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Ruben Gallego
1021 podcast is brought to you by T Mobile. Yo, Castro here. I've been around soccer my whole life. From playing in Chicago to streaming FIFA to millions. It's always been about the love of the game. And chat knows we don't miss a moment. That's exactly why I'm on America's best network. Honestly, you won't believe everything I did as a T Mobile member. Weekly perks with T Mobile Tuesdays plus streaming benefits like Hulu and Netflix. Switching is easy, like 15 minutes per line with the Tealife app. If you want more value, more perks in the best network, T Mobile is where it's at. Visit t mobile.com qualifying plan require t Mobile has the best mobile network in the US Based on an analysis by OOKLA of Speed Test intelligence Data for the second half of 2025. What's up everyone? I'm Angel. I'm Diego. I'm Jason. And we're Augusto. Papa. Okay, be real. What era are we in? We got motion podcast up, lives moving.
Ana Navarro
Yeah, but the cars though, bro.
Ruben Gallego
Bruh, be serious. Every life update needs new wheels. Estamos la tro catambien. Low key, more luxury. Or maybe a hybrid. Mas milas menos impacto. I'm down for the upgrade. Cars.com filter everything. Price, style, mileage. Over 2 million new and used cars. Real reviews, clear ratings. You know it's a good move. Punto. Start your search with cars.com where to next?
Eva Longoria
This is Eva Longoria from Hungry for History with Eva Longoria and Maite Gomez Reon. One in four people in the US has been to a Planned Parenthood health center for life saving, life changing care. We're talking about birth control, annual exams, cancer screenings, STI testing and treatment and more. High quality expert judgment, free care. And despite lawmakers efforts to shut them down, they're not going anywhere. Care continues at Planned Parenthood so that you can get the unbiased high quality health care that you need. Text update to 22422 to learn more.
Chiquis
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Ana Navarro
Hey, everyone. Welcome to bleep. I'm Ana Navarro. Thank you for being here. Means so much to me. We've got a big show today, lots of news to cover, and we have a big interview with Senator Ruben Gallego from Arizona. I'm going to ask him some tough questions regarding his friendship with Eric Swalwell. But first, let's start with a headline you may have missed. And it's something that I spoke about earlier in the week on the View, but I want to go more in depth and expand on it here. And it is this thing that happened with Caitlyn Jenner. Basically, Caitlyn Jenner was on a podcast, was giving an interview, and she talked about how she can't travel internationally now due to a Trump policy. Some of you may know that when Trump came to office, the first thing he did, day one, one of the first things he did was sign an executive order restricting LGBTQ rights, particularly transgender rights. And so Caitlyn Jenner is now finding out that her passport no longer says female. It identifies her as male. Because under this Trump policy, you are identified and assigned your gender at birth. So no matter how much you've transitioned, if you've gone through a complete transition, had every surgery had done, changed your name, legally, no matter any of that, they are still going to call you a male if that's what you were at birth, or a female if that's what you were at birth. And let's, let's first go back a little, okay? So unless you've lived under the rock for the last 10 years, I'm assuming you know that Caitlyn Jenner is a woman who was born Bruce Jenner. She as Bruce Jenner, he was a top rated, a gold medal winning decathlete in the Olympics. This was as Bruce Jenner. He was on the front of the Wheaties box. He was known and respected as an athlete and as a leader and as somebody who spoke motivationally. He also famously married Kris Jenner is and as Bruce fathered Kendall and Kylie Jenner. So you've seen him as part of the Keeping up with the Kardashians and the whole Kardashian reality show. Eleven years ago, at 65, Bruce Jenner transitioned to Caitlyn Jenner and that who is. Who she is for the last 11 years. So let's go back to the policy, though, because I think it's, It's. It's important. So the. It was in 1992 under George Herbert Walker Bush. Okay. That's how long ago it was that there was an order and that the government started allowing for people who had fully transitioned, like Caitlyn Jenner has to identify themselves with that gender in their passports. Donald Trump did away with that on day one, as I just said. And I have been incredibly critical of Caitlyn Jenner. And really, when I hear her complaining and saying that she went to Mar? A Lago and that she left Trump a handwritten note about how difficult this was, when I hear her complaining about how she doesn't feel safe, how she can't travel international because internationally, because it's a safety issue, but at the same time, she's saying how much she loves Trump and supports Trump and thinks that it was somebody underneath him, some minion of his, that did this policy and that he doesn't even know. I don't know what psychedelic she is taking. This was a. One of the top campaign issues against Kamala Harris. They exploited the paranoia and fear of transgender people like Caitlyn Jenner during the entire campaign. So I just don't understand people who vote against their own self interest. It's like they don't have a mirror and then wonder and then complain and then are surprised when shit happens that affects their priorities and their life. So if you voted for a man who campaigned on restricting transgender rights, rolling them back, and who has systematically done so every chance he has gotten, whether it is by removing transgenders from active service in the military, by making sure that transgenders can't go. Caitlyn Jenner cannot go to a. Into a federal building and go into a female bathroom. And whether it is having people not be able to have the marker with which they identify in their passports and travel with that, all of those things and many, many more have happened under Donald Trump. And so it pisses me off to no end that somebody that has the privilege, the wealth, the celebrity, the access and the platform that Caitlyn Jenner does is only now doing anything about it or talking about it because it affects her. It's like the Latinos who voted for Trump, and only when their abuela gets nabbed or their Tia gets nabbed or their girlfriend gets nabbed or their nanny gets nabbed, that they care about these policies. And like I said on the View, there is A special place in hell for people who know that cruel, horrible things that put people's lives at risk are happening and only care when it happens to you and. And it affects you personally. That's not what being a decent human is about. So I have zero sympathy for Caitlyn Jenner. Truly, I wish I had a little violin that I knew how to play for her because I think her crocodile tears and her complaints have no validity and no strength. And what she should be doing and should have been doing for the last 15 months. It has been 15 months on day