← Independent Americans with Paul Rieckhoff
Independent Americans with Paul Rieckhoff
Sen Ruben Gallego. Will He Run for President? Can He Stop ICE?
00:52:23
<14% Detainees Have Criminal Record. Should VA Sec Collins Resign? National Strike vs Trump. Bad Bunny. Chappell Roan Stands vs Wasserman & Epstein. Lindsey Vonn & Ukraine Olympic Controversy
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A
At vrbo, we understand that even the best of plans sometimes need a little support. So we plan for the plot twists. Every booking is automatically backed by our VRBO care guarantee, giving you confidence from the very start. Whenever you need help, it's ready before your stay, through the moments in between and after your trip. Because a great trip starts with peace of mind and maybe a good playlist, but we've got the peace of mind part covered. That's when Donald Trump starts worrying. That's when it. That's when his big, you know, rich buddies start complaining like, I don't want this. This is hurting me. This hurting the shareholders, hurting my. For whatever it is. Right? And what does that look like? Everyone stops what you're doing. Everyone stop what you're doing. Unless you are in a first responder that the. That you're going to be directly saving somebody's life, you just stop. If you're a pilot, you don't fly. If you're a flight attendant, you don't show up. If you're a toll booth worker, you. You don't show up. If you're a teacher, do not show up. We will. We need to bring this economy to a grinding halt because what you have right now is you have people that believe that the economy is more important to democracy. And it's not. And it will never be.
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B
Welcome to independent Americans. Welcome to episode 437. I'm your host, Paul Rykoff, and I'm coming to you, of course, from New York City, usa, where the weather is again overcast because this feels like the longest winter on the planet. It is Tuesday, February 10th, and as I told you last week, I'm going to pick a different musical artist to introduce my sons to every single day. And today's artist on this February Tuesday is the great Brandi Carlisle, the great American singer, songwriter, producer. She's got 11 Grammys, two Emmys. Vanity Fair said her voice is the eighth wonder of the world. Her swagger, astonishing and absolute. And if you didn't see her performance at the super bowl of America the Beautiful, it was absolutely fantastic. It was an acoustic version with a cello player and a violin. She is from Ravensdale, Washington, and a Seahawks fan, but she's an American icon. She's tremendous. Check out all her music. And like Seahawks fans nationwide today, she's probably riding high. And we're going to need that kind of Seahawks victory energy to carry us through another wild winter week in America. And I'm going to carry you through it like Brandy Carlisle belting Out America the beautiful with the five eyes. Independence, independent integrity, information, inspiration and impact. And our guest today is going to bring that. It's a big guest, a guy who is at the center of everything and a man who might be running for president. He's a junior senator from the great state of Arizona, a man I've known for decades, a Marine Corps vet and a Democrat. It's Senator Ruben Gallego. He's coming up. And in just a minute, we're going to talk about whether ICE should be disbanded, whether the VA Secretary, Doug Collins, should resign, and. And how he feels about the Bad Bunny halftime show. We're going to get into all of that, but before we do, there is a ton happening on this Tuesday and many reasons to stay vigilant. All right? Most of all, ICE continues to run rampant across America. Every day, more bad shit. And it continues to be a threat to all Americans and it rips our country apart. After the nice little diversion that was the super bowl, where ICE did not show up, we are back to ICE raids happening all across America. We're going to talk to Senator Ruben Gallego about that in a second. But as the funding fight continues, we're also going to ask Senator Gallego about that. And there is new info coming out of Washington that is critical. Cbs, of all places, has an exclusive about a DHS internal memo that shows that less than 14% of the 400,000 individuals arrested by ICE in Trump's first year had violent criminal records. Only 14%. That means only 56,000 people that they arrested had violent criminal records. That means 344,000 people did not. That's the size of the population of Orlando, Florida, or Anaheim, California, Newark, New Jersey, Lexington, Kentucky. That's more people than live in the entire city of Cincinnati or Pittsburgh. And it's crazy and it's unacceptable and it's unlawful and it's unconstitutional. And beneath the numbers the government continues to to try to spin. You do not believe the government. Believe your eyes. They're gassing kids in Portland. They're busting into houses without warrants. They're threatening to gas people and kids in their own homes. Yes, every day I'm going to bring you new and outrageous stuff that you need to see. But check this out. This one is from Pennsylvania. And note, I'm sharing these daily. And they're almost always from a different state every day, because this shit is not just happening in Minneapolis, it's happening nationwide. And this one in Lower Providence Township, Pennsylvania. I'm going to play the video and Then I'm going to explain it to you. Check this out. Stop. Stop it. Stop it. Stop. Stop. Stop it. Stop. Just little kids. Stop it. Get out of here. Get out. What the problem? Get out of here. What the. Man. You guys are all going to hell, man. Stop fighting. No.
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A
You're going to hell, man.
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B
Hold up, hold up. Stay in the room, please.
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A
No.
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B
No.
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This is my house.
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This is my house. Do.
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Why do you do this?
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B
Why do you break my families apart? Why? You don't have kids. You don't have a family. Why do you do this? Do you think this is okay? I know you feel something. So an armed ICE agent with assault rifles, a number of them, bust into a bedroom door yelling, I'm gonna take you down. Then they say, I'm gonna use this. Pointing the gun and says, we're going to gas your whole house. Lupe Lopez was asleep in bed. So were her 8 year old and 13 year old brothers. Why do you do this? The woman filming asked. Why do you break families apart? You don't have a family. They said they were searching for a violent, for a relative who hit one of their vehicles. That's what they said. But this is 15 miles from northwest Pennsylvania. And really important to note, no matter what their rationale is, to walk in and say, we're going to gas your old house, to not pay attention to the fact that there are children in the house is ridiculous and, and outrageous. And the violence around children is especially outrageous and I think infuriating many Americans of all political backgrounds. And here's another one, another sick one involving another kid in Morristown, New Jersey. This time, check this out.
