Senator Ruben Gallego
Appearances
The Bulwark Podcast
Ruben Gallego and Zerlina Maxwell: Make Them Own It
right there i think also i it was a total lie and we know it and and you know i tried calling it out that you know trump was the anti-war president clearly that wasn't true it's never been true but you know they they bought into it because you know they it's it's something they actually do care about and i also think that like where we are strong with veterans we don't emphasize as much as we did like the president uh and the vice president passed the pact act
The Bulwark Podcast
Ruben Gallego and Zerlina Maxwell: Make Them Own It
That was huge. For someone like me, I lived next to a burn pit for one month and some of my guys have already died due to burn pit disease. It's awful. But if it wasn't for Democrats, that doesn't pass. And remember, the burn pit decision had been around for a long time. It wasn't until we finally got the trifecta that we overrode the Republicans and passed it.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ruben Gallego and Zerlina Maxwell: Make Them Own It
And I think the one thing that the Biden-Harris team did not do is just really, really talk about that like all the time, right? Yeah. The fact that we just don't own our big wins really, really matters. And that would have been a big one.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ruben Gallego and Zerlina Maxwell: Make Them Own It
I'm like, no, they're not. But we were also very serious about the border. And we talked about the border in a very serious Arizona way, right, where we want more border patrol. We want, you know, bad people to get deported. We want immigration reform. We want to protect DREAMers.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ruben Gallego and Zerlina Maxwell: Make Them Own It
Well, I think, first of all, you got to before you get into the battlefield, you got to prepare the battlefield. And, you know, I think a lot of groups and, you know, on the left and the liberal groups are just in base time. It's like, like, go in and fight them. Okay. Yeah. Right. The problem is, like, for the first five weeks, the American public was not there.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ruben Gallego and Zerlina Maxwell: Make Them Own It
So you're going to go fight, and you're going to have 30% of the people behind you, right? Number two, what are you fighting, right? So what we need to do is be fighting for... People don't understand that nothing is changing. Actually, things are getting worse.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ruben Gallego and Zerlina Maxwell: Make Them Own It
So instead of us talking about USAID, we should be talking about the fact that this president is causing chaos and egg prices are going up. This president is causing chaos and the cost of housing has not gone down. Everything that he is doing is going to increase the cost of care, health care, gut Medicaid to give Elon Musk and his rich crony friends money. Right.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ruben Gallego and Zerlina Maxwell: Make Them Own It
That's the message that actually wins. I think a lot of our friends and allies and I get it. I mean, I respect them and I feel like, you know, for them because, you know, their heart is in the right place. I think they want us to be fighting Trump. But if you don't have the public with you, you're not going to be there.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ruben Gallego and Zerlina Maxwell: Make Them Own It
Polling shows right now, by the way, the thing that people are most unhappy about Donald Trump is... No. Number one is that they don't believe he's doing enough to bring down the cost of
The Bulwark Podcast
Ruben Gallego and Zerlina Maxwell: Make Them Own It
of living right number two is elon people are more upset about elon than donald trump and so if you could actually communicate that bring it home and bring everything home then that's how you actually have more uh success because it when we first got here when we first got in the american public including democrats by the way if you pull them said that we want to give an opportunity to work with donald trump if we had just come in and you know guns a-blazing
The Bulwark Podcast
Ruben Gallego and Zerlina Maxwell: Make Them Own It
And we want trade to keep continuing because that's really important to our business in Arizona versus someone like Carrie Lake who just – talked about the border, what like an East Coast Republican conservative thinks the border is in Arizona, right? She would say that, you know, the cartels own the border, the Arizona border. Now, I'm sure on the Mexican side, that does happen.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ruben Gallego and Zerlina Maxwell: Make Them Own It
I think we would actually have turned off a lot of potential voters. And now I think people are seeing the consequences of Donald Trump. And I think also now that we're getting closer and closer to them seeing the real chaos that's going to come with the CR and with reconciliation, this is when we have to start turning up the heat.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ruben Gallego and Zerlina Maxwell: Make Them Own It
Like, for example, I'm going to have, I already said this, I'm having, you know, save Medicaid town halls in Arizona. This is now, this is the timing for it.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ruben Gallego and Zerlina Maxwell: Make Them Own It
But Trump and them have a better media ecosystem than we do. But we should be talking about Donald Trump allowing Elon Musk to illegally procure vehicles to make him rich. Right. So that's money that they're taking illegally.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ruben Gallego and Zerlina Maxwell: Make Them Own It
They went back and legally changed a line on contract from four hundred thousand dollars was signed under Biden, made it four hundred million dollars and then backdated it to make it look it was Biden. I mean, in any other administration, people are going to jail. But more importantly, we have to remind people that this is Elon Musk.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ruben Gallego and Zerlina Maxwell: Make Them Own It
using government to enrich themselves while he is gutting medicaid while the cost of eggs are up listen i don't think anyone gives a care about baby mamas unless the baby mamas are helping bring on the cost so like let's let's get to focus like it's just not going to happen all right you don't have to talk about i might talk you know that's a broad internet you have so many ways to do this like not everyone has to be on the same page like yes like for for some of our allies yeah
The Bulwark Podcast
Ruben Gallego and Zerlina Maxwell: Make Them Own It
If you want to go after the baby mamas, go after the baby mamas.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ruben Gallego and Zerlina Maxwell: Make Them Own It
I'm going after Elon for fucking over the baby mamas. But again, there's nothing wrong. The idea that we all have to have 100% uniform alignment is also incorrect. I don't think we should be faulting our friends, our activist friends, our friends on the left, our normie democratic friends that are attacking on all these other fronts. That's fine. We all should be doing whatever we can right now.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ruben Gallego and Zerlina Maxwell: Make Them Own It