one. January 20th is when that man passed that executive order. And since then she has been with him, she has supported him, she has spoken about him, she has been on right wing outlets defending him for 15 months. She should have been speaking out against this policy. Not for her, but for every transgender person that doesn't have money or, or celebrity or privilege, that isn't a well known person that has to travel now with the wrong marker in their passport. There are 15 countries where being transgender is against the law. There are many more countries that have laws targeting gays and the lgbtq. And people like her now have to travel with a passport that identifies them, that reveals them as a transgender person if going to these countries. So, no, I'm going to have no sympathy for her and I'm going to continue calling out her hypocrisy and stupidity and the self flagellation that she's willing to engage in just so that she can continue being in the circle of power. And going to Mar a Lago for what? For God knows what? Are you going to Mar a Lago to look at the tacky gold gilded artifacts? To eat some piece of lobster lunch? I mean, is that what you are putting your community at risk for? And this is also a woman. Caitlyn Jenner is somebody who wanted to be a leader in the transgender community. She wanted to flaunt herself as having leadership and she was going to be an advocate for the men and women, the transgender men and women who don't have the same access and privilege that she does. Well, she's doing a really shitty job of it. She's doing a terrible job of it. And she has wasted 15 months of not speaking out against these cruel policies, targeting a community for political benefit. So if she wants to start now, it's been 15 months too late, but she can start now and do it not just for herself, but do it for every other transgender in this country. There's more than a million in the United States. And they need somebody who has Trump's ear and who can get close to them to be able to speak on behalf of that community. So, girl, I'm going to hold my breath and give you a chance. Not going to hold it for too long, though. All right, so that's it on Caitlyn Jenner. When we come back, we are going to talk to Ruben Gallego, senator from Arizona. We've got a lot to talk to him about. Tune in.
Chiquis
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Eva Longoria
This is Eva Longoria from Hungry for History with Eva Longoria and Maite Gomez Rejon Planned Parenthood health centers save lives. But lawmakers are trying to block patients from using Medicaid at Planned Parenthood health centers for one simple reason. They want to shut Planned Parenthood down. Yet across the country, Planned parenthood health centers are still there, opening their doors to care for the communities. That's because Planned parenthood believes controlling your own body is the most basic freedom and they will never stop fighting for it. One in four people in the US have been to a Planned Parenthood health center for high quality health care like birth control, cancer screenings, sti testing and treatment, and more. Planned parenthood is still the country's largest sex educator and a trusted source of unbiased sexual and reproductive health information for millions of people. Planned parenthood will never stop working to get people the information they need, and they will never stop fighting so that every person is free to make their own decisions about their bodies and futures. Land Parenthood Care continues. Text update to 22422 to learn more.
Ruben Gallego
What's up, everyone? I'm angel. I'm Diego. And I'm Jason from agusto. Papa. Okay, be real. What era are we in? I say we got motion podcasts up. Life's moving. But our cars though, Pa be serious. That's what I'm saying. Every life update deserves new wheels. Estamos enotra el tapa la tro ca tambien. You level up. Your ride should too low key. More luxury. Or maybe you're in your hybrid era. Mas mil menos impacto. I'm done for the upgrade. Well, that's when you go to cars.com you can filter anything. Style, mileage, price, over 2 million new and used cars. You can get specific and the dealership reviews. All real people, real experiences plus transparent deal ratings with all the badges and tools. You know, it's a good move seen duda? Honestly, new chapters deserve the right car. Start your search today with cars.com where to next?
Ana Navarro
Welcome back to the show everyone. And as promised, we have with us the senator from Arizona, Ruben gallego. And Reuben is one of these miraculous unicorns who won in Arizona at the same time that Kamala Harris lost Arizona. So a lot of people split their ticket and voted for Ruben and voted for Donald trump in Arizona. Before being senator from Arizona, he served in Congress for 10 years from 2015 to 2025 and then he went right into the u. S. Senate. And as we know, he's been in the news a lot for issues that are not as good. And I'm going to Ask him about it. So welcome to the show, amigo. Ruben Gallego.
Ruben Gallego
Gracias. Thanks for having me.
Ana Navarro
So, Reuben, you know, let's slap it around the bush and let's talk about the elephant in the room. I want to get that out of the way before we get to some substantive policy issues I also want to discuss with you. Okay. So a few weeks ago, the news broke about Eric Swalwell and sexual assault, even rape allegations. This has brought you into the spotlight because you and Swalwell have been incredibly close friends. You've described him as your best friend. You were a national chair of his presidential campaign in 2020. You've gone on delegations together, travel together. I've seen pictures of you all riding around in camels in Qatar, in the desert. Your families were closed. You babysat each other's children. And so then this news breaks and this happens, and people are looking at you saying, what did you know and when did you know it? So I just want to get. I honestly want to give you a chance to be frank and to explain it.
Ruben Gallego
Well, look, as I said before, you know, the swallow. I knew the air swallowing you is not the air swallow that I'm hearing about right now. And you're right about in terms of our family being close, that is the person that I knew. And while obviously we were friends, I've also been busy with a lot of things for quite a while, really. Starting since 2022, I've been running essentially for the Senate. I, you know, got remarried in 2021. I had, you know, two kids and back to back in a row. And so, like, a lot of these things that happen, happen, you know, in this time frame where I was, you know, missing or not missing, but just not. Not around because I was focusing on. On my family. But, you know, there is no denying that, you know, he and I were friends. And it's shocking to me, without a doubt, everything that I heard. And it hurts, obviously, for the victims. I feel for his family, who we are very, very close to. And it just, you know, it's something that. That, that fooled us, fooled me. And, you know, to this day, I regret, you know, even, you know, even understanding remotely or thinking remotely that he wasn't that person.