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Right now, a New Jersey family torn.
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Apart by ICE is fighting to get their dad back. Adonai Rodriguez was at home watching cartoons with his six year old daughter. But when he stepped out to pick.
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Up some food, he got caught in an ICE raid.
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According to the mother who was at work at the time, a neighbor found the child walking by herself on the.
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Street crying out for her dad, asking, quote, where's Poppy?
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Where's Poppy? The mother tells Ms. Now the father pleaded with ICE agents telling them his daughter is all alone.
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Hey, my daughter's inside. Please only give me one call. They may call her the mother. You know, I'm not resisting no arrest and I feel the police or the, you know, ice, immigration. No, we don't come in for your daughter and just start laughing in the face.
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B
Yes. A six year old girl wandering in the streets after ICE agents snapped up, snatched up her father and just left her out there. They just left her roaming around. They have no regard for people's children. They have no accountability. This is what they're doing. It's scaring and it's scarring our kids. The trauma does not go away. And that includes little five year old Liam Ramos, the guy that had the, the little bunny hat on in the backpack that captivated the world. Well, some super bowl viewers speculated that that was Ramos in the halftime show with Bad Bunny. But in fact, he's been in hiding with his family. And his father said he can't sleep well at night. He wakes up three to four times a night so screaming, daddy, Daddy, Daddy. This is what they have done to little Liam. This is what they're doing to kids all across this country. We're going to talk to my friend Anya Kamenetz about this later this week. She's an expert on children and mental health. And we're going to talk about the scarring effect this is having on all our children. Excuse me. And it's having an impact on my voice, as you can tell, because I'm pissed off and you should be, too. ISIS is detaining citizens and cops and veterans and kids and kicking puppies. This is where we are, America. If you're not angry, you're not paying attention. They're ripping and tearing this country apart. And we're going to talk about that with Senator Ruben Gallego, a guy who is not holding back. We're also going to talk about the fact that one third of all ICE agents are veterans. And today, Independent Veterans of America and I launched a new campaign to try to reach veterans who are thinking about joining ice. The campaign is pretty straightforward. Don't join ice, join us. We want to give them an alternative. We want to give them a place to serve and be connected that might not end up putting them in a jail cell themselves. Instead of joining ICE, join independentveteransofamerica.org you don't have to be a Democrat or a Republican. If you feel a call to serve and you want to serve in a truly patriotic way and a positive way, don't join ice. Join us. And our guest coming up has another great idea, or at least another popular idea that's growing. He says that Democrats should urge a national strike if Trump meddles in the midterms. That's what Ruben Gallego is calling for. He's calling for all American citizens to strike If Trump does try to disrupt the elections and if he invokes the Insurrection act. We're going to talk to him about that in just a second. We're also going to mention Tulsi Gabbard. He's known Tulsi Gabbard for a long time. The DNI has showed up in. In Georgia most recently to try to disrupt elections and seize ballots. But we're going to talk about Tulsi Gabard because every day you should be asking and you should probably be googling, where is Tulsi? Stay vigilant about that. All right? Also stay vigilant when it comes to Venezuela because you probably don't know that they're back at it. They hit another boat. Yes, they're still doing that without congressional approval and without accountability whatsoever. Yesterday, Southern Command posted a note saying that at the direction of southcom Commander Francis Donovan, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel operated by designated terrorist organizations. Intelligence confirmed the vessel was transiting along narco trafficking routes in the eastern Pacific and was engaging in narco trafficking operations. Two narco terrorists were killed and one survived the strike. Immediately following the engagement, southcom notified the Coast Guard to activate search and rescue for the survivor. So this is really important. There's a survivor on this one. There have been survivors before. Who is this person? Where is that person now? Will that person be tried? America will probably never know. And whatever happened to pushing to release the September 2nd strike video and all that focus on perdofy and and war crimes? Remember when everyone was outraged about that? Everyone should be. I didn't get a chance to talk to Senator Gallego about it, but I hope to next time. And it's an issue that you should talk about and you should think about and you should track on. Follow them on social media. It's one reason to be on X. Follow southcom, follow Secretary Hegseth and see Acting Secretary of Culture War Hegseth and see if he posts another video. Because they post them. They post them from time to time, sometimes in the middle of the night and they are killing people in your name. And it's a reason to be vigilant. All right. We also need vigilance around veterans issues. As I covered in a recent show and explained to you, there is new information out from the VA about the number of suicides that are happening across the veterans community. It's just over 17.5% now. They argue it's a slight drop in the number average of suicides happening a day. But here's the bottom line. As a percentage and as a percentage of the population, it's going up, it's going up. Among men, it's going up among women. And it's something that is taking the lives of too many of our brothers and sisters, our sons and daughters. And I want to remind you, too, recently VA Secretary Doug Collins said some really nasty, overtly political, crappy shit about Alex Preddy after he was murdered. And I think he never should have been confirmed as VA secretary. I think, of course he should resign. I'm going to ask Senator Gallego, who sits on the Veterans Affairs Committee, if he agrees. Stay tuned for that. All right, let's go over to Ukraine, which always commands our attention. It's day 1447 of Russia's full scale invasion of Ukraine. If you don't follow Saint Javelin on social media, definitely do. That incredible organization that sells swag and merchandise and clothes and all kinds of things to support the fight in Ukraine and continues to tell the story. And they posted something that's really important last night. They posted an image of a Russian strike and it says Russia struck residential areas across Odessa last night. In 2001, people called this terrorism. But today, the man who ordered these