yeah, there's no regulation. So what we need to do is regulate out these scams, right? Because these scams are problematic. They are used for, like you said, illegal transactions. A lot of them are just pump and dump scams or anything else like that. Versus there are some legal, and not legal because they're all legal until we put some regulations together, legitimate cryptocurrency, right? And
The Bulwark Podcast
Ruben Gallego and Zerlina Maxwell: Make Them Own It
But you're telling people, police chiefs in Nogales, in San Luis, US citizens, that they're essentially controlled by cartels when they're trying to bring in business or trying to start their families, everything else like that. And then she would go to the border, go to the border wall as if it was like the Great Wall in Jerusalem. And she put her hands up on the border wall.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ruben Gallego and Zerlina Maxwell: Make Them Own It
And we need to kind of set down the rules of the road so that way it's not abused. You're only bringing in and validating really the real crypto assets versus allowing anybody to put up a meme coin and then selling it and people being taken. Right.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ruben Gallego and Zerlina Maxwell: Make Them Own It
Because there is no regulation. Yeah, yeah, that's a problem. Look, you have to regulate like you would regulate anything else you sell and trade, right? And you have to make sure that the people that are doing it, number one, aren't going to be able, again, to take advantage of consumers, that it will still allow companies to innovate. Tether's not even based in the United States, for example.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ruben Gallego and Zerlina Maxwell: Make Them Own It
So we want to be able to bring this back. regulate it, make it transparent. And that way we're basically pushing out the bad scams and only regulating what we have here that is what we consider more legitimate and more transparent. Much like anything else, like how we regulate banks, right? You can't just start a bank
The Bulwark Podcast
Ruben Gallego and Zerlina Maxwell: Make Them Own It
and start taking money in the United States without going through certain regulations. It's the same thing we should be doing with this type of crypto assets. Setting down the rules of the road so it's transparent. So when there are abuses, we actually have a way to actually go after the abusers and recover the money of the people that have been scammed.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ruben Gallego and Zerlina Maxwell: Make Them Own It
how bro are you can you name one mma fighter one and i'm a boxing guy i don't actually know okay name me some boxers well i mean mma fighters uh i mean henry cejudo from arizona boxers uh the current one i'm really into david benavides and uh he should eventually go against canelo for uh the championship fight but uh david is uh it was just actually his match uh last last week did you ever do any gambling on boxing is game boxing gambling legal in arizona
The Bulwark Podcast
Ruben Gallego and Zerlina Maxwell: Make Them Own It
I'm sure in Vegas it is, but I play blackjack.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ruben Gallego and Zerlina Maxwell: Make Them Own It
Well, it depends what the dealer is showing.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ruben Gallego and Zerlina Maxwell: Make Them Own It
I do know what Zin is. Yeah.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ruben Gallego and Zerlina Maxwell: Make Them Own It
Zin is a nicotine pouch. Basically dip is what we used to call in the Marine Corps.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ruben Gallego and Zerlina Maxwell: Make Them Own It
I mean, like, we should regulate how we regulate, like, you know, spit tobacco. But other than that, no, I don't think we should be, like, banning people from having Zen, using Zen.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ruben Gallego and Zerlina Maxwell: Make Them Own It
I don't know who Aiden Ross is, but, I mean, the Kendrick and Drake drama is awesome, by the way. And so his put down at the Super Bowl is probably the ultimate diss in the history of this country. You know, I'm on Team Kendrick, definitely. You have to be. Barron Trump, I'm assuming, took a side or probably tried to flip a freaking mean coin on it.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ruben Gallego and Zerlina Maxwell: Make Them Own It
But if it's Barron Trump, I'm assuming he actually probably took Drake's side, which would be disgusting. Because I think Drake is the loser in this whole thing. And he is definitely not like us.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ruben Gallego and Zerlina Maxwell: Make Them Own It
While wearing a pistol, while packing a pistol, and put this on a commercial. In Arizona, we literally send our teenage kids to Mexico for spring break, right? We cross that border every day. So when people started seeing Kelly talking about the border while she was wearing a weapon on her hip, no one could understand what she was trying to do. It didn't really match reality.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ruben Gallego and Zerlina Maxwell: Make Them Own It
And at the end of the day, that's why... You know, if you look at the exit polling, more people trusted me on the border than they trusted Carrie Lake. That didn't happen anywhere else in the country when it comes to Democrats running for Senate.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ruben Gallego and Zerlina Maxwell: Make Them Own It
There are some lessons. I mean, we're not exactly analogous to Denmark. Our immigration is different. Our assimilation is different. There's a lot of things here. But the fact that Democrats didn't take – the border serious for, you know, enough in the eyes of voters deteriorated our ability to talk to working class people and work for working class people. We are now out of power.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ruben Gallego and Zerlina Maxwell: Make Them Own It
And, you know, the fact that we hesitated shutting down the border as much as possible when we had hundreds of thousands of people coming to seek asylum. And, you know, when you talk to Democrats and it's unfortunate and some, not all Democrats, but because most Democrats actually have a very normal position in
The Bulwark Podcast
Ruben Gallego and Zerlina Maxwell: Make Them Own It
On the border, it's actually our kind of thought leaders and liberal groups that actually are out of the norm with Democrats. Most Democrats, normal Democrats, especially Latino Democrats, would tell you, I want legal immigration. I want dreamers to be U.S. citizens. I want people that have been here forever that haven't committed a crime to have an opportunity to become U.S. citizens.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ruben Gallego and Zerlina Maxwell: Make Them Own It
I don't want to see 100,000 people showing up at the border and demanding asylum. The thing that we messed up, and the Democrats, you understand, is that instead of saying that, when there was attempts to do that, there was huge pushback. I remember one thing. Do you remember when Kamala Harris said, don't come here? Don't come here?