Ana Navarro
So there's some Republicans, including Congressman Lawler, who say that you and Swalwell were roommates. Were you roommates?
Ruben Gallego
We were never roommates.
Ana Navarro
Okay, so that is a flat out lie.
Ruben Gallego
Yes.
Ana Navarro
You were very close friends. You were not roommates.
Ruben Gallego
Correct.
Ana Navarro
As you, as you look back on this, Ruben, do You think there were red flags that you missed?
Ruben Gallego
No, look, I wish there were, but honestly, you know, when you see a person and I think what people are feeling. I saw this person for the last, you know, five years as the same person that I was a family man, right? Not the person that, you know, who was originally in Congress when he was single, but the person that, you know, our kids were in baseball camp together. You know, our families had dinners together. It was very. A very different kind of relationship versus being, you know, two single guys to now having friends and family together. And so the. It was an entirely, you know, different perspective.
Ana Navarro
What I saw, you know, since. Since the Swalwell allegations came out, I have heard a lot of people and I have seen people on TV say, you know, Washington insiders, former Congress people, people like Kevin McCarthy, the former speaker of the House. I saw him, I think it was on Fox News, saying that it was an open secret that everybody in Washington knew and that people knew in Congress not to allow their young female staffers to be alone with Eric Swalwell or Matt Gaetz. Frankly, when I saw Kevin McCarthy say that, you know, my question was, well, you were speaker of the House. Why the. Didn't you do anything about it? Why didn't you talk to these two guys? But how would you answer that? That it was an open. You've heard that, right? You've heard that it's an. That it was an open secret in Washington. How would you answer that?
Ruben Gallego
No, that. That's not the. The case. As a matter of fact, I don't think anyone heard anything of that nature. That Eric Swallow cannot be trusted with. With young staff or staff in general. Like, that was not at all like, again, this also, Kevin McCarthy has a political ax to grind with everyone and everyone. And he is also someone who has had to do with his own rumors. But that's. That's not the case. Again, you know, for. For many of us, you know, here in Washington, D.C. we had our own lives to live. And my experience with him wasn't going out at night or, or on these trips. Wherever. Wherever some of these happened, it was us going to dinner with family and then, you know, our wives hanging out together. Very rarely, you know, was there the occasions that some of these other things allegedly happened late.
Ana Navarro
Well, can I tell you something? This has happened to me. I have had very close friends who blindsided me and were doing things that I just had no idea. Right now, as I sit here with you, one of my close friends, a guy who worked for my. For My husband, a man who was Marco Rubio's roommate, closest collaborator, they owned a house together in Tallahassee. He is a former congressman named David Rivera. He is right now sitting on trial in Miami for having been an unregistered agent of the Maduro regime and exploiting his friendship with Marco Rubio. Marco Rubio was just in Miami testifying in that case and saying that he didn't know about it. So I just want to tell Republicans who are attacking you on this that I think, yes, you need to be asked the questions. I am glad you are explaining it. But this happens. It happens even to the best of us. It happened even to Marco Rubio.
Ruben Gallego
Look, and, you know, you know, my. My family history. Like, you know, my father was a convicted drug dealer. I didn't know that he was in that world until he got arrested. Right? And, you know, my family's already separated. But, like, you know, like, how do you know a lot of what's going on? You only know what you can, you know, you see in front of you, and. And, you know, you. You have to go back and reanalyze everything. But that's. That's just the. The truth is, at the end of the day, the person I knew was a person that was taking kids to baseball camp with me, not what. What is being alleged.
Ana Navarro
And Ruben. Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna. Anna Paulina Luna from Florida has made some pretty explosive allegations on Twitter. And then she did it on tv. She said that there was. She basically said there's allegations coming out against you, that she has knowledge of allegations coming out against you. Is there anything that you're worried about? What do you have to say about that?
Ruben Gallego
Well, specifically, actually, she said that there is a person coming out with a lawyer who worked for me, and that hasn't happened. Nothing happened, because there's no truth to that whatsoever. She also said that I misused funds. That was also repudiated by the press. We clearly didn't do it. Also, it's this. All 20, 24 oppo that they're regurgitating right now. This is the stuff that they try to use during the campaign that we were able to push off and prove that wasn't false. And now they're just kind of going to the same. So she's just a tool for the MAGA crowd, for the Trump people, and that's it. But, like, look, there's nothing there. You know, this is not. This is not what we're worried about. This is showing something that they're continuing to push because they want to continue to put, you know, throw dust in the air.
Ana Navarro
So you promised me you're not going to break my heart and nothing, none of these allegations are going to come out on you. And if they do, they're not, they're not. You're going to push them off.
Ruben Gallego
Because listen, it's not, it's not you that I'm worried about. It's my mom, my three sisters, my wife, my daughter, my sons, you know, the disappointment I would cause. This is not, you know, this is not a political thing. This is, this is hurtful, you know, at the end of the day because, you know, it's, my family has to deal with all this. Right. Like, I've been through worse. I've unfortunately been through worse. And you don't want to ever put your family through. This is the most disgusting.
Ana Navarro
Yeah, you had a very tough campaign and there was a lot of oppo that came out. There were a lot of attacks, you know, involving your first wife who actually endorsed you in that campaign.
Ruben Gallego
Because we had a great working relationship. Yes.
Ana Navarro
Yeah.
Ruben Gallego
Yeah.
Ana Navarro
And, but before we leave that topic, I just want to say this, though. There's obviously a pervasive culture that continues in Washington of sexual harassment and sexual assault. It's shocking to me that these things continue to happen after me too, after Andrew Cuomo, after everything we've seen, you know, there's, there's still a fund in Washington to pay off claims by staff on, you know, that, that accuse members or, or senior staff of sexual assault or sexual harassment. Why, Ruben? Why is this still happening and what do we do about it? I mean, we've, in the last week, there's been three. In the last, what, 10 days, there's been three resignations in Congress. Tony Gonzalez, whose staffer doused herself with gasoline, the staffer he was having an affair with and set herself on fire and died by suicide. Eric Swalwell. And then, you know, and there's, there's the other guy from Florida who, who's got very serious allegations against him that still there. Why, why is this still happening in 2026?
