Sen. Ruben Gallego

Summary

The Late Show Pod Show with Stephen Colbert

Episode: Sen. Ruben Gallego
Date: November 3, 2025
Guest: Senator Ruben Gallego (Junior Senator from Arizona)

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Episode Overview

In this episode, Stephen Colbert sits down with Arizona Senator Ruben Gallego for a candid, spirited conversation amidst a federal government shutdown and a tense national political climate. They explore the government stalemate, the impact of congressional gridlock on Americans, particularly regarding healthcare premiums, and the growing divide fomented by former President Trump. Senator Gallego shares insights from his recent electoral victory, reflects on his personal journey, and discusses the sources of his hope and optimism for America’s future.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Government Shutdown: Who’s in Charge?

[04:03 - 05:03]

• Colbert opens with a pressing question about the federal shutdown, jokingly asking if Americans must “go to a barter system” and who is minding the store with the president abroad.

• Gallego quips, “I think we’re all supposed to go to Trump coins at this point... there was no one really minding the store before—he was just robbing the store the whole time,” drawing laughter from the audience.

  “He cares more about Argentine beef... about feeding the rich people in his ballroom instead of caring about feeding the people of this country.” — Gallego [04:40]

• Gallego highlights the lack of leadership: “He’s mentally not here. Even when he is here, he’s not here. But he is physically not here. That makes it very, very difficult to do anything.” [05:03]

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2. ACA Tax Credits & Healthcare Crisis

[05:03 - 06:19]

• Colbert frames the issue: without congressional action, Obamacare (ACA) tax credits are lapsing, and families will see insurance rates spike.
• Gallego translates:

  “Starting November 1... people are going to realize that the health insurance that they’ve had for the last couple of years... is now not going to be affordable.” [05:22]

  • Example: In Arizona, a family of 4–5 could see premiums rise by 50%, up to $7,000 more per year—a devastating amount for working and middle-class families.
  • “Everything’s freaking expensive. And now the government—these Republicans—are going to willingly raise people’s premiums.” [05:50]

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3. Political Obstruction & The Epstein List

[06:19 - 07:48]

• Senate vs. House: Senate remains in session; House does not.

• Gallego suggests Speaker Johnson is blocking the swearing-in of Adelita Grijalva (new rep from Southern Arizona) to prevent a 218th vote to release the so-called Epstein list.

  “The only reason he's stopping her... is he doesn't want this member of Congress to be sworn in because then he has to deal with members going to vote to expose all these elites that are on the Epstein list. So he's covering pedophiles. It's as basic as that.” — Gallego [07:37]

• Colbert compliments Gallego’s pronunciation of Grijalva’s name, offering a light moment amidst the serious topic. [06:47]

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4. Trump, Martial Law, and the Military

[07:48 - 09:46]

• Colbert references former President Trump's remarks in Japan about sending “more than the National Guard” to U.S. cities and asks Gallego, a former Marine and combat veteran, for his perspective.

• Gallego’s forceful response:

  “He looks at the military like it’s a bunch of toys. These are young men, 18, 19... I lost my best friends. And still to this day, it's haunted me... That was in a place where people were trying to kill me every day. Now we're going to put these 18, 19 year olds in a situation purposely heated. He doesn't want them there for protection—he wants them there for the drama, for the chaos. If we create more chaos, he gets more power.” [08:22]

• He warns sternly:

  “Do not let him divide us. He only wins when he divides us.” — Gallego [09:41]

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5. Electoral Lessons from Arizona

[10:00 - 11:49]

• Colbert asks about the overlap between Gallego’s successful 2024 race and Trump’s Electoral College win in Arizona—what needs are both addressing?

• Gallego’s candid take:

  “Good hair. It’s gotta be that.”
  “All I cared about was understanding what people were going through. Growing up poor, I remember how desperate things were for me. And I know people... were feeling very desperate. At one point in your life, when things are really bad, you just want someone to give you hope... I wanted to be that person.” [10:26]

• He underscores the importance of authentic connection over political calculation.

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6. What Gives Gallego Hope?

[11:49 - 13:13]

• Gallego recounts his humble beginnings—single mother, father involved with the criminal justice system, family not expected to “make it.”

  “My family was most likely to be on Judge Judy than on this show.” [12:17]

• He credits his and his family’s success to the opportunities America once provided, and stresses the need to preserve that infrastructure for others.