The Bulwark Podcast
Ruben Gallego and Zerlina Maxwell: Make Them Own It
Do not come. She got blasted by liberal groups for that. And that was the actual right attitude to have.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ruben Gallego and Zerlina Maxwell: Make Them Own It
Because of that, what did we end up doing? We ended up losing. The Republicans have a trifecta. They're about to cut Medicaid.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ruben Gallego and Zerlina Maxwell: Make Them Own It
They're going to gut the poor so they could feed Elon Musk and all his rich buddies because we couldn't get this one aspect down correct because we were worried about this very small niche group of people that don't even represent the working class Democratic, average working class Democratic vote. So we have to figure out what do we want as Democrats? Because we can't have it all.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ruben Gallego and Zerlina Maxwell: Make Them Own It
We can't have a very, very open border ideology, open immigration ideology, and then also want working class policies to exist and all these other issues. We have to say, you know what? We're going to be hard when it comes to certain border crossings. We don't want to see 100,000 people coming to the border. We don't think it's fair that they're abusing the sound system.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ruben Gallego and Zerlina Maxwell: Make Them Own It
We do want immigration reform. And guess what? We also want higher standard of living for Americans. We want, you know, a living wage for Americans. We want to make sure Medicaid is safe. We want to make sure we actually have an opportunity to live and retire and truly, you know, live the American dream. But we can't have it all because it just doesn't work. That voter does not exist.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ruben Gallego and Zerlina Maxwell: Make Them Own It
The way you fight it is you talk about it. You don't want to replace chaos on the border with chaos in our streets. And that's what Trump is doing, right? Now he's grabbing people. Supposedly, we started with violent criminals. And now because they're, incidentally, they're hard to find. And the numbers they were talking about are over-exaggerated. Now they're just trying to find anybody.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ruben Gallego and Zerlina Maxwell: Make Them Own It
And you're creating chaos, the whole thing. And it's inhumane. When it comes to sanctuary cities, look, I'll be honest. Sanctuary cities are dumb. It's a dumb idea. It's a dumb concept, right?
The Bulwark Podcast
Ruben Gallego and Zerlina Maxwell: Make Them Own It
And any city that has sanctuary, you should get rid of it and replace it with a real sane process, which is, you know, if you are a person who is illegally in this country and you are reporting a crime, we will not ask your stats. That's all you have to do, right? That's what the aim of sanctuary cities was at the beginning of this. But also...
The Bulwark Podcast
Ruben Gallego and Zerlina Maxwell: Make Them Own It
The Republican position saying we're going to gut and take away federal funds with sanctuary cities is also dumb because you're essentially punishing U.S. citizens for policy decisions, and you're letting the government, big government, decide what is a sanctuary city. It's not like some cities have this label they just stamp, right? Right.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ruben Gallego and Zerlina Maxwell: Make Them Own It
Donald Trump and his cronies and likely Elon Musk are going to decide what is a sanctuary city so they could go and they could take out those federal funds from those cities. And guess where that money is going to end up going? Right back to Elon Musk and his cronies so they could have more and more money.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ruben Gallego and Zerlina Maxwell: Make Them Own It
Well, I know what I'm going to do. I'm going to do a save Medicaid town halls throughout Arizona, especially in rural Arizona, because 30% of Arizonans are on Medicaid. If Medicaid expansion goes away, the rural hospitals will shut down first. As a matter of fact, they most likely will shut down because the urban hospitals will find ways to save, to bring money in, whatever it is.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ruben Gallego and Zerlina Maxwell: Make Them Own It
rural Arizona will be screwed the most. If you have an emergency, you're going to have to get key load to a trauma center. And I know this because when I originally wrote the Medicaid expansion law in Arizona back in 2013, the reason we were able to get Republicans to vote for in Arizona is because rural hospitals were about to shut down.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ruben Gallego and Zerlina Maxwell: Make Them Own It
And the nearest hospitals for some places were going to be either three-hour drives or 45-minute flights. What we need to do is bring this D.C.-Medicaid conversation, and we need to bring it home, and we need to remind people what this means. They're not going after Medicaid because there's waste, fraud, and abuse.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ruben Gallego and Zerlina Maxwell: Make Them Own It
They're going after Medicaid because it's the largest amount of money that they could get that's not Medicare so far. It doesn't mean they won't go after Medicare, and it's not military spending. But it's attacking poor people so Elon Musk and his buddies can have their tax cuts. That's what it is.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ruben Gallego and Zerlina Maxwell: Make Them Own It
It's straight up wealth transfer from the poorest of Americans to the richest, richest of Americans who don't need it. But they're going to cover it up because they know they have so much shame about what they're doing. And again, this will cause problems. This will have hospitals closing down. This is doctors leaving rural communities.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ruben Gallego and Zerlina Maxwell: Make Them Own It
These are people dying because you just don't have any kind of insurance. And we're all doing it because, again, somehow the ultra, ultra rich need another tax cut, I guess.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ruben Gallego and Zerlina Maxwell: Make Them Own It
First of all, we shouldn't be negotiating yet because this is the Republicans' responsibility to keep the government open.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ruben Gallego and Zerlina Maxwell: Make Them Own It
When they can't keep the government open, then they could come talk to us. But right now, hey, they just passed a budget resolution on their own. There's a budget resolution in the Senate. Clearly, they can pass stuff. So it's on them to keep government open. Once they fail, then we could then come talk to us. But in the meantime, this is on them. This is entirely on them.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ruben Gallego and Zerlina Maxwell: Make Them Own It
This is their government. They own it. They break it. When they want to talk, then we'll talk. But it's not my responsibility. It's not the Democrats' responsibility. It's the Republicans' responsibility to keep the government open.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ruben Gallego and Zerlina Maxwell: Make Them Own It
My take is actually more personal. My friends that I serve in the war with, some Trump supporters actually, are losing jobs, are threatened to lose jobs, are having to write reports, what they did last week, five things for their job, I guess, whatever that stupid Elon Musk thing was. TPS report. Yeah. Yeah, TPS report, the facts cover. But the other thing, though, is that it's not just that.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ruben Gallego and Zerlina Maxwell: Make Them Own It
It was a combination of a lot of things. Like, look, we ran a very retail-oriented campaign to begin with. We literally were going to baseball games, putting together boxing watch parties, rodeos, reaching out to Latino men, talking to everyone, talking to Republicans, going to rural Arizona.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ruben Gallego and Zerlina Maxwell: Make Them Own It
This is the most anti-veteran administration that this country has ever seen. 30% of the federal workforce are veterans. And so when you're arbitrarily cutting people, you're cutting veterans. And there's nothing more important, especially to returning veterans, to avoid severe cases of PTSD, to avoid homelessness, it's to get a job.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ruben Gallego and Zerlina Maxwell: Make Them Own It
If you get a job right away, the likelihood of you ending up in the streets are very, very slim. And one of the things I saw when I got back from the war Also infantrymen too. My guys and I saw, unfortunately, way too much combat. Those of us that were able to get jobs right away adjusted better.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ruben Gallego and Zerlina Maxwell: Make Them Own It
We still have PTSD, a lot of us, and you could have a job just because I know there's a lot of stigma out there. You could have a job. You could be a really well-adjusted person. You could have a great career and still have PTSD. But again, it always helps to at least start somewhere. Now, what else are we seeing? Veteran crisis hotlines. were randomly fired, right?