Ruben Gallego
So I, from my perspective post, me too. I think a lot of, especially men on the Hill, like really re. Took stock about like how they interact when they interact with staff. And, and, and this also, by the way, extends to same sex issues. Like, I, I know that, like, I think people are also avoiding that. But that is, that's also a prevalent problem here.
Ana Navarro
And women, I mean, it's not just men. It's, it's Some women. We've also seen some women in power who've been. Who've. Who've, you know, been accused of things.
Ruben Gallego
Like, for us, like, we, like, we certainly, like, internally in our office post, like, puts me to, like, you internalize certain things, like, you know, not never drinking alone with junior staff. Like, don't be alone with junior staff unless you like actual work locations that are, you know, calendared, all these kind of things. I think the problem is that it was left to each individual office. And the problem with that is that, you know, there's some individual offices that will end up doing what they want. I think there has to be a standard that's set by an HR standard set by the Senate and by the House that, you know, either, you know, gives some very, very, you know, strict guidelines and. Or clear guidance like this is what are our best practices. And I think that's the best way to go. Because sometimes there aren't. Aren't. And there's sometimes that people such as Tony Gonzalez that. That I think were particularly fairly, you know, targeted about how they're predicate, you know, preying on people even before they even won the election, from what I understand.
Ana Navarro
Have you spoken to Swalwell since the allegations or his family?
Ruben Gallego
I spoke to him and told him that he needed to drop out. And I've spoken to his. His wife.
Ana Navarro
So you've gotta be feeling pretty betrayed and pissed off right now.
Ruben Gallego
I look betrayed pissed off, you know, for, you know, in terms of my relationship with his family. It's, you know, his family, not him. It's weird because I've always been, you know, involved in their life. They've always been involved in my life since getting to Congress. And I still care about his kids and I still care about his wife, and that's not gonna change.
Ana Navarro
Well, thank you for having spoken to us about that. I really wanted to give you the time to air these things out because I think this issue is being exploited and used to attack you. And the reason that they're attacking you is because you're relevant. It's because you are a star in the Democratic Party. You are a man who's got the secret sauce of how to speak to the voters that Democrats need to win, the blue collar voters, Latino voters. And I think people see you as a threat. There's all this talk about you potentially running in 2028. And so, of course, if there's anything that they can do to bring you down, they will. And that's why I wanted you to have this Frank conversation with me.
Ruben Gallego
I mean, it's no coincidence that Karen Levitt is, like, talking about me from the White House. You know, Rostum. Right. This is like, it's no coincidence that Chris La and some of the top, you know, MAGA people are tweeting about things that just aren't true. Like, this is the, yeah.
Ana Navarro
And, you know, the level of hypocrisy, the level of, of, of the, the, the shamelessness that you got to have to be Carolyn Levitt working for Donald Trump. We all heard, boast about sexual assault.
Ruben Gallego
Yeah.
Ana Navarro
And be there attacking you. I mean, you know, it takes a lot of shamelessness. So let's move on to some, some issues that we all care about. And I want to start because of your service, because you are a veteran. You were deployed to Iraq as a Marine. I want to ask you about what's happening in Iran. I think you have such a unique perspective. A lot of people now, a lot of people debate this and talk about this, who've never put their lives at risk, who've never served. It's very easy, I think, to send other people's sons and daughters to fight and defend the United States when you've never done it and it's never been part of your family, you've actually done it. So how are you feeling about what's happening in Iran? Just tell me what, I mean, just make sense of this for me or, or don't, you know, but what's happening there?
Ruben Gallego
So for me, this is all deja vu. And, you know, when I went to the war, when I went to Iraq, it was 2005, so I wasn't part of the invasion, but I was there fighting the insurgency. And even in 2005, I knew that the war and the premise of the war was all a lie. There was no WMDs. We didn't go to war because, you know, Iraq was that dangerous. That was such an essential threat to the United States. But I also was not going to be a coward, nor I was going to let someone else take my spot. I was an infantryman. And, you know, if, if someone replaces me, someone is putting themselves in danger. Unfortunately, that was true, as, you know, like, my company saw the most casualties of the whole Iraq war and we saw the worst fighting of that war. And so for me, this is very personal. When I saw what was happening in Iran, it was the same damn thing. But they didn't even try to, to lie to us that, you know, they came up with all these reasons and we're going and the, the only saving grace is that we haven't introduced ground troops to the situation. And you know, the fact is that, yeah, there's 13 men and women that died and they died because of bad leadership. Leadership at the DOD who, you know, decided to go to war and make decisions based on hopes and prayers, not on reality. Sounds very familiar. That's what happened in Iraq. You had a president who went to war not variously not looking at the best interest of this country, but really looking at his personal ego and interpreting his past success into thinking that this would create success again. That's kind of what happened in Iraq, where we had initial success in Afghanistan. And that's how I encourage people to think that we're going to have again sustained success in Iraq. And then all that is just basically gambling, gambling with people's lives, with young men and women's lives. That's my, my, my problem is like, I'm glad we haven't gone to a full blown war. You know, in terms of there's like men and women are invading in Iran, without a doubt. I want this to end with, in a peaceful manner that still, you know, keeps us positioned as, as a world power. I fear that this president is, is going to screw that up. That's a conversation for a little time. But the fact is right now, because I've been in those situations, there is 19 to 20 year old, you know, men and women that are worried about their lives. I was old when I was in Iraq, I was 24 when I was patrolling, you know, western Iraq. The things that, that, you know, you see these generals talking about on tv, all these like cool little things. At the end of the day, it's like an 18, 19, 20 year old kid who's usually the first person that has to do some really scary stuff. Whether it is launch the weapon, whether it was like me raid that house or you know, raid the palm field, whatever it is, that is what's happening. And the, the fact that this administration does not care, does not even have a, for like a real, real thought about how the, how we're going to get out of this war and how they're just willing to kind of double down more and more on bad decisions and hoping that they're going to be a good outcome. Right. I fear that this, this administration is just chasing a victory and, or chasing it out and they'll try, you know, with lives to figure that out. Right.