strikes still has his image displayed in the White House. Yes, that's right. If you don't know, Trump has a picture of himself with Putin displayed in the White House. Putin is a war criminal and he's acting in the same sort of way that Osama bin Laden did back in 2001. And we shouldn't accept it from him any more than we accepted it from bin Laden. All right, some interesting news that came out of Ukraine in the last couple of days that you might not know about. It looks like Elon Musk has shut down Starlink access across the front lines in Ukraine specifically for Russian troops. Russian military folks are scrambling to try to find a Starlink alternative. And Russia's military seems to be taking losses. It looks like they just got deactivated because Musk was in some, some talks with their defense minister and decided to shut off the Starlink access, which creates Internet access for Russian troops. So maybe this squabble is a good thing for Ukraine. Musk has not been a big supporter of Ukraine and he's been very critical of folks like our guest on this show, Senator Mark Kelly, calling him a traitor. But this could be a good result if we are able to turn off some of the Internet on the Russians. And I will call on Elon Musk to do more. Shut it all off, Shut it all down. Punish the Russians, Turn out the lights and support Ukraine. All right, speaking of Ukraine, there's some Olympics news. Ukraine continues to be an important story in the Olympics. And Ukrainian skeleton racer Vladislav Haresevich is wearing a helmet honoring fallen athletes. And in the 2026 Olympics, he's got the images of fallen athletes who were killed by Putin on his helmet. And it looks like the IOC has banned him from using the custom helmet featuring these, these athletes that were killed. He posted a video that talked about it. And I just want to say this is fucking outrageous. They're allowing some folks to have Russian flags. They're allowing Russian athletes to participate, but this guy wants to honor a group of Olympians who have been slaughtered and he can't do it. President Zelensky has spoken out. And this brave skeleton athlete is like so many other Ukrainians who is not only competing at the highest level in the world, but they're also telling the story. And it's another way we can show that we stand with Ukraine. All right, I've talked to you a lot about the divisiveness of our politics. We recently had Governor Jesse Ventura on the show. If you didn't hear that back on Wednesday of last week, definitely check it out. But I think more and more Americans understand that the Republicans are morally bankrupt and failed and mean and the Democrats suck and won't save you and are pretty weak. We'll see if Ruben Gallego, the senator from Arizona, could challenge that. But there's another example of how Trump is all gas and no brakes in Washington Now. He wants to forge ahead with plans for a 250 foot arch. He wants to create the biggest arch in the world despite the fact that there are concerns on the ground and in the air that this might be on the flight path for Reagan National Airport. He doesn't care. He wants to build a gigantic arch. And we'll see if the Democrats or the Republicans can stop him. All right, Independent candidates are the people's champion. We are not moving the needle. We are the needle. I'm going to talk to Ruben Gallego about how he attracted independence, why we challenged him on that many years ago when he was in Congress and he was successful in reaching independence across Arizona and how he wants to be successful in and reaching independence if he runs for president. But first, let's talk about culture. An important issue in culture. Chappelle Roan, the great artist, is popular around the world, is leaving the Wasserman Agency after the founder has appeared in the Epstein Files. This is more fallout coming from the Epstein Files. It looks like the CEO of the Wasserman Foundation, Casey Wasserman, had a connection To Jeffrey Epstein, it was an emails, flirtatious emails with Ghislaine Maxwell, which he has apologized for. But Chappelle Roan issued a really clear and strong statement. She said she's leaving them and that others may follow her and that he should step down and divest or sell the company, which he has declined. And she wrote this I hold my teams to the highest standards and have a duty to protect them as well. No artist, agent or employee should ever feel, should ever be expected to defend or overlook actions that so deeply conflict with our own moral values. This decision reflects my belief that meaningful change in our industry requires accountability and leadership that earns trust. This is what Ms. Rohner it looks like now. Other artists may follow her lead, but I want to celebrate Chappelle Ron for standing strong, for pushing back, and for actually doing something, not just posting, but putting her own financial profitability, her own career potentially on the line, but taking a stand. I am much bigger fan of Chappelle Rohn today than I was yesterday. All right, speaking of what you should be a fan of, the Seahawks will be having a parade soon and there's always a little bit of football news. Here's a crazy one. 49ers player Keon White was shot in the ankle in San Francisco. He's a defensive lineman. He was the victim of a shooting early on Monday morning right after the Super Bowl. It looks like there was, there was some kind of a shootout and a business and he got caught up in it. They're not life threatening injuries and he is expected to recover, but there's no shortage of NFL madness around football players that we will continue to watch even though the season's over. And finally, let's talk Olympics for a second. The medal watch right now. The US Is not in the lead. I'm going to give you the medal total and we will try to keep you updated from time to time. Norway and Italy are tied with 11 medals overall. Japan is next with seven. Switzerland and Austria are tied with five. And so is the U.S. and Sweden and Germany. The U.S. has women's hockey coming up and a lot more skiing and we are probably going to surge to the lead and I think we should continue to root for our brave American athletes, especially those who are speaking out against ice and standing up for our American values. And finally, Lindsey Vonn, someone who inspired the world and I think continues to be a strong inspiration to, has shared more information after her horrifying crash. It looks like she'll need multiple surgeries on her leg, but I want to read a statement that she she posted on Instagram that I think is really important and inspiring and tells you how important it is to keep going and how important it is to shoot for your dreams, she wrote. Yesterday, my Olympic dream did not finish the way I dreamt it would. It wasn't a storybook ending or a fairy tale. It was just life. I dared to dream and I worked so hard to achieve it. Because downhill ski racing, the difference between a strategic line and a catastrophic injury can be as small as 5 inches. I was simply 5 inches too tight on my line when my right arm hooked inside the gate, twisting me and resulting in my crash. My ACL and past injuries had nothing to do with the crash whatsoever. Unfortunately, I sustained a complex tibia fracture that is currently stable but will require multiple surgeries to fix properly. While