The Bulwark Podcast
Ruben Gallego and Zerlina Maxwell: Make Them Own It
This is something we've been working on as Democrats and Republicans for years. For people to know, if you call this number at any time, someone's going to talk to you so we can help you out. And Vapor and Big Butts and Big Balls Boys, all those Elon Musk guys, I don't know what their names are, arbitrarily fired these guys because they don't know any better.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ruben Gallego and Zerlina Maxwell: Make Them Own It
I'm sure they got carpal tunnel syndrome or whatever because they know nothing because they're little boys and they think they know everything because they worked in Silicon Valley. They probably just were looking at a line item and didn't actually look into what that line item actually means. That is someone who is on the phone at home. I'll give you another good example.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ruben Gallego and Zerlina Maxwell: Make Them Own It
When it comes to remote working, a lot of veterans do remote work. Why? Well, some of them because they're married to other military personnel and it's easier for them to work remotely and find gainful employment where they are because a lot of times in these areas, there's not much employment for spouses. Some of them actually have disabilities.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ruben Gallego and Zerlina Maxwell: Make Them Own It
By working from home, it allows them to actually be gainfully employed. Now, if they want to, this is another example from one of the guys I serve with, if he wants to get state employment and stay at home, now he has to go to his boss and not just say, hey, I have a disability, I have a disability rating. He has to explain to his boss exactly what his disability is, which is PTSD, unfortunately.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ruben Gallego and Zerlina Maxwell: Make Them Own It
And he's going to have to go into detail with that. And every time he either gets a new boss or gets promoted, he's going to have to go through that again, telling a stranger his personal health issues. in order for him to get dispensation to be able to work from home. And the other funny part about that, it's actually not funny, is that I was talking to him.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ruben Gallego and Zerlina Maxwell: Make Them Own It
I also think we actually were talking about Arizona and the politics of Arizona, but what was happening there in a realistic manner. We were talking about the cost of everything going up and how we need to fix that. And that is a problem. And I think that was... something that a lot of Arizonans appreciated because I think they were hearing from some campaigns like, no, things are good.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ruben Gallego and Zerlina Maxwell: Make Them Own It
He told me that even if he goes back to work, he doesn't have a desk because they're calling everybody back. And so he's in this catch-22. So he is actually now... going back to work. He is doing a 75-mile commute every day, there and back, in order for him to keep his job. And it's going to affect him mentally. And this is a man that served in combat, very difficult, very difficult combat.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ruben Gallego and Zerlina Maxwell: Make Them Own It
And all he wants to do is continue working for the government. He's done great work for the government now for 10 years. And if he messes up, they're going to get rid of him because he's just a line item to these tech boys.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ruben Gallego and Zerlina Maxwell: Make Them Own It
Yes. I don't know why. I don't have that problem. But yeah, I agree. I think it's weird that we do.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ruben Gallego and Zerlina Maxwell: Make Them Own It
I think number one, economy. Let's. go right there. Veterans are working class. This last go around, and I went to a lot of American Legion halls and met with a lot of veterans. They were complaining first about the economy. These young veterans can't buy homes, even though they have access to the VA home loan. Jobs aren't going as well for them. Very pissed off about the border situation.
The Daily
'The Interview': Senator Ruben Gallego on the Democrats’ Problem: ‘We’re Always Afraid’
Well, I think most voters want to believe and do believe in the American dream. And I think when they see examples of that being true, that gives them some hope, right? And I'm sure JD heard this, but I certainly heard about this on the campaign trail from single moms who brought their kids up to me and like, I want them to meet you because I want them to be like you.
The Daily
'The Interview': Senator Ruben Gallego on the Democrats’ Problem: ‘We’re Always Afraid’
Senator, I almost don't know where to start because so much has happened in such a short amount of time.
The Daily
'The Interview': Senator Ruben Gallego on the Democrats’ Problem: ‘We’re Always Afraid’
He's growing up in the same situation that I am or that you were, right? And, you know, sometimes people miss it. I remember during my campaigns, some of my advisors said, you know, you can't talk about Harvard. I'm like, why not? Like, well, you want to talk, you want working class people to like you. If you tell them you went to Harvard, you're going to remind them that you're not part of that.
The Daily
'The Interview': Senator Ruben Gallego on the Democrats’ Problem: ‘We’re Always Afraid’
I'm like, no, you're not getting it. Working class people appreciate kids going to college. They appreciate especially kids that came from poverty going to college because that's part of the story, part of the American dream. And, you know, I think... whether it comes from left or right, the example really matters, especially when things are rough.
The Daily
'The Interview': Senator Ruben Gallego on the Democrats’ Problem: ‘We’re Always Afraid’
But you need that kind of hope to kind of hang on to because that's what helps you get through those days, especially those hard days, is knowing that things will get better. This is psychologically what people miss about this campaign is when people started feeling like it's not going to get better. That should have been a big tell that things were going to go south.
The Daily
'The Interview': Senator Ruben Gallego on the Democrats’ Problem: ‘We’re Always Afraid’
Because people that are working class, poor, don't necessarily look at the ultra-rich as their competitors. They want to be rich someday. So they don't necessarily fault the quote-unquote rich for them being rich. Where they do fault them is when it starts affecting them. So they're going to give...