• Gallego asserts America’s best days come “when we’re actually calling for everyone to be great, to be better and to be united.” [13:00]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “He only wins when he divides us.” — Senator Ruben Gallego [09:41]
• “All he thinks about is what he can plunder. So he'll plunder from our treasury, he'll plunder from the White House, he'll plunder from our personal... the livelihood of these young men and women...” — Gallego on Trump [09:18]
• “I was that person at one point in my life... When things are really bad, you just want someone to give you hope.” — Gallego [11:04]
• “My family was most likely to be on Judge Judy than on this show.” — Gallego, self-deprecating humor [12:17]

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Segment Timestamps

• [04:03] — Introduction: Gallego on government shutdown
• [05:03] — Health insurance premium spike explained
• [06:19] — Inside Congressional obstruction and the Epstein list
• [07:48] — Gallego on Trump’s militarization rhetoric and military service
• [09:46] — Hope and unity, electoral lessons from Arizona
• [11:49] — Gallego’s personal journey and what gives him hope
• [13:13] — Episode wrap-up

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Tone and Style

Throughout the episode, the tone balances Colbert’s characteristic wit and satire with Gallego’s earnest, passionate, and sometimes irreverent candor. The conversation is marked by humor (“Good hair. It’s gotta be that.”) and pointed critique, with a strong emphasis on shared humanity, the harshness of current politics, and the enduring power of hope.

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This summary was prepared for listeners seeking a detailed recap of Senator Ruben Gallego’s appearance on The Late Show Pod Show with Stephen Colbert on November 3, 2025.

Transcript

[A]

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[D]

Welcome back, everybody. Ladies and gentlemen, my next guest tonight is the junior senator from Arizona. Please welcome to the Late Show, Senator Ruben Gallego. Senator, thanks for coming on.

[C]

I gotta say, this is pretty cool, actually.

[D]

It's pretty nice. It's a nice place, isn't it? Let's get right to it here. The federal government is shut down. The president is out of the country. Who is minding the store? Like, do dollars still work or do we have to go to a barter system until this thing happens?

[C]

I think we're all supposed to go to Trump coins at. Look. Ah, calm down. Jeez. Look, I mean, there was no one really minding the store before. He was just robbing the store the whole time.

[D]

And so kind of outrageous how boldly that's happened.

[C]

Yeah. Plain it is. And now, you know, he's overseas. He cares more about Argentine beef. He cares about feeding the rich people in his ballroom instead of caring about feeding the people of this country. And meanwhile, we're all waiting and trying to decide, like, how we're going to get out of this. But the person that needs to be part of that negotiation just is not here. He's mentally not here. Even when he is here, he's not here. But he is physically not here. That Makes it very, very difficult to do anything.

[D]

Well, this shutdown has gone on for 29 days. If I can characterize the position. The Democrats want the Republicans to address the lapsing of the tax credits in the aca, the Obamacare. So people are going to see their rates jump up starting in November, right?

[C]

To not speak in nerd speak. What's going to happen is starting November 1, basically, just to be honest, basically starting November 1, people are going to start opening up and starting signing up for health insurance, and they're going to realize that the health insurance that they've had for the last couple of years has been very affordable, is now not going to be affordable. And so, for example, in Arizona, a family of about four or five could potentially see their premiums jump almost, you know, 50%. So for a family that could be almost $7,000, that's a lot of money. Maybe not New York City, but in Arizona it's a lot of money. And things are hard right now. I mean, everything's freaking expensive. And now the government, these Republicans are going to willingly raise people's premiums. That's what's happening right now. And Johnson's off hiding somewhere with the Epstein list. And, you know, I don't know where the hell Trump is, but I think he's probably in Korea putting on a crown or something like that. But either way, our people, everyday working class people in this country are hurting right now.

[D]

The Senate's still in session, right?

[C]

We are.

[D]

And the House is not. How does that work that you guys have to show up for work, but the House doesn't have to show up for work? You're all Congress.

[C]

What's the difference? Well, I mean. Well, the difference is Speaker Johnson's trying to protect a bunch of pedophiles.

[D]

And, and how does, how does that work?

[C]

Well, right now there's a friend of mine that just got elected in Southern Arizona, and she would be the 218th vote to actually vote to release the Epstein list.

[D]

This is Adelita Grijalva.

[C]

Adelita Grijalva. Wow. You got for South Carolina. Your Spanish is pretty good. You went to the south of the border stop a couple of times.

[D]

Yeah, Pedro's.

[C]

Yeah. But it's the only reason he is stopping her, because now at this point, this is the longest that elected congressman or woman has been weighed, has waited to actually being sworn in. And the excuses changes. One excuse was like, well, I want to make sure she has the right moment with her family there. She's like, okay, I'll fly My family, it's like, well, I want to make sure that, you know, it's not. While, you know, we're adjourned. We never do that. He actually did that, not totally with two other Republicans. And now he's saying, well, as soon as we get back into session. And now he's holding him out of session because he doesn't want this member of Congress to be sworn in because then he has to deal with the fact that, that there's going to be members of Congress going to vote to expose all these elites that are on the Epstein list. So he's covering pedophiles. It's basically as much as you can get, as basic as that.