yesterday didn't end the way I hoped and despite the intense physical pain it caused, I have no regrets. Standing in the starting gate yesterday was an incredible feeling. I will never forget. Knowing I stood there. Having a chance to win was a victory in and of itself. I knew that racing was a risk. It always was and always will be an incredibly dangerous sport. And similar to ski racing, we take risks in life. We dream, we love, we jump, and sometimes we fall. Sometimes our hearts are broken. Sometimes we don't achieve the dreams we know we could have. But that is also the beauty of life. We can try. I tried. I dreamed, I jumped. I hope if you take away anything from my journey, it's that you all have the courage to dare greatly. Life is too short not to take chances on yourself because the only failure in life is not trying. I believe in you just as you believed in me. That's Lindsey Vaughn. I think it's an important message for all of us as we continue to meet this moment. We continue to face our own personal struggles and we continue to look for inspiration like we've gotten from Lindsey Vonn, like we're getting from other leaders and helpers who are meeting the moment, including our guests coming up right now. Because on this Tuesday, just like Lindsey Vaughn and just like so many others all across this country, now is most definitely a time to stay vigilant. The secret is out. 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- [24:07]
A
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- [24:12]
B
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- [24:13]
A
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B
All right, folks, in this very, very important and busy start to another winter February, we've got a big guest, a leader who is at the center of everything. The junior senator from the great state of Arizona, a Marine Corps vet and a Democrat, a man I've known for decades. He's a rising star in the Democratic Party and I think a thunder to Arizona, Senator Mark Kelly's lightning. One of the best and most intriguing one two punches in the Senate are coming from Arizona, a man who might be running for president, but is always meeting the moment. The great and powerful Senator Ruben Gallego is back on Independent Americans. Welcome back, sir.
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A
Thank you. Thank you for that introduction.
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What do you think? Thunder and lightning.
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A
I mean, that's a good one.
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B
You guys have been out in front for sure.
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A
Oh, quite a while. Yeah. It's a good combo. Navy, Marine. You know, I do the fighting. He does a flying.
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B
Exactly. I want to get. If we have time, I want to get to the. The dark Thunder and lightning, which is Hegseth at DOD and Collins at VA I want to talk about ice. I want to talk about Insurrection Act. I want to talk about your idea on a strike. But let me start by asking you, where are you and how are you? Man? Wild times. You got a baby in the house. How are you doing in these wild times?
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A
Look, considering what's happening with the government and what's happening with our country. At least when it comes to family life, I'm very lucky. I have healthy kids. I have beautiful, healthy kids, and that's really all you could ask for. I have three great kids and a wonderful wife who doesn't kill me every day or try to smother me in my, in my sleep. And if you find yourself in a situation where you have that going for you, you're doing, you know, you're, you're doing very well in life.
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B
Yeah, man, you got like Baby Cooper's like, what, seven months old or something like that.
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A
Yeah, actually, I would say. What are we at today? Eight? Pretty soon, actually. Yeah, he'll be eight months in about a couple of days.
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B
You guys, is there anybody who gets less sleep than you?
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My wife. My poor wife gets less sleep than I do, actually.
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B
Well, you're. You're lucky to have her.
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A
I am.
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B
Look, I know you're a big football fan and you talked a little bit about it, but I want to get, if I can get, get your reactions to the super bowl itself, the game, and then also, you know, the, the bad bunny halftime performance, all the politics around it. What are you.
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A
I thought the game was actually lame, you know, and like, you know, if you look at the scores, like a blow up, but even the blowout was kind of, you know, lame. It wasn't really to the, the fourth quarter that you saw movement. I will say, you know, I think the Patriots, you know, for a young team, they're going to be. They're going to be formidable for the next couple years. I was impressed by them, obviously, not to take away from the Seahawks. Congratulations. But I got to tell you, the fact that the Patriots played with as well as they did in an unexpected years while they did, you know, if I was a betting man, and I'm not, I would be putting down a lot of money for the Patriots winning the next couple Super Bowls, which really makes me unhappy because I don't want that to happen. But there's no way you could deny there's raw talent in that group.
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B
And what about. We saw Larry Fitzgerald from Arizona is going into the hall of Fame. A guy who's done a lot of great work for veterans in particular. That's a great.
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A
The hardest thing, I think, that we've ever. I've ever experienced. Not experienced. But the worst thing that we weren't able to do is to deliver Larry Fitzgerald a Super bowl ring. Someone that was so deserving, working in some you know, some not great situations. He did have some great quarterbacks for a couple years, but really stuck it out through the, you know, thin. You know, through. Through some very hard times, through some very thin O lines once in a while. Not great quarterbacks, but, you know, he is richly deserving of being in the hall of Fame. He really is a good citizen, too. He's involved in so many things in Arizona. In terms of the nonprofit World Veteran World. We're just so lucky to have him that he has stuck around Arizona even after he retired.
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B
Yeah, I've been honored to meet him. I've seen all the work he's done, especially for veterans and military families. Let's stay on the super bowl for a minute. I thought the Bad Bunny halftime performance was one of the most important ever, right? I mean, obviously the ratings are there. Lots of important statements, you know, sharing love in contrast to hate, bringing people together. But what, what are your reactions to, to. To the Bad Bunny performance and the controversy that surrounds it?
