normally talking about what are they doing? Enormously expensive. Well, it's unbelievable and like it raises lots of practical questions. How do you ventilate them? What about food and water supply? You know, where's the energy? Are we using breakthrough energy or where's the energy come from?

[Sam Stein]

Right. Maybe there's more here than we know.

[Tim Miller]

I think so. Who would be down there, do you think?

[Sam Stein]

The Jews? I could say that because I'm Jews.

[Tim Miller]

You said it, not me.

[Sam Stein]

Fair enough. All right, can we close this out by playing the last 20 seconds that.

[Tulsi Gabbard]

Regular people won't have access to? So it's up to us, the people, to speak up and demand an end to this madness. We must reject this path to nuclear war and we work toward a world where no one has to live in fear of a nuclear holocaust.

[Sam Stein]

Violins, strings on this video, and she just stare.

[Tim Miller]

It's like the death stare at the end with.

[Sam Stein]

I need to know the music selection. I'm gonna make it a mission to figure out what it is. All right. I think I found my fail of this. I'm sufficiently freaked.

[Tim Miller]

Thank you for flagging it for me.

[Sam Stein]

Yeah, no, you know, these things are great. This is the one side benefit of the Trump years. That we get these crazy videos that we can digest and make.

[Tim Miller]

It is hard to imagine, like, going back to, like, past directors of national intelligence. You know, John Negroponte.

[Sam Stein]

Oh, he cut a video just like this. You don't remember that?

[Tim Miller]

You think so?

[Sam Stein]

No.

[Tim Miller]

Bob Zeller, you know, all these old dorky white guys. Yeah. Hard to imagine.

[Sam Stein]

No, definitely. All right, buddy. Thank you for doing this with me. Appreciate it. Appreciate you. Thank you guys for watching.