When Lieutenant Colonel Alea Nadeem hears Americans bashing their own country, it creates a special type of anger most would struggle to ever feel.
Her America First ideals stem from the time she was kidnapped by her own father, "ripped" from her home and taken to Iraq as an eight-year-old girl.
It is exactly that experience, being forced to adopt a culture she says is foreign to her own beliefs, that makes the feeling even stronger.
The Air Force veteran announced earlier this year she would be running as a Republican for Ohio’s 9th Congressional District in a bid to unseat 79-year-old Democrat Rep. Marcy Kaptur, who has held the office for more than four decades.
Ms Nadeem's story actually begins in the United Kingdom, when her father spent time in Wales to learn "proper English" before making his way to the United States.
It was there where he met the veteran's mother, bringing confusion for her as a child.
"Imagine just growing up in the UK, but you have one of your parents ... they were not born here," she told GB News in an exclusive sit-down.
"Their cultures, traditions, all come from somewhere that's completely different, it's not like it's Canada."
Alea Nadeem is hoping to unseat Ohio Democratic Representative Marcy Kaptur
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Ms Nadeem lived two lives. On one hand, she was praying in the mosque with her dad and then attending church with her mum.
She thought that was "normal" but she quickly realised she was "a little bit different".
Ms Nadeem said her father had "these different views" that ultimately led him "to kidnap me and kind of hold my mum hostage for a little bit in Iraq".
"He felt that we were just living in sin, and he wanted a better life for us from his perspective," she added.
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Shockingly, Ms Nadeem declared: "I would never take back that experience".
"But at eight years old, just imagine being ripped from your home, going to a whole new culture where you don't speak the language, where you watched your mother and your sister be forced to leave without you," she said.
"You know you're being left behind and you have to pick ... you just have to keep living."
To fit into this new culture, Ms Nadeem learnt Arabic and wore the hijab to "start living like an Iraqi girl".
Alea Nadeem with her mother
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"I was going to be practising Islam ... you don't have a choice, I'm a young girl at eight years old," she added.
"I never thought I would make it (back) to the United States. I share this with people, not for shock value, but to just understand context - I was literally scheduled to marry my first cousin once I started my menstrual cycle (and quit school)."
But Ms Nadeem's mother never gave up on her daughter and she was "rescued" after three and a half years and the FBI getting involved.
"To live under this (American) flag is unbelievable," she said.
"I am so unbelievably grateful ... every day counts for me ... I'm not supposed to be here.
"So, when people say they hate this country or they don't like it, I say 'go leave, go live somewhere else' if you think it is so bad here."
Ms Nadeem urged people in the United States, similarly to the United Kingdom, to appreciate "something really special" which she temporarily had stripped away from her during her time in Iraq.
"That's what led me to serve ... and 9/11 happened when I was a junior in high school," she said.
"The same country which rescued me and helped me was asking for people to join (and) I happened to know the culture, I happened to speak Arabic, so how could I not."
Ms Nadeem said it was a "no-brainer" to serve and join the US Air Force despite being a "girl's girl" and a dancer in high school.
"The only reason I was in the United States is because of this country, and the horrible things that I went through made me appreciate what I had," she said.
However, since leaving the Air Force and being a reservist, too much was going on in the country for Ms Nadeem to stand by and watch.
She acknowledged to the People's Channel that there was "fair criticism" of America, however, too many were "ungrateful".
"I fully understand America is not perfect ... we have work to do, like we always have introspection, absolutely, but trying to tear down our country, you know, I hear people ... saying like Somalia first or their allegiance is to some other country," she said.
"I'm like absolutely not."
While appreciating their right to freedom, "it hurts".
"It personally affects me," Ms Nadeem said.
"I wish I could just take them to Iraq for a day and say, 'go live here where you can't go out of your house ... you don't know who's going to kill you'."
Ms Nadeem said she only tells her story to explain "what we have here is special".
Alea Nadeem and her father who kept her in Iraq for several years
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She wants to strengthen the country and the constituency in Ohio.
Her message to voters is: "I 've been kidnapped, I've never had a harder day in my life".
"There is nothing you can do to me ... I have the tenacity and grit."
With the incumbent representative being in office for 42 years, Ms Nadeem said she is not a "career politician".
"I'm all about getting stuff done, I'm about the mission, I'm about doing the right things for the country," she said.
"I'm coming in with not only a worldview, but a view of America and how special it is."
Ms Nadeem pointed to Donald Trump, saying: "You know why people love the President and this administration so much ... it's because they get results done".
"They say they're going to do something, and they do it," she added.
"Nobody ever does that and I'm actually really happy to be a part of that ... I'm not here to climb the ladder, the political ladder, I'm not here to stay ... 50 years in Congress.
"When it's time for the next generation, get out of the damn way and let the next generation come lead."
Like many Republicans, Ms Nadeem highlights her American first values - "putting the country first" in a time when politicians "for a very long time" have prioritised others.
She says America has been "screwed" through trade and other dealings, including President Joe Biden's withdrawal from Afghanistan, which she described as "one of the worst things that's ever happened".
"That was hard to watch, because those people were literally jumping on aircraft because they didn't want to be left behind," she said.
One of Ms Nadeem's biggest compliments for Mr Trump was clamping down on America's borders.
When asked about the situation in the United Kingdom, Ms Nadeem said it came down to three things.
"I think the first piece of it is ... the criminal activity," she said.
"If you're going to come to our country and you're an illegal immigrant, and you're going to commit a crime ... that's an easy one, you have to go.
"The second thing is, there's a tax on the system ... all these people come over here ... who has to foot that bill? The taxpayers."
Ms Nadeem said people fighting for those immigrants to stay in the country should "let them stay in your house".
Similar to the UK, Ms Nadeem said "assimilation" was another huge issue, not just with illegal immigrants but also with legal immigrants.
"They come here and they set up ... their own little Arabia, or their own little Somalia ... they don't assimilate into the American culture. And trust me, I love my Iraqi culture. I'm super proud of it, but I've assimilated into American culture."
While declaring her strong views on immigration, Ms Nadeem said policies like Nigel Farage's 'Acute Skills Shortage Visa' would "take time" and there was a need for people to fill certain jobs.
"I think people want stability. I think in theory, you could have ... Brits, or ... Americans get those jobs. But we have to fundamentally change how we get the next generation to look at blue-collar jobs," she said.
Ms Nadeem said it could take a "whole generation" for the mood to change.
And, campaigning on the needs of blue-collar families, Ms Nadeem said far too many candidates had "fumbled the ball" when running against Ms Kaptur.
"I call myself the David and the Goliath," she said.
"So, the person that I'm going up against, she's been here for 42 years ... she has entrenched herself here... you know they figured out how to stay.
"I really wholeheartedly believe you need an outsider."
Ms Nadeem wants to restore calm to the working class, claiming her opponent had overseen the loss of 400,000 manufacturing jobs in Ohio and "our deficit has nearly quadrupled".
The veteran has praised widespread support from the Republican Party towards her campaign and Mr Trump's constant "winning" which she believes will be represented in the midterm elections, saying it will be a "litmus test" of how successful the US President is.
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