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A
Well, I mean, first of all, like, for me, from a perspective as a Latino man, it was inspiring, you know, and I think may it may not be caught on to other people outside that weren't Latinos, but what a monumental thing it was for us to see our story unfold in front of America and, and, and making a lot of us feel that we are part of America, because a lot of times people make us feel that we're not part of America, especially that what's happening under this administration. So with the context, what's right, where people like my family, people that speak Spanish, people that work hard jobs, are being racially profiled all the time now by ICE agents and other agents affiliated with ICE accused of not being in this country. And even those that are in this country are still being accused of not being American enough to see us being accepted on the world's largest stage in America and the world was a big, big deal and it was great storytelling. Uh, if you really look at what they were, what they were saying throughout that through. I wouldn't, I wouldn't say a play more than anything else, uh, and you break it down. It's great storytelling and, and I really recommend people to, you know, don't just look at the lyrics, but look at what was happening there, you know, whether it was the two box. I'm also a big boxing fan. You know, you had two great boxers that are probably going to be up, up and coming, you know, world champions. One Puerto Rican, one Mexican. That's a thing that's Been going on for years where the Puerto Ricans and Mexicans have traded back and forth, back and forth. And, you know, Bad Bunny knows this. He grew up in the. The Trinidad area, Trinidad Time, where. Where Trinidad was a big Mexican boxer and was fighting, you know, De La Hoya for. For supremacy back in the day. And so this is kind of a homage to all that. It was a great, great. I really encourage people to go back and look at it. There's a lot of good stories there.
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B
Ruben, let me. Let me ask you. You know, you and I have known each other a long time. I don't know if you've ever spoken on the record, and I'm surprised this hasn't become more of an issue coming out of the Super Bowl. But do you support statehood for Puerto Rico? It's something that used to be on the radar, and D.C. statehood is still another issue that's always coming up, but I feel like it's gone by the state, by the. By the side of this.
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A
I've always been a supporter of Puerto Rican statehood if the Puerto Ricans want it themselves. And I support D.C. statehood, too.
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B
Yeah. I feel like this is a moment for Puerto Rico to kind of assert its power and its influence.
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A
Yeah. And there's a lot of involved politics in that, too, because Bad Bunny is. Is not for statehood. So very, very interesting scenario. But at the same time, we all want, you know, Puerto Ricans and, And people like me who are, you know, who.
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B
Who.
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A
Who believe in Puerto. Still want Puerto Rico to be treated equally as well as our states when it comes to a lot of stuff. For example, veterans don't receive the same benefits on the island of Puerto Rico than they do in Florida, even though they serve the same country. So if you're a veteran that served a country for 20 years and you're Puerto Rican, you decide to go retire in Puerto Rico. For a lot of times, you had to fly to Florida or to United States in. Or just to get equal benefits, which is absolutely ridiculous. This is the kind of stuff that we have to be working on.
- [32:18]
B
Yep. Yep. All right. I want to build on that if I can, and go to what I think needs to be our top topic for today, Senator. I mean, we've covered it a lot. You've been at the tip of the spear. ICE is ripping across this entire country. Yeah. It's unconstitutional, in my view. It's unlawful. I think it should be defunded and disbanded. One thing I've highlighted is one third of ICE agents are veterans, which is really, really Important. I think the outrage has become bipartisan. But I just want to ask you, and I'm going to ask every lawmaker that comes on here, what are you doing to stop him? I think, you know, it looks like Trump is all gas, no brakes. He's pulled back in Minneapolis, but now he's going deeper into Pennsylvania.
- [32:56]
A
And I don't think he actually has pulled back. I don't think he has pulled back, but I think he's done. You know, the sentiment of it. I mean, for me, right now, I think the most important thing we could do is we need to make. Make. Starve them of the ability to actually abuse Americans. And the reason they're able to abuse Americans and America is because they have so much money. So right now, for example, we're going through this DHS appropriations thing that sounds all gobbledygook, but basically they're funding ice, right? I'm not for funding ICE right now. ICE gets enough money and they're going to have enough money for the next five years that every time we give them more money, that just gives them more latitude to actually go and abuse more and more people. Right. It means they could actually detain more people. It means they can't actually be selective who they're detaining. Right now, we've seen that they've bought eight to ten warehouses spread around the country. That's going to potentially detain 80 to 100,000 people per day. Right. I can't be a party to that. And right now, Democrats need to do everything we can to essentially make sure that we do not add more money again. There's already money there. We know that. But the best thing we could do is make them spend their money in a way that is going to make it harder for them to abuse it. And then next year, when we take power with a house or the center or hopefully both, we hold the line and we start retracting even more and more of that money so they don't continue to do it. I know you're going to hear people like, well, we should just add more regulations to do this. Like, they're not going to listen to any of that. Right. There's just not. Right. We've seen that they're not. So what we need to do is stop them from being able to pay. If they, if they can't pay these guys to go and abuse people, then they won't do it. Right. We already hear about, you know, some of these ICE agents that are complaining that they're not getting their pay in time that they, they target the $50,000 ahead of time. It's getting spread over five years. We need to use the power of the checkbook to really put them in check. And as for veterans, look, I know ICE agents are veterans. There are ICE agents prior to this expansion that were professionals, right? That hadn't, didn't just go through a six, six week course, which is what they're doing now, had gone through multiple months of training, professional training that had been, had been working in the agency going after criminals for decades. And now they're putting into this craziness. And there is a difference between them and these new ICE agents. And I think when it comes time to trim down ice, we're going to go and have to trim these unprofessional people, the ones that were racially profiling, the ones that were abusing people, the ones that should be prosecuted and figure out who are the professionals before and who are not. But the size of this force needs to be reduced. If you have this many men and women designed to go after people, they're going to end up going after people. So you need to trim this down to where the American people want. And what do people, American people want? They want the ICE or whatever it's going to be called in the future, to go after criminals and to do it in a constitutional way, to do it with warrants and to do it without these like, suppression methods that you see in Minnesota that are very reminiscent of what I was doing in the streets of Iraq.