Ana Navarro
Well, they're also telling the American people that there has been regime change. I mean anybody with, with a functioning Brain can see that it is the same regime that's still in Iran. You were, you were in Congress the last two years of the Obama presidency. What, what? And Trump came in and tore up the deal that Obama had made with Iran, criticized it, it was a big part of the campaign. How is what they're talking about deal wise? We don't know what that's going to end up looking like. But what they're, they've been talking about, what we have been reading about, how is that much different from what Obama had achieved?
Ruben Gallego
Well, it's not. And look, the jcpoa, and I was, yes, I was in, in Congress and I voted for it. I voted for it because I wanted to stay out of war. I knew it wasn't a great deal, but I also knew it did two things. Number one, it kept nuclear weapons out of the hands of the Iranians and number two, it kept us out of war. And I remember talking to, you know, whether it was a pack, other, other organizations that were, were trying to allow me to get to vote against the jcpoa, you know, think tanks, everything else like that. I kind of kept going back to it. I'm like, explain to me how if we don't do this, we don't go to a war at some point. And all they could say is like, well, we reject this, there'll be a better deal. I'm like, no, no, no, no. A deal's a deal, right? A deal's a deal. And if we don't have this deal, I'm gambling with someone else's life. I'm gambling with someone named Revengene Gallego who has to go again into the breach, into that house, into the bunker, whatever it is for this country. Like, why would I be taking that gamble? Why? Remember, this is, you know, for me, this is around 2015. I'm only 10 years removed from the battlefield, right? So this is very fresh in my mind. This is very, very fresh and very, very much. And so again, and there's a lot of things we could have that could have been better, but that's the best you were going to get, right? And there's a lot of things that we decided to try to fix later. Separate from the jcpoa, right, from the Iran nuclear deal. Let's just call it that for people that don't understand. And we tried, right, like let's limit their ability to build weapons here and stuff like that. What happened was this president decided to get rid of that in 2016 and say like hope and prayer, things will Be better.
Ana Navarro
Yeah. You know, you talk about being 10 years removed from your service, and we have seen so many people who served in Iraq deal with ptsd, depression. The suicide rates are through the roof. How do you deal with some of those ghosts?
Ruben Gallego
Well, I. I have ptsd, and I will carry PTSD for the rest of my life. And it. It took me a long time to. To go seek help. My first son being born and then coming actually is what really motivated me to go, because now I. I realized that, like, I was responsible for another wife.
Ana Navarro
Not an easy thing for a man to do. Not an easy thing in particular for a Latino man to do. Where we have. We have a lot of taboo against therapy, against seeking help.
Ruben Gallego
Yeah, I mean, I had to. I. I hid it, you know, from. Well, I hear my PTSD from my family, and then even when I started getting therapy, I hid it from my family again because I was ashamed. You know, I was the leader of my family. I'd owe him one. Since my father abandoned our family, I was the man of the family. I know that sounds very sexist for people out there, but that's a very Latino thing in our family. And, you know, in order for me to accept, in order for me to be better, I had to go get therapy. But I. I also was afraid to tell my family because they knew me as the strong one, the strong man, the protector of the family. And, you know, in fact, I was still protecting my family and still providing for my family, but I also was, you know. You know, I had this big, gaping wound in my heart.
Ana Navarro
Was there something that happened in particular that.
Ruben Gallego
That.
Ana Navarro
That was what drove you to seek help?
Ruben Gallego
Well, it was, you know, my son coming soon. And then there was the. You know, we have what's called, like, survivor days, like the days that you almost died, and then the days that you obviously talk, you know, not talk. I do go to the grave sites of the. Of the men that I serve with. And, you know, nine of my. Nine. Nine of the men that I serve with are actually buried here in Arlington National Cemetery. So, you know, it was the. You know, my. My visit to them in August for the. The second round of guys that died that I think finally broke me. And I realized that in order for me, I could probably continue functioning as an adult and as a person and as a. As a highly functioning adult in terms of my job, in terms of everything else. But I was definitely not going to be a good father if I didn't deal with what was happening internally inside of me. And so that, and, you know, that weighed heavily on me because I was the person that didn't have a father growing up. My father left, you know, when I was fairly young. And to some degree, it's probably a good thing because he was an awful father. But knowing that I was about to have a son coming and that I was not in the proper frame of mind to be a good father really spurred me to do it because I just didn't want to, you know, pass on, you know, kind of this, you know, some generational trauma onto my son. Right. And, you know, that's what finally did it. Like I had to really be a bigger man and think about other people besides my own personal, you know, machismo that said that I couldn't go get help.
Ana Navarro
Thank you for sharing that. I know it's not easy. I want to ask you. I want to ask you, you know, your state is so impacted, so is mine, Florida. I want to ask you about immigration and everything. I mean, as, as. As we talk here today. There's what, 50 people that have died in ICE custody since Trump took office? It's almost one a week, Reuben. And we have seen such extreme cruelty targeting brown people, particularly our community. We've seen children used as bait. We know that there's thousands of children being held in deplorable conditions in places like the Dilley Detention Center. I don't even know what the question is. I'm so. I mean, for people like me who just feel so brokenhearted, so. So pissed, distressed, angered, you know, just. It's hard for me to believe that this can be happening in the United States of America. As somebody who fled oppression and who fled cruelty in Nicaragua, I can't believe I'm seeing these conditions. What do you tell people that come to you with. With the. With fear of what's happening in this country?