[D]

Yesterday, yesterday when Trump was in Japan, I guess speaking on the aircraft carrier, he said he's willing to send in, quote, more than the National Guard, keep U.S. cities safe. You're a former Marine and a combat veteran. What is your view? What do you think when you hear the president talking about using our military against civilians in the United States? And it's strange that he even can ask that question?

[C]

Well, it's horrible. I mean, the only people that could ever think that way are the type of people that have never had to make some life and death decisions and had to make some decisions that, you know are gonna impact your life forever. You know, he looks at the military like it's a bunch of toys. These are young men, 18, 19 year old men I served with, boys that weren't even shaving in combat and some of the hardest days of combat and I lost my best friends. And still to this day, it's haunted me. And that was, you know, in a place where people were trying to kill me every day. Now we're going to put these 18, 19 year old boys and girls in a situation that is purposely heated. He doesn't want there for protection. He wants there for the drama, he wants there for the chaos. Because if we create more chaos, he gets more power. And you're putting these young men and women against their own people because that.

[D]

Allows him to exercise more power, emergency.

[C]

Power, that sort of thing. And it's heartbreaking that he looks at these men and women as toys because he's never served, he never understands what service to this country is. All he thinks about is what he can plunder. So he'll plunder from our treasury, he'll plunder from the White House, he'll plunder from our personal, you know, the livelihood of these young men and women and what's going to affect them for the rest of life and for our civilians for the rest of their lives. What he potentially will do by setting up this scenario, and that's the one thing I warn people, is do not let him divide us. He only wins when he divides us. He only wins when he divides us. That's when he has power.

[A]

We have to take a quick break. Hey, everybody.

[D]

We're back here with the junior senator from Arizona, Ruben Gallego. You won your race for Senate in 2024, the same year he won the state of Arizona for the Electoral College. I'm curious, where is the crossover there? Where are the areas where both you and the president are addressing the needs of the American people? In this case, the needs of the people of Arizona? Where's the commonality for those voters?

[C]

Good hair. It's gotta be that. Look, I. I've been asked this since the 2024 election. Like, I've tried to come up with, like, real good answers, and I really don't have an honest answer, to be honest. I will tell you what I did on my campaign. And we were running kind of as the underdog for a while. We didn't have support from. From Washington, D.C. we're running against an incumbent. All these things. All I cared about was understanding what people were going through at that time and growing up poor. I remember how desperate things were for me. And I know people in my neighborhoods in Arizona were feeling very desperate. Things were really hard, right? And I think people were trying to say it wasn't hard, but people couldn't buy homes. They couldn't, you know, they couldn't fully go to the grocery store. I saw people that weren't filling up their gas tanks. And then we were all lying to ourselves. The economy is getting better. And I just. I realized that I had my. I couldn't lie to them because I was that person at one point in my life. At one point in your life, when things are really bad, you just want someone to give you hope. And I. And I wanted to be that person at that point. I felt that that was the best campaign to run at that point. So I didn't think about what he was doing or what, you know, the vice president was doing. I thought about what I wanted as a Young Ruben Gallego, 14, trying to get out of poverty. And what I wanted someone to give me a chance, a belief and a hope that things are going to get better and that. I thought that if I ran that campaign, that that's the campaign that could actually call to somebody in a very hard time and say, I Want to vote for that person. And that's how I think we got to where we are.

[D]

What gives you hope now.

[C]

For me, I'm an eternal optimist by all statistics. I'm not even supposed to be here. My mom is a single mom. My father is involved in the criminal justice system a little too much. You know, I have three sisters. You know, we all went to college. My mom went back to college. You know, we even have a doctor in the house. And so I'm not even the cool one in the family. You know, like, I was joking to some of my guys that I served with. Like, I was, you know, my family was most likely to be on Judge Judy than on this show, you know, and so the fact that, like, someone like me has the opportunity to do that tells me this country is still great. But it doesn't mean that we could just take advantage of that. We could just make sure. We have to make sure it continues to do that. We have to make sure that people actually have the same opportunity that I had, that we still have that infrastructure opportunity that you could always kind of keep building and growing. And I think that people want that. And I think that if we have politicians that actually believe in that and actually want to continue that, I think this country will call to that. And that is the best days, the best days of America is when we're actually calling for everyone to be great, to be better and to be united. And I don't think that whatever string that Donald Trump is pulling at is where we truly are. And I think when we work together, fight together and grow together, we're gonna be a better country.

[D]

Senator, thank you so much for being here.

[A]

Thank you.

[D]

Senator Ruben Gallego, everybody. Thank you for listening to the Late Show POD show with Stephen Colbert. Just one more thing. If you want to see more of me, come to The Late Show YouTube channel for more clips and exclusives.

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