- [35:56]
B
I want to build on that if I can, because you do have an important perspective. You and I have kicked indoors. We've seen kids scared when we put a gun in a room. And I want to ask a really, really important question. Is it salvageable? Is it so broken that the brand will never be trusted by America, that the culture is so rotten? And I would argue it's a command climate that is rotten. It's a culture of unprofessionalism. It's a culture lacking.
- [36:21]
A
Yeah, the command culture is gone.
- [36:23]
B
Is it salvageable though, Senator? I mean, can there ever be a day when America can trust ICE again?
- [36:29]
A
I think, I think we're going to have to change the name ICE in general, else you're not going to have any men or women even wanting to join a professional law enforcement. We're always going to have to have a deportation force, right? Any country always has a deportation force. You know, you have to have people that deport criminals. You have to have people that are also, you know, crossing the border legally. Right. That's, that's the thing that most Americans agree to. But what you can't have is a deportation force that nobody trusts. And here's why. Because the people that are most likely to tell you where the criminals are are the people within the community. Right. And this is what we saw in Arizona. You know, we were a borderline state, border state. We understand this. We're, you know, very intimate with immigration, immigration enforcement. If you want to know where the criminals are, the gang bangers, the drug dealers, the rapists, you know, you need to talk to the actual immigrant community. If the immigrant community does not trust the immigration enforcement, then you're going to have these whole areas that are just going to be like, void of any type of law enforcement. So ICE is, is done. We have to change the link. We have to change the name of it, put it under a new department. You have to go back and just take out the rot of all the leadership that even allowed this to happen. I mean, I think we should go after a bunch of their pensions, too. Like, we need to actually show examples of what should happen when you abuse US Citizens and our Constitution. But it is, it is, it isn't going to have to be an entire, entire, entire new overhaul or else. What's actually going to happen is we're going to have two things. A, we're not going to have immigration enforcement because you're not going to have a professional force to do it, and B, you're going to have an increase in criminality within these migrant communities because you're not going to call anybody. They're not going to, they're not, they're going to be afraid to call ICE to call, to talk to the, to go after the rapist because they're afraid when you show up to take their witness testimony, you're also going to nab them because that's what's happening right now.
- [38:10]
B
Yep, yep. I think you're, I think you're appropriately strong on this. And I think more Democrats need to catch up because I think too often Democrats are behind where the people are and ICE is in the shitter and going down fast. I don't know if it's salvageable. And I want to hear, I, as an independent, I want to hear more Democrats and by the way, strongly about.
- [38:27]
A
This is me talking to ICE agents too. These are, I know, ICE agents. They're now trying to get the heck out of ice. And these are the professionals, by the way, the ones you want to keep in because they're Afraid that when it looks on their resume in the future that they're going to be, you know, tagged with this total craziness that's happening right now. So the worst, worst situation is about to happen. The most professional ICE agents are going to start leaving and you know, the goon squad that's gotten in the last couple months is going to stay. Right. And you've been in these type, you've seen these type of organizations in the Army. I've seen when Marines, when Marines go bad is when like the top and best, most professional NCOs leave and only the people that are there for the lifers, that are lifers, that don't necessarily have the best skill set, don't have the best discipline, end up kind of create a culture that ends.
- [39:13]
B
If you're the purchasing manager at a manufacturing plant, you know, having a trusted partner makes all the difference. That's why hands down, you count on Grainger for auto reordering with on time restocks, your team will have the cut resistant gloves they need at the start of their shift and you can end your day knowing they've got safety well in hand. Call 1-800-GRAINGER click granger.com or just stop by Granger for the ones who get it done.
- [39:43]
A
Being very corruptive to professional law enforcement, which is what people want.
- [39:48]
B
So I think you've also been appropriately ahead of the curve on what I think is the most dangerous course of action, but an issue that continues to be below the radar. So let me ask you to talk about something that I don't think enough Americans are focused on. The Insurrection Act. As far as I know, the 11th Airborne Corps is still on standby. The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Dan Kaine, might be the only one who can stop it. I think you're appropriately sounding the alarm, saying we need to think about what he's gonna do, what we're gonna do if he fucks with the elections. I don't think he has any intent of having a free and fair election he wants. I think he's looking for an opportunity to pull the lever on the Insurrection Act. You've said that the country should respond with a national strike if that happens. I think that's a wake up call for folks and I think it's something that's caught people's attention and captured their imagination. There's a failure of imagination in this country, a very deep one. You seem to not suffer from that. What can we do right now to stop him from invoking the Insurrection Act? Where it feels like he's just waiting for a spark. And is it Dan Cain the only thing stopping him right now?