The Daily
'The Interview': Senator Ruben Gallego on the Democrats’ Problem: ‘We’re Always Afraid’
you know, Elon and his little weirdos the benefit of doubt, and they're going to give Donald Trump the benefit of doubt until it proves that it's actually affecting them personally, right? And that's when you'll see them start pushing back.
The Daily
'The Interview': Senator Ruben Gallego on the Democrats’ Problem: ‘We’re Always Afraid’
Like, if you look, historically speaking, you know, the thing that finally, you know, started moving Donald Trump's numbers away before the 2018 elections was when he gave a massive tax cut to the rich. So I think that's what's going to end up happening. I think this administration is going to give a massive tax cut to the rich.
The Daily
'The Interview': Senator Ruben Gallego on the Democrats’ Problem: ‘We’re Always Afraid’
We're going to do it by cutting Medicaid and other programs for the poor. And that's when you're going to see people saying, no, no, no, that's not what I want.
The Daily
'The Interview': Senator Ruben Gallego on the Democrats’ Problem: ‘We’re Always Afraid’
No, it's not going to work.
The Daily
'The Interview': Senator Ruben Gallego on the Democrats’ Problem: ‘We’re Always Afraid’
No, these people want to be rich. They want to be rich. The base Democratic voter wants to be rich, and there's nothing wrong with that. And so our job is to expose when there are abuses by, quote unquote, the rich, the wealthy, the powerful. Then that's how we get those people that want to aspire to that to vote for Democrats.
The Daily
'The Interview': Senator Ruben Gallego on the Democrats’ Problem: ‘We’re Always Afraid’
We just had an election that proved that. I mean... Why? Well, I think because they are... I think they, you know, both are two things that I think a lot of Democrat politicians are. Number one, they actually understand, quote-unquote, the consumer, right? And because they are engaged in everyday... you know, one way or the other, trying to talk to the consumer. And in this case, it's the voter.
The Daily
'The Interview': Senator Ruben Gallego on the Democrats’ Problem: ‘We’re Always Afraid’
Yeah, exactly.
The Daily
'The Interview': Senator Ruben Gallego on the Democrats’ Problem: ‘We’re Always Afraid’
The client's the voter. And they don't care, by the way, that's the other thing that's, you know, they don't care how they get the sale done, right? This is why you saw during the campaign, Trump said, you know what? No tax on tips. We're not going to tax security, all this kind of stuff.
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'The Interview': Senator Ruben Gallego on the Democrats’ Problem: ‘We’re Always Afraid’
And, you know, on the other side, people were like, well, that's where they're going to do something and do it in balance to the budget deficit. What did Donald Trump care? He just wanted her to win, right? What is Elon Musk going to do? He just wants to win, right? He knows where the voter is and he'll get there however he can get there.
The Daily
'The Interview': Senator Ruben Gallego on the Democrats’ Problem: ‘We’re Always Afraid’
Listen to the immigration groups because they have good legal advice. Do not listen to immigration groups if they tell you that this is a representation of where Latinos are because they are totally off.
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'The Interview': Senator Ruben Gallego on the Democrats’ Problem: ‘We’re Always Afraid’
I was, actually, yeah.
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'The Interview': Senator Ruben Gallego on the Democrats’ Problem: ‘We’re Always Afraid’
Well, so most of my experience with immigration was already kind of done. My mom was a naturalized citizen when I was born. My father was a legal green card holder then. I don't know what his status is now. But, you know, my experience was, for example— crossing the border fairly easily, back and forth, going to work in Mexico and then coming back when I used to work on the farm.
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'The Interview': Senator Ruben Gallego on the Democrats’ Problem: ‘We’re Always Afraid’
But then it's also my experience kind of talking to, you know, I have a very extended family on both sides, you know, about their frustration. Like, Wanting to come to the United States, for example, talking to family in Mexico that had been waiting for their green card or had been waiting for their work visas and waiting forever.
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'The Interview': Senator Ruben Gallego on the Democrats’ Problem: ‘We’re Always Afraid’
Or even recently, the last six years with a refugee crisis at the border, hearing from Latinos, immigrant Latinos, saying like, wait a minute, why is that person crossing the border and getting a work permit and my cousin still doesn't have a work permit?
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'The Interview': Senator Ruben Gallego on the Democrats’ Problem: ‘We’re Always Afraid’
It does. And two things. Number one, a lot of what you see Trump is doing now is what he tried the first time around. But this time around, we don't have Republican allies. And what that means is that we're basically fighting on our own. For me, this is more reminiscent of when I was in the statehouse, when the Republicans had full control of the House, the Senate, and the governor.
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'The Interview': Senator Ruben Gallego on the Democrats’ Problem: ‘We’re Always Afraid’
So I think kind of being closer to where your everyday Latino is on immigration is really what helped kind of set my policy mindset because what you were hearing was entirely different from what you were hearing from groups and other opinion leaders about where Latinos were on the border and immigration. And there's nuance within our communities, within the immigrant community, right?
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'The Interview': Senator Ruben Gallego on the Democrats’ Problem: ‘We’re Always Afraid’
They can tell the difference or they tell the difference between recent immigrants that came in legally and
The Daily
'The Interview': Senator Ruben Gallego on the Democrats’ Problem: ‘We’re Always Afraid’
immigrants that came in 10 years ago illegally and refugees and asylum seekers right now and if you a lot of them will say that person that came in legally yes that person came in 10 years ago they shouldn't come in legally but they're part of the community now let's give them an opportunity to be u.s citizens or come out of the shadows that person that just crossed the border claiming asylum and now they get a work permit uh that's that's bs right that's that's not right
The Daily
'The Interview': Senator Ruben Gallego on the Democrats’ Problem: ‘We’re Always Afraid’
If you're in that community, that makes sense to you. But if you're kind of out and looking in, which a lot of Democrats do, that doesn't make sense. So you just kind of draw a general idea that they all think the same. And they just don't.