Ruben Gallego
Well, I think, first of all, you have to actually, unfortunately, not tamp that down. We. We should be fearful. This is an administration that is entirely different from anything else we've seen in the past. And they are not afraid to use government power to get their political goals. And if they have to trample, you know, civil rights in the process, they're going to do it. And, you know, I would say also that, like, there's ways to avoid this. Right? You know, obviously, we can use the courts. We need to use civil disobedience. We need to use, you know, popular protests. But, you know, the difference between what's happening now and it's not and not happening is. Is an election I'm not even talking about Donald Trump. Right. I'm not going to be in this person like, oh, you know, people have voted for Kamala Harris. We've been this situation. As a matter of fact, the difference between us being situation and not being situation is four congressional seats. Four congressional seats don't go the way the Republicans need. They can't hyper, you know, scale their deportation program. And so by doing that, they were able to basically get the people, hire the people, put up the fences, put up the prisons to be able to move people. Deportations cost about $10,000 per deportation. They're going to be, when they have unlimited amount of money, they're going to continue doing it. And so when I tell people, it's like, we can't stop this, this, but we need to actually have the political power to stop this. And Latinos can be that, that, that force.
Ana Navarro
If, if, if, if Congress changes hands, if the House goes to the Democrats, or when it does, and if the Senate goes to the Democrats, will there be accountability? Can there actually be accountability for these deaths? Nobody has faced any repercussions for the fact that 50 human beings have died under ICE custody.
Ruben Gallego
Yeah, I mean, I think the, the. Yes. But again, we need to have the power to expose these people, to bring out, like, the subpoenas, to bring them into testify, to make sure that we're preserving also evidence and, you know, in case we have a chance to actually prosecute or to give a chance to state prosecutors and local prosecutors to take their opportunity, we have to check. We have to take every opportunity we have. And the other thing is, like, we can't actually be dissuaded because things are hard. It's going to be hard to prosecute. It's going to be hard. No, no. The more we give this aura that these guys have total immunity, they're going to try to continue to have total immunity. If we strike fear in them that they're going to have to be accountable, then they'll actually try. Hopefully they'll actually temper themselves and they'll actually hold themselves accountable. So, you know, this whole like, oh, my God, we can't do anything until he's out attitude is very defeating. We have to show that we're going to fight. We have to show we're willing to fight, and we have to show that we're willing to hold them accountable no matter how hard it is. And we do that, then you actually be able to save some lives, to actually be able to maybe change some directions of the trajectory of what this is going to happen in the last two years of this administration, but we can't be afraid to have that hard, those, those hard conversations and have those hard positions that there's going to be accountability.
Ana Navarro
And you were a guy who was able to campaign successfully in Arizona. As I said in the beginning, this is a state that, you know, you won in 2024, the same year that Donald Trump won Arizona, you won an incredibly competitive race against Kerry Lake, who Donald Trump had endorsed. It was a dirty, dirty campaign against you. Very well funded. They put everything they had in that race. I want to tell you, every time one of the potential 2028, the people that are being talked about on the Democratic side comes to the View or I meet them anywhere, I say to them, you've got to go to Washington and you've got to talk to Ruben Gallego and Alex Padilla. If you want to know about how to deal with, how to speak to, how to relate to Hispanics. What is, what is the, the formula? What did you do right that it seems to me so many others did not do right?
Ruben Gallego
So I had a special, I would say I had a special situation that helped me out because I didn't grow up, you know, in this world. I mean, I grew up working class. I grew up working at construction sites and kitchens with Latino men, right? I worked with them and, you know, we would go to dinner afterwards or, you know, we go, you know, have our, you know, little carne asada after work. And like my, my whole existence, you know, growing up as a, as a man was surrounded by Latino working class men and being with them and seeing how they are for years. And so those things created me and helped me get a real deep insight into who they are. So when election time came around and people were like, wow, Latino men are running away from the Democratic brand. I knew it, I felt it. I knew the reasons why. And we basically created a campaign based off my experience of actually being a Latino working man, right? And so I went where the Latino working man was. So I would have, I'd be handing out burritos at the 6am factory shift where I would just quickly talk to these guys. I knew that, you know what, they don't want to spend time talking to a politician, but they certainly would go watch a boxing match with me if I threw it. They know that, you know, I knew that they want to take their families out. And if, if they saw that I was, which, you know, one of the fun things we did, we threw a couple rodeos through A rodeo. And, like, they showed up, they got to hear one speech from me. I got. I hung out. They got to meet my family. And so for them, politics isn't actually about policy. It's about personalities. And I think a lot of people in politics think look down on these guys because, like, oh, you're not actually thinking about policy and politics. No, these guys are busy. They work so effing hard, you know, And I was one of those guys. I would wake up at 6am to go to the work site. By the time I was home, by 5am I was literally just crawling into the shower, eating whatever I could, and then just falling asleep on the. On the couch. Right. And that. Not, by the way, that's not a complaint. I was very proud of the fact that I was able to provide for my family. It was hard work. It was dirty work, but I was a provider and protector of my family. Nothing wrong with that. But, like, I think there's a lot of D.C. consultants that talk to their people and they think about these men and think for some reason, because they're not digging into policy, that somehow they're lesser of a voter and they don't deserve to even be reached out to. Or they decide, like, you know what? We're going to keep pushing policy your way, and eventually you'll smarten up, and that's not going to happen again. These men are prideful men. They just want to provide for the family. They want to provide for a future. And they don't want to just survive. Right? They want to actually live the real American dream. Because guess what? If they wanted to just survive, they could have survived in whatever Latin American country they were from, where their parents were from. No, they want to have a house. They want to have a troquita. They want to have a small business. They want to take nice vacations. And what we did is we talked to that future. We talked to that aspiration. And I think the other thing is they understood that I emotionally understood them. And I understood the deep, deep burden you carry as a Latino man to be able to provide for your family, to be able to protect your family. And when they couldn't do that during the, you know, this last economic downturn because of inflation, it deeply, deeply hurt them. And the fact that we were willing to talk to them and the fact that we actually told them, like, yeah, this sucks. It's not your fault, it's our fault. And I had commercials where I actually said this, like, you know, things are bad. Prices are high. You know, you're working hard, and you don't feel like you're making it. And I always. I finished that commercial, like, and this is not your fault. That was a way for the Latino male to connect with me because they understood that I. I understood their need for dignity and their need for them to. The. To. To. To. For me to understand the burden they're carrying. And I think there are some politicians that can do that, but they have to really understand the importance that some Latino. A lot of Latino men carry in terms of what they do for their family and how they provide for the family and the role in the family and not find it offensive because you can do all those things and still respect women and Latinas in that family, too.