- [40:54]
A
No, I think there needs to be. There needs to be a general understanding and people need to start talking about it and mentally prepare what, what that means. If you, if they're in, and senators, by the way, and members of Congress need to do the same. If he invokes an insurrection act, this is not business as usual. We shut down everything we can. Nothing moves in the Senate. We don't debate nothing, we don't talk about any other bills. We kill everything that moves. We give everything to a crawl in the House. They do whatever they can. They have less power. But then every other US Citizen, it's upon them to understand that the Insurrection act that's being done in Los Angeles, for example, will affect you at some point. And again, we need to, like, have a national unity call and you, as individual citizen have a right. It doesn't take that many people for us to slow this down to a point where it hurts. And when it hurts and it starts hurting the economy, that's when Donald Trump starts worrying. That's when it, that's when his big, you know, rich buddies start complaining like, I don't want this. This is hurting me. This is hurting the shareholders, hurting my foreign. Whatever it is. Right? And what does that look like? Everyone stops what you're doing. Everyone stop what you're doing. Unless you are a first responder, that you're going to be directly saving somebody's life, you just stop. If you're a pilot, you don't fly. If you're a flight attendant, you don't show up. If you're a toll booth worker, you don't show up. If you're a teacher, do not show up. We need to bring this economy to a grinding halt. Because what you have right now is you have people that believe that the economy is more important to democracy. And it's not, and it will never be. Capitalism only succeeds because we have democracy. And if we need to make sure that, you know, the richest of the rich understand the interconnection, then by a national strike, then we should have a national strike. And I know people are like, well, this is, you know, this hyperbole, blah, blah, blah. Did we not learn anything from January 6th? Are we not seeing what's happening right now? They just sent the DNI Director of National Intelligence to oversee the capture of ballots from the 2020 election. Right? And we're assuming that all that is somehow kosher, right? That you Know, like, you know, when. When you see what people are doing, you have to believe it. One of the things I remember hard, you know, in a very hard lesson for me was in Iraq. One of the first times I took contact was, you know, from seeing a man jutting across the street with what looked like a pipe on his shoulder. And, you know, it's my first time. It wasn't my first patrol, but it was the first time actually being in a potential combat situation. And my brain should have gone right to, that's an rpg. Someone's about to shoot an RPG at me. And so I turn around, and instead of saying, you know, you know, contact front and go, I turn around. I tell my gunny, like, gunny, I think I just saw some with rpg. And my gunny's like, well, you should shoot then. And of course, that's the right solution. That RPG came flying at me, and if not for, like, luck and timing, I would have been smoked. Right. The thing, like, skipped in front of me and then skipped over my head. And I think it was. He was so close to me that. You know how RPGs take a while to. To charge, I don't think. I think it was so close. It didn't actually arm, so it hit and then bounced right over me. Right. I should have smoked a guy right away. Right? This is what's happening with us right now. We don't.
- [44:13]
B
We.
- [44:14]
A
We are. We are trying to deny what's actually in our. Now, hopefully it never comes to that, but we have to be ready for it. We have to actually accept that this can happen. And the more that we do it, the more we talk about it, the more likely we actually deter them from actually invoking the insurrection or going and trying to overturn elections.
- [44:32]
B
Senator, you know, I'm glad you brought that up, because we're still dealing with the fallout of combat that you and I have been in. We found out the suicide numbers remain at 17, roughly a day. I think that the VA was kind of spinning it as a positive slight decrease by the day, whereas the overall number is reduced. So we still have, as a percentage, it seems to be going up among men, among women. But more specifically, you And I think 22 other Democrats voted to confirm Doug Collins. I think he's a radical culture warrior. He was, I think, universally panned for his ridiculous response to the murder of Alex Preddy, a va. A VA nurse. Do you think now he should step down?
- [45:09]
A
I mean, I think, you know, for the reason I voted for him. Let's just go this because I wanted to give it an opportunity to be able to work with somebody who I thought, as a veteran would understand the needs of the. Of the va. I think I. I was wrong. You have to take these risks. Sometimes you have to take a risk of kind of throwing out an olive branch for the greater good. I think right now, the. He has really been detrimental. I think he's not been a good VA director, especially when it comes to not just Alex Preddy, but also, like, in terms of the cuts. Right. You know, he's going through this radical change of cuts that we truly believe is going to end up hurting services. He has no plan overall to it. He's got more of an ideological plan to actually cut staff but not actually bring services. So I do think he should step down. I don't think he actually is doing a benefit to a core benefit to the va. And I think, at the end of the day, he is injecting more ideological policy versus actual staff efficacy and efficiency.
- [46:12]
B
I think that's right. I think people need to wake up and understand that he's a culture warrior, and the VA is not a place.
- [46:17]
A
To have culture wars. The VA is to deliver services. Right. And there's definitely, by the way, the VA is way better where it was than when I first got out of the Marines in 2005, but it can always be better, and I'm always looking for ways to reform it. And I'm here to help, and I'm here to think about it, but the way that they approached it when they first got in is like they approached it with cuts first, policy second. That's not how you do things. You don't put your staff and manning power first and then figure out the mission behind it. You figure out the mission first, and then you adjust your planning behind it. And that's where they messed up today. Now they're still trying to play catch up. And there's a lot of places, especially in Arizona, like Yuma, Arizona, we have a clinic about to open up that's going to be potentially understaffed because they're still stuck to this, you know, ideological, like, staffing policy versus an actual real operational staffing policy.
- [47:09]
B
All right, I got to let you go in a minute, but before we do, I want to end with something good.
- [47:12]
A
Something good. Something sweet.
- [47:16]
B
Feel the. I'm gonna go first and then throw it to you. I have highlighted the Olympians who are speaking out, who are offering an alternative narrative to the world on behalf of America. Chloe Kim again yesterday, but there's Also some other interesting stuff happening and it's the drone innovation. We've talked a lot about drone innovation in Ukraine and now the need for more drones in the US And I want to say something good is the drone coverage because they've got drones that can literally follow athletes as they go through races, as they go downhill. It's incredible, it's innovative. And I also think it gives you an insight into why we need more drone innovation here in the American military and our national defense. That's my something good. Senator Rubin, Senator Ruben Gallego, over to you. What do you got? There's something good.