The Daily
'The Interview': Senator Ruben Gallego on the Democrats’ Problem: ‘We’re Always Afraid’
and reform. And look, what happened in Lake and Raleigh was horrible. And look, these immigration groups, again, have some very valid points in some areas. But where they're attacking or where they're moving is not necessarily in line, again, where the majority of voters or even the immigrant community are. So, you know, I heard from them a lot.
The Daily
'The Interview': Senator Ruben Gallego on the Democrats’ Problem: ‘We’re Always Afraid’
And the one thing I heard from them is like, this is not what Latinos want. Like, they don't want this bill. I'm like, that's actually not true. You know, I go home and there was a lot of support for bills like this. And certainly, I think that there is a mismatch right now. The immigration groups have moved to a point where they somehow...
The Daily
'The Interview': Senator Ruben Gallego on the Democrats’ Problem: ‘We’re Always Afraid’
started representing that they represent the voice of Latinos. And they don't. They're not even close. And so, you know, one of the things I've been very clear also telling my senators, like, listen to the immigration groups because they have good legal advice. Do not listen to the immigration groups if they tell you that this is a representation of where Latinos are because they are totally off.
The Daily
'The Interview': Senator Ruben Gallego on the Democrats’ Problem: ‘We’re Always Afraid’
And, you know, I'm responding to what I saw and heard, you know, out in Arizona. And that's why I've supported last year and this year.
The Daily
'The Interview': Senator Ruben Gallego on the Democrats’ Problem: ‘We’re Always Afraid’
Yeah, and the governor in Arizona. And there was just no way stopping them except for trying to find the best way to bring to light, you know, what problems they were causing, what they were violating, what they were going to overall just like turning the state into.
The Daily
'The Interview': Senator Ruben Gallego on the Democrats’ Problem: ‘We’re Always Afraid’
Without a doubt, yeah.
The Daily
'The Interview': Senator Ruben Gallego on the Democrats’ Problem: ‘We’re Always Afraid’
Well, absolutely. But this isn't new. I mean, this is immigration and border have been weaponized in politics for forever before Donald Trump. I mean, when I was involved in the Arizona Statehouse, it was being weaponized. So, you know, none of us should be surprised by it.
The Daily
'The Interview': Senator Ruben Gallego on the Democrats’ Problem: ‘We’re Always Afraid’
No, because this has been happening for the last 20 years. The context that I worry about is like, how do we get the trust of people back? to the point where we can actually bring the immigration conversation to a more normal state of frame. Let me give you a kind of a bigger picture of this.
The Daily
'The Interview': Senator Ruben Gallego on the Democrats’ Problem: ‘We’re Always Afraid’
When the Democrats basically dropped the ball on the chaos on the border for many years, we essentially lost the debate on immigration reform for years because the everyday voter doesn't trust us. on the border and on immigration reform. Because for years, they saw that chaos on the border and we did nothing.
The Daily
'The Interview': Senator Ruben Gallego on the Democrats’ Problem: ‘We’re Always Afraid’
You know, the Biden administration finally moved, but by then it had been so long and the damage had been done. And by the way, for us that care about immigration reform, and we truly do, and I want to see, you know, immigration reform happen. I want to see undocumented families come out of the shadows. I want dreamers to become citizens, everything else like that.
The Daily
'The Interview': Senator Ruben Gallego on the Democrats’ Problem: ‘We’re Always Afraid’
We've been set back for years because we hesitated on asylum seekers when we knew in our guts that what was happening there was an abuse of the system, was unpopular with Democrats, but somehow we decided that we were going to essentially just give the issue to the Republicans. And we could have had a very sane position on this.
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'The Interview': Senator Ruben Gallego on the Democrats’ Problem: ‘We’re Always Afraid’
And right now, I think that's where you're seeing a lot of the Democratic establishment party elected officials trying to figure out what to do.
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'The Interview': Senator Ruben Gallego on the Democrats’ Problem: ‘We’re Always Afraid’
I blame President Biden, but I also blame a lot of the people that were advising President Biden. A lot of these groups that were advising President Biden. You know, you're only as good as advice that's given to you. But, you know, these immigration groups that I think are looking out for people ended up making the situation a lot worse now.
The Daily
'The Interview': Senator Ruben Gallego on the Democrats’ Problem: ‘We’re Always Afraid’
No, because if you talk to local law enforcement, and especially in Arizona, talking to sheriffs and talking to the police, they don't have the bandwidth. They don't want to do this. They want to keep the community relationships. And police are there to actually enforce local laws. If it's someone that is a drug runner, criminal, and they need police backup, sure.
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'The Interview': Senator Ruben Gallego on the Democrats’ Problem: ‘We’re Always Afraid’
Why wouldn't you if there's a warrant or anything else like that? But no, you shouldn't have police doing local immigration laws, especially because you can't even afford it.
The Daily
'The Interview': Senator Ruben Gallego on the Democrats’ Problem: ‘We’re Always Afraid’
Not migrants that have their due process, and especially not ones that are dangerous, but certainly ones that are severely dangerous, like people that have committed crimes, but we can't legally hold them here. I think there's something to be said about that.
The Daily
'The Interview': Senator Ruben Gallego on the Democrats’ Problem: ‘We’re Always Afraid’
For gang members, criminals, I mean... Like, why would you want to keep gang members and criminals that don't even have a legal right to be here and Venezuela won't take them back?
The Daily
'The Interview': Senator Ruben Gallego on the Democrats’ Problem: ‘We’re Always Afraid’
We've been having legal limbo for the immigrant community forever. I mean, Guantanamo has been used for decades. you know, refugees and asylum seekers prior to this.
The Daily
'The Interview': Senator Ruben Gallego on the Democrats’ Problem: ‘We’re Always Afraid’
Okay, I see what you're saying. Look, at the same time, we're dealing in very different situations. If there is a hardcore criminal that has gone through our judicial system, but we can't actually deport, what are we going to do? I'm not saying, again, we do this for everybody, but there has to be some logical reason
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'The Interview': Senator Ruben Gallego on the Democrats’ Problem: ‘We’re Always Afraid’
security that we should be thinking about because they're going to end up being criminals again, especially in these very, very vulnerable communities.