Ana Navarro
Ruben, we have to.
Ruben Gallego
I know. I got to wrap it up. I got to go vote on it.
Ana Navarro
Gotta run. But I gotta ask you, just quickly, for me, like, bad bunnies, super bowl, halftime, and Carol G's Coachella are giving me hope and joy. What's bringing you hope and joy?
Ruben Gallego
So it's so funny just about that. Like, I remember on the. Like, me, like, texting all my. My Latino friends, like, am I, like, are you getting the so emotional feels that I feel? And they're like, yes. And then Coachella. Like, I've never been to Coachella, but I almost went to Coachella just because Carol G Was going. As you know, I'm also half Colombian.
Ana Navarro
She's going on tour. I'm invite you to come with me.
Ruben Gallego
Oh, my God. Okay. Pero mira. The reason why is because America is accepting us as being part of America without us having to change who we are in our culture. And I think that's what we've always wanted. We always wanted to be American. We always wanted to be considered fully American. We want to bring our beautiful parts of our culture into the American culture so we could become this stronger, more beautiful America. And the fact that, you know, Bad Bunny and Coachella, you know, with. With Koji are. Are doing that, you know, it is. It's great. You know, we are truly making America great, and we're doing it and bringing our. You know, our mezcla into all this,
Ana Navarro
you know, I hadn't thought about it. America is accepting us at a time when this government is prosecuting us and rejecting us. When I. Listen, I know you have to go do important senator stuff. I can't thank you enough for having given us the time more than anything, for having opened up your soul and your heart. Thank you. And for having been so frank and speaking to us. Ter repeto mucho. I can't wait to see you in person for some of those taquitos and carne asada that we talked about and I am gonna go look up Carol G's world tour concert and give you a call about that when I see her coming anywhere that near us. Ung abrazo mique Rio amigo
Ruben Gallego
by.
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Eva Longoria
This is Eva Longoria from Hungry for History with Eva Longoria and Maite Gomez Reon. Planned Parenthood Health centers save lives, but lawmakers are trying to block patients from using Medicaid at Planned Parenthood Health center centers for one simple reason. They want to shut Planned Parenthood down. Yet across the country, Planned Parenthood health centers are still there, opening their doors to care for the communities. That's because Planned Parenthood believes controlling your own body is the most basic freedom and they will never stop fighting for it. One in four people in the US have been to a Planned Parenthood health Center for high quality health care like birth control, cancer screenings, STI testing and treatment, and more. Planned Parenthood is still the country's largest sex educator and a trusted source of unbiased sexual and reproductive health information for millions of people. Planned Parenthood will never stop working to get people the information they need, and they will never stop fighting so that every person is free to make their own decisions about their bodies and future land. Parenthood Care continues. Text update to 22422 to learn more.
Chiquis
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Ana Navarro
So welcome back. What a great interview with Senator Ruben Gallego. And you know, usually at this point in the podcast I highlight a Coward of the Week and a Hero of the Week. What it's meant to me this week I'm not doing a Coward of the Week. This week I'm doing a Ridicula of the week. That means a Ridiculous Person of the week. And this week the Ridiculous Person award goes to Katie Miller. So Katie Miller is married to Stephen Miller. You know, the guy who works for that grim reaper looking guy who works for Donald Trump. And Katie Miller, who again is married to Stephen Miller. In fact she's procreated with him, tweeted out liberal men aren't attractive with a retweet chart showing that 60% of extremely liberal men age 35 to 45 are childless versus 15% of extremely conservative women. Let me say this again. Stephen Miller's wife Katie tweeted out that liberal men are not attractive. What level of absurd and legally blind do you have to be in order to be married to a human being that looks like Stephen Miller? I mean, seriously, this man looks like an albino sea cucumber wearing a human sized condom. Okay, and you are saying that liberal men are not attractive. Let me just remind you, Pedro Pacal is a liberal man. Okay? So some of the responses to this tweet have been great and made me laugh, so I want to share them with you. You lots of commenting. So people have been posting pictures of Stephen Miller and I am yet to see a good picture of the man. And these are some of the responses that people tweeted out to Katie Miller saying that liberal men were not attractive. Quote, we can see Stephen with our own eyes. Bold thing to say when your husband looks like a big toe. She must have that rare face blindness thing. You are married. Let me. This one's so funny. Okay. You are married to a bald Buffalo Bill from Silence of the Lambs. I have a Halloween skeleton named after your husband because of the uncanny resemblance, says the woman fucking Timu Nosferatu. I'm going to try that again because I'm laughing through it. So responds to Katie Miller, says the woman fucking Timu Nosferatu. Okay, let me now. Oh my God. Going from Katie Miller in that tweet and those responses. Let me now just. And by remembering two men whose anniversary of death it was this past week and I don't want to end the show without remembering them. And they are so far apart, but they had such an impact on my life, both of them, and I miss them. One is Prince. This Last week was 10 years since the death of Prince, who left us such a trove of of songs and talent and brought us all so much happiness and joy. We all. I danced myself into a frenzy with so many of his songs, so I was remembering him last week. I was playing his songs and singing along in the car, dancing by myself in the kitchen. And I was also remembering last week, Pope Francis. It was the one year anniversary of the death of Pope Francis, who brought such humility and humor, who cared so much about the environment, who did not bear fools, who stood up for the gospel and who was just, you know, the first Latin Pope and just made me so proud when he was pope. I can't help but think what he would have said and how he would have responded to Trump and this, all this bullshit that we've seen from Trump attacking Pope Leo. So I was remembering and I wanted to talk about those two guys, Pope Francis and Prince. May they rest in peace, hopefully together. How fun would that be? That's it for this episode of BLEEP with Ana Navarro. Thanks again to Senator Ruben and Gallego for joining me today and thank you all for listening, for giving us a chance, for supporting this new endeavor, for tuning in. Don't forget to rate us and don't forget to leave us messages and your replies and comments. I have been reading them all. See you all next week. BLEEP with Ana Navarro is a Hyphenate Media Group production in partnership with iHeart's Micultura Podcast Network. For more for more of your favorite shows, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast or wherever you get your podcasts.