- [47:59]
A
I mean, again, just besides my family, something good. Look, I think there is going to be a lot of innovations that we can really, that could really help tremendously in terms of people's lives. But we have to actually think about it and think about how we can do it and contain the bad elements to it. So it's not just drones. Even AI, right? AI is going to end up being very helpful in terms of innovations instead of bringing down costs for, you know, healthcare, for government could also be very disruptive. You're going to have a lot of people are going to be laid off. It could be very, you know, disruptive when it's connected to social media, use these chatbots that are encouraging bad behavior. You know, it could be, you know, surveillance technology, it could be really bad people and big companies could be basically following the thing you do. But if we, if we actually, instead of just being fearing the future and fearing AI, we figure out how to work with it, how to tame it, how to regulate it when we need to. We could have some great things that are going to end up being life saving, you know, changes for people when it comes to medicines, when it comes to therapies, all these kinds of things. But we have to not be afraid of it in two senses. Number one, we can't be afraid to actually try to tame that monster, but we also can't be afraid of that monster. And the same with drones. Drones can be very good. Like talking about, you know, you're, we're talking about drones when it comes to military. Drones can also be very good in terms of bringing down the cost of things. Imagine, imagine the cost of delivery when people are going to be able to get things specifically delivered to them from the warehouse, you know, in their, in their neighborhood, versus having to go through two shops, three shops, a supply or anything else like that. That kind of cost end up being directly to a person's like pocketbook where they can actually save money. So there's going to be a lot of things. But again, we had to figure out how to regulate these things and not be afraid to actually regulate them at the same time.
- [49:37]
B
You're not afraid. You were on this show as a congressman. You and I have known each other for many decades. I told you you should run for Senate long before you decided to do it. A lot of folks want you to run for president. Are you going to run for president, Paul?
- [49:49]
A
Keep on trying, my friend. But you know, we're here to help get the Democratic message out. You know, I talked when, when you and I were talking about me running for Senate, and, you know, one of the things you said is like, how do you win those independents? I laid out the plan. You know, we're trying to help spread that message out there, too, because we still need to win independence going into the future, especially. We want to win in 2026. We'll worry about 2028 when we get past 2026.
- [50:14]
B
Well, I appreciate your candor. I especially appreciate your leadership as a veteran. You continue to be a role model for so many of us that have served after 9, 11. You continue to meet the moment. You are attracting more independents by the day. And we're rooting for you always, especially since you're on the Veterans Affairs Committee, which doesn't get a lot of attention and is more important now than ever. Thank you for spending so much time with us, Senator, for your leadership. And maybe next year you'll get the Cardinals in the super bowl, man.
- [50:39]
A
God, I'm a miracle worker, but I don't know if I'm that big of a miracle worker.
- [50:43]
B
All right, thank you, my friend.
- [50:45]
A
Adios.
- [50:47]
B
All right, there you have it. The great and powerful Senator Ruben Gallego, a guy who has been on this show three other times. If you want to chart Ruben Gallego's ascent in politics, you can go back and check out the other three episodes that he's been on this show. They're linked in my show notes back to when he was new in Congress and then considering running against Kyrsten Sinema, who at the time was calling herself an independent. But Ruben Gallego's evolution and his growth as a leader and his personal story is incredibly inspiring and one that I want to celebrate. Even though he's not an independent, maybe one day he will be. He is an American leader who can inspire us all. So check out those previous episodes. All right. Also, a reminder to check out recent episodes with Governor Jesse Ventura. It is our number one rated show of the year so far. And I had a conversation with Chuck Todd. I will be joining Chuck on his podcast, the Chuck Toddcast later today. So look for that. And of course, on Friday, Rachel Maddow. That show continues to get around. If you haven't heard Rachel Maddow talk about ice, you should talk about detention centers that are expanding. You should. And she talks about ice fishing. This is a side of Rachel Maddow that most folks haven't seen. I've been honored to call her a friend. And you should also check out our bet, which I won. She lost. And I will keep you updated on that. All right. Later this week, I will have Anya Kamenenitz, who's a returning champion, great guest. To talk about how ice and this environment is impacting our kids and how you can support the kids in your life. I will have other guests, including more independent candidates that I want to continue to highlight on the show as we continue to surge. We hit number 36 in the top 40 Apple Podcast news podcast. So please help continue to spread the word. Hit that subscribe button right now, wherever you are listening. And if you're watching on YouTube, YouTube is up like 600%. So go back and check out this conversation with Senator Ruben Gallego. You can see what his office looks like. You can also see lots of clips that you can share far and wide. Follow us on all social media platforms from TikTok to Blue sky to Instagram, which has also been blowing up for us. And we're going to continue to try to push our own metal ranking in the Olympics of podcasts. We're here to try to meet the moment, just like so many of you. America's divided, but in independent Americans, I am working to change that. I bought a humidifier which will hopefully help my voice, which has been worn out, but I will continue to add light to contrast to heat, especially for those of you that are among the 45% of Americans who are independent, the folks that Ruben Gallego especially wants to attract in Arizona and if he runs for president, because our independent movement is the hope for the future, we're not just moving the needle, we are the needle. Country over party, people over politics, light over heat, disrupting the status quo and fueling a new movement. And remember, hope is the oxygen of democracy. And it's something you're seeing especially from so many of our Olympians that that are competing right now in Italy. I hope you enjoyed this episode with Ruben Gallego. If you did share it far and wide, invite others to declare their independence, especially now if you're fed up with the non independent politics, if you're fed up with the non independent media, we got you. We're here. Invite others to join us. And stay vigilant, my friends, because eternal vigilance is the price of freedom. It's a price we all need to pay right now. But no, you're not alone in your vigilance. We're all vigilant and we're all in this together. I'm your host, Paul Reikoff. Thank you for tuning in to independent Americans. I will see you tomorrow. Happy Tuesday. Go USA and stay vigilant, America.
- [54:15]
A
Stay Vigilant tells me the left and right are dreams for those without a.
- [54:20]
B
Clue and when you wake it's time to grow and it's not cool to believe in school but if I can say one thing I've seen the children of the the revolution and the good.
- [54:30]
A
Trouble they can bring he says the.
- [54:32]
B
Red and blue are dead and independent.
- [54:34]
A
Is an attitude.
- [54:37]
B
An island in the sea of rhetoric and acrobatico he tells me the left and right Our dreams for those without a clue and when you wait it's time to grow Power by Righteous media.