The Daily
'The Interview': Senator Ruben Gallego on the Democrats’ Problem: ‘We’re Always Afraid’
I do think that the party, and at least talking to my colleagues, are starting to see that this is an existential threat if they keep going down this road. If we can't rely on the judiciary to be part of those checks and balances, then what is left? I think what I'm seeing is a lot of people that are just kind of frozen.
The Daily
'The Interview': Senator Ruben Gallego on the Democrats’ Problem: ‘We’re Always Afraid’
So talking to people in Arizona, talking to ICE agents also, it's caused a lot of fear. Some of the ICE agents are very frustrated also because they feel that they're They're put on to make an artificial quota that they first were sent to go after hardcore criminals. And now they're kind of being pushed to just grab anybody. So, for example, in Arizona, they have a quota of 75 people per day.
The Daily
'The Interview': Senator Ruben Gallego on the Democrats’ Problem: ‘We’re Always Afraid’
The frustration, I think, is also in the fact that there's just there isn't really any coordination of need. So, for example, they're bringing investigators off ATF, DEA and HSI. who are actually going after real criminals, both U.S. citizens and non-U.S. citizens. And they're just being thrown in here to actually essentially do a show of force. And so it's a frustration on both sides too.
The Daily
'The Interview': Senator Ruben Gallego on the Democrats’ Problem: ‘We’re Always Afraid’
You know, they have families that are living in fear because there's no real communications happening from ICE. And there's the actual agents themselves feel like this is not a good use of my time nor taxpayer dollar for security.
The Daily
'The Interview': Senator Ruben Gallego on the Democrats’ Problem: ‘We’re Always Afraid’
I think if Donald Trump actually wanted to get rid of these hardcore criminals, there is an actual way to do this where you would have a lot of these undocumented families, the ones I've told you that have been here forever, the ones that have kids that are here, that will likely help you. But when you kind of are trying to cast a wide net, you're going to have everyone hide.
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'The Interview': Senator Ruben Gallego on the Democrats’ Problem: ‘We’re Always Afraid’
And you're going to end up probably making a lot of these criminals that are here illegally be able to get away with it.
The Daily
'The Interview': Senator Ruben Gallego on the Democrats’ Problem: ‘We’re Always Afraid’
No, I don't take it at face value. This is why, you know, where can we have our points of leverage to have them focus on that is going to be the harder question. Because right now, you know, with this election, you know, we basically hand them the keys to everything. So what can we do to actually make them... focus on these hardcore criminals is going to be the next, really, the big fight.
The Daily
'The Interview': Senator Ruben Gallego on the Democrats’ Problem: ‘We’re Always Afraid’
Well, I think the first problem is It's easier for us to be hit as being extremists if we're not also known for something. If we're not fighting to make someone's life better, to minimize or bring down the cost of living, raise wages,
The Daily
'The Interview': Senator Ruben Gallego on the Democrats’ Problem: ‘We’re Always Afraid’
If we're not actively fighting for that, it's going to be easier for people to take the most extreme positions and say, well, that's actually what the Democrats are, right? I think most Americans are actually very much pro-LGBT. I think they are pro-women's rights. I think they're more aligned with Democrats than with Republicans are.
The Daily
'The Interview': Senator Ruben Gallego on the Democrats’ Problem: ‘We’re Always Afraid’
But when we aren't identified as at the core of doing something for the kind of grander America, they're just going to be like, see, they're just so focused on these small little niche groups instead of you. And that resonated. But again, we need to recognize that when Democrats fail, when we fail in making people's lives better—
The Daily
'The Interview': Senator Ruben Gallego on the Democrats’ Problem: ‘We’re Always Afraid’
And, you know, it's something that happens a lot when situations come out of the norm. And so people want to make something that's not normal, normal, because if you actually have to accept the reality, it gets very, very scary.
The Daily
'The Interview': Senator Ruben Gallego on the Democrats’ Problem: ‘We’re Always Afraid’
And I know, again, someone's going to go, I don't know if you have blogs that attach to this podcast, you're going to say, well, the GDP under Biden was the highest and we had the lowest unemployment ever. Ruben Gallego is wrong. Yes, that was all true. But people were not feeling it. People were just not feeling it.
The Daily
'The Interview': Senator Ruben Gallego on the Democrats’ Problem: ‘We’re Always Afraid’
And again, if we want to lie to ourselves and say, well, things were really good, the economy was really good when people were telling us it was not, we're going to continue having this problem. And it's going to be easier for people to take opportunities to take away some of these basic rights if we allow the middle of America to continue to suffer economically.
The Daily
'The Interview': Senator Ruben Gallego on the Democrats’ Problem: ‘We’re Always Afraid’
Thank you.
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'The Interview': Senator Ruben Gallego on the Democrats’ Problem: ‘We’re Always Afraid’
I mean, the risk is always there. We can't be afraid of failing. That's number one. I think that's the biggest mistake I've seen Democrats do is that we're always afraid. We're always afraid of failing, so we don't take risks. It's okay for us to recognize that that is a potential fallback. But we could also be working to mitigate that somehow. And what does that look like?
The Daily
'The Interview': Senator Ruben Gallego on the Democrats’ Problem: ‘We’re Always Afraid’
You know, making sure that we meet the moment where the American public is. And maybe that moment will happen soon. I'm not sure it's March 15th. But making sure that we're talking to them, we're showing them that we're the ones that are trying to be the people that are, number one, protecting the Constitution, number two, fighting for you. Because all this... BS that's happening right now.
The Daily
'The Interview': Senator Ruben Gallego on the Democrats’ Problem: ‘We’re Always Afraid’
Prices are still high. The cost of eggs are still high. People can't buy homes. And I think that's the one thing that we still need to figure out how to pivot back because that's where the Republicans are the weakest at. They own this economy now and they're not doing stuff for everyday Americans right now.
The Daily
'The Interview': Senator Ruben Gallego on the Democrats’ Problem: ‘We’re Always Afraid’
My wife warned me before I left for work today, not to swear. Okay. But the problem is, I think, you know, we have to separate what we're hearing from kind of the D.C. crowd, from what we're hearing kind of in the streets, from what we're hearing about everyday common Americans. Because, you know, I go back to Arizona. They're actually not talking about USAID. Right.
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'The Interview': Senator Ruben Gallego on the Democrats’ Problem: ‘We’re Always Afraid’
And they're not talking about the courts. They're still talking about egg prices. They're still talking about the cost of everything. So one of the things we have to be very mindful of is that we may engage in a fight, but the rest of the American public may not be with us because they don't understand this fight.
The Daily
'The Interview': Senator Ruben Gallego on the Democrats’ Problem: ‘We’re Always Afraid’
And we need to make sure that we're matching our politics to what actually is happening in the world because sometimes when we have that disconnect, we miss. And then we miss really, really badly. And unfortunately, now we know, we can't miss because when we do, it has political implications.
The Daily
'The Interview': Senator Ruben Gallego on the Democrats’ Problem: ‘We’re Always Afraid’
Like the stuff that's happening right now is because we entirely miss where the American public was during the 2024 election.
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'The Interview': Senator Ruben Gallego on the Democrats’ Problem: ‘We’re Always Afraid’
Because I do understand that not all Trump voters are actual straight down the line Trump voters. I think there's a lot of people that voted for Trump because they were frustrated with what was happening in this country. And we weren't afraid to reach out to them. And we went to some of the hardest places in the state, some Republican counties. We sat down with Trump supporters.
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'The Interview': Senator Ruben Gallego on the Democrats’ Problem: ‘We’re Always Afraid’
We weren't afraid to talk to them. And we did it repeatedly.
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'The Interview': Senator Ruben Gallego on the Democrats’ Problem: ‘We’re Always Afraid’
I think Democrats are afraid to talk to Trump voters. I think Democrats are afraid to talk to people that are going to criticize them. And I think that's, you're just, you know, in a state like Arizona, there's 300,000 more registered Republicans than Democrats in Arizona. I had no choice. It was either do it or you're not going to make it. And so we went out there, we sat down, we met with them.
The Daily
'The Interview': Senator Ruben Gallego on the Democrats’ Problem: ‘We’re Always Afraid’
And our messaging also was very, very clear to the everyday Arizonan, which I think is very different than from the national campaign was.
The Daily
'The Interview': Senator Ruben Gallego on the Democrats’ Problem: ‘We’re Always Afraid’
I don't know. I feel like if a lot of them had been doing it, I think they probably would have done a little better. Why aren't they going into the reddest areas of the country and talking to them? Donald Trump goes to Harlem. Do we go to the equivalent of Harlem for the red voter? No, we don't.
The Daily
'The Interview': Senator Ruben Gallego on the Democrats’ Problem: ‘We’re Always Afraid’
Everybody? Yeah.
The Daily
'The Interview': Senator Ruben Gallego on the Democrats’ Problem: ‘We’re Always Afraid’
Yeah.
The Daily
'The Interview': Senator Ruben Gallego on the Democrats’ Problem: ‘We’re Always Afraid’
we could be working to make the status of men better without at the same time diminishing the status of women. And a lot of times we forget that we still need men to vote for us. That's how we still win elections. But we don't really talk about making the life of men better, working to make sure that they have wages so they could support their families.
The Daily
'The Interview': Senator Ruben Gallego on the Democrats’ Problem: ‘We’re Always Afraid’
I also think some of this is just purely psychological that a lot of times we just can't put our finger on. But During my campaign, I noticed when I was talking to men, especially Latino men, about the feeling of pride, bringing money home, being able to support your family, the feeling of bringing security. For them, they wanted to hear that someone understood that need.
The Daily
'The Interview': Senator Ruben Gallego on the Democrats’ Problem: ‘We’re Always Afraid’
And a lot of times we are so afraid, I think, of communicating that to men because we think somehow we're going to also diminish the status of women. And I think that we need to understand that that's going to end up being a problem. The fact that we don't talk this way at all to them makes them just think that we're not really, we don't really care about them.
The Daily
'The Interview': Senator Ruben Gallego on the Democrats’ Problem: ‘We’re Always Afraid’
When in fact, even when we're not talking about them and we're not campaigning about them, the Democrats on par are actually very good about the status of working class men. And I think Democrats need to figure out how we communicate that to guys and be like, hey, we're going to make sure that you're going to have a good paying job so you can start a family, go out.
The Daily
'The Interview': Senator Ruben Gallego on the Democrats’ Problem: ‘We’re Always Afraid’
Like, it was a joke, but I said a lot when I was talking to, you know, Latino men, like, I'm going to make sure you get out of your mom's house, right? You get your troquita. For English speakers, that means your truck. Every Latino man wants a big ass truck, which is nothing wrong with that either. And you're going to go start your own job and you can become rich, right?
The Daily
'The Interview': Senator Ruben Gallego on the Democrats’ Problem: ‘We’re Always Afraid’
These are the conversations that we should be having, you know? And like, for some reason, we have become And we're afraid of saying these types of things. We're afraid of saying like, hey, let's help you get a job so you become rich. Like we use terms like bring more economic stability to you. Right. And like these guys don't want that. They don't want economic stability.
The Daily
'The Interview': Senator Ruben Gallego on the Democrats’ Problem: ‘We’re Always Afraid’
They want to really live the American dream. And so honestly, the reason I think I did better than most male Democratic politicians is because I communicated that to them in a very simplistic terms. And that's it.
The Daily
'The Interview': Senator Ruben Gallego on the Democrats’ Problem: ‘We’re Always Afraid’
No.
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'The Interview': Senator Ruben Gallego on the Democrats’ Problem: ‘We’re Always Afraid’
No, I think Democrats should recognize that people want them to understand that they matter, right? But it doesn't necessarily mean that we're going to say like, you know, it's, you know, the single mom is less important than the father. That's not what we're saying. But just saying like, yes, you matter too. You matter in this world, right?
The Daily
'The Interview': Senator Ruben Gallego on the Democrats’ Problem: ‘We’re Always Afraid’
You are deserving of a government that's