Eva Longoria
This is Eva Longoria from Hungry for History with Eva Longoria and Maite Gomez Rejon. One in four people in the US has been to a Planned Parenthood health center for life saving, life changing care. We're talking about birth control, annual exams, cancer screenings, STI testing and treatment, and more high quality, expert judgment free care. And despite lawmakers efforts to shut them down, they're not going anywhere. Care continues at Planned Parenthood so that you can get the unbiased, high quality health care that you need. Text update to 22422 to learn more.
Chiquis
Imagine never having to buy gas again. Sounds like a dream. Except it's real. That's everyday life with an electric vehicle. No long lines at the pump. Just plug in at home and go. EVs are as easy to charge as your phone and built for real life. Most Americans drive about 40 miles a day and most EVs go 200 to 400 miles on a single charge. And with fewer moving parts, you've got fewer repairs and style. There are hundreds of new and used EV models to choose from. An EV to fit every lifestyle and every budget. Learn more@electricforall.org let's be honest.
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Ruben Gallego
Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy not quite on Humor Me with Robert Smigel and Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier this week. My guests SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel help an acapella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to Humor Me with Robert Smigel and friends on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
Chiquis
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Episode: Hot Seat: Sen. Ruben Gallego on Swalwell, Iran, and Latino Voters
Date: April 27, 2026
Host: Ana Navarro
Guest: Senator Ruben Gallego (Arizona)
Producer: iHeartPodcasts
In this episode, Ana Navarro engages in a candid and wide-ranging conversation with Arizona Senator Ruben Gallego. Against the backdrop of political scandal and international tension, Navarro and Gallego confront issues of personal betrayal, sexual harassment in government, America’s immigration crisis, Middle East policy, and the political needs and aspirations of Latino voters. Gallego addresses tough questions about his friendship with Eric Swalwell, shares his perspective as a veteran on the Iran conflict, opens up about living with PTSD, and reveals his formula for connecting with Latino working-class voters. The episode blends the emotional, personal, and strategic, culminating in a hopeful conversation about culture and resilience.
“I just don't understand people who vote against their own self interest. It's like they don't have a mirror and then wonder and then complain and then are surprised when shit happens that affects their priorities and their life.” — Ana Navarro (06:38)
“The Eric Swalwell I knew is not the Eric Swalwell that I’m hearing about right now... It hurts, obviously, for the victims. I feel for his family... it fooled us, fooled me.” — Ruben Gallego (18:04)
“No, that's not the case... My experience with him wasn’t going out at night or on these trips — it was us going to dinner with family.” (21:11)
“It's not you that I’m worried about. It’s my mom, my three sisters, my wife, my daughter, my sons, you know, the disappointment I would cause. This is, this is hurtful...” (24:50)
“I think the problem is that it was left to each individual office. And the problem with that is that... some individual offices will end up doing what they want.” — Ruben Gallego (27:13)
“All that is just basically gambling, gambling with people’s lives, with young men and women’s lives... I’m glad we haven’t gone to a full-blown war.” — Ruben Gallego (33:28)
“I was the leader of my family... In order for me to accept, in order for me to be better, I had to go get therapy. But I was also afraid to tell my family because they knew me as the strong one, the strong man, the protector...” — Ruben Gallego (37:28)
“We should be fearful. This is an administration that is entirely different from anything else we’ve seen... They are not afraid to use government power to get their political goals.” — Ruben Gallego (41:18)
“For them, politics isn’t actually about policy. It’s about personalities... These guys are busy. They work so effing hard. And that... that’s not a complaint. I was very proud of being able to provide for my family.” — Ruben Gallego (45:23)
“We always wanted to be American... and the fact that, you know, Bad Bunny and Coachella, you know, with Koji are doing that, you know, it is... It's great. We’re truly making America great, and we're doing it and bringing our... mezcla into all this.” — Ruben Gallego (50:26)
The episode is frank, emotional, sometimes indignant, but also pragmatic and hopeful. Navarro’s style is direct, unflinching, and at times, laced with humor (“This man looks like an albino sea cucumber wearing a human-sized condom” – 55:07). Gallego’s responses mix vulnerability, candor, and an insistence on action and accountability. The final moments uplift by centering Latinx cultural achievements as sources of pride and collective resilience.
Ana Navarro’s conversation with Senator Ruben Gallego is a fearless deep-dive into the intersection of personal integrity, political struggle, and community resilience. The honesty and willingness to acknowledge pain, anger, and hope stand out. For Democrats seeking to understand working-class Latino voters, for anyone wanting an insider’s take on war and Washington, and for listeners looking for an antidote to fear and cynicism, this episode is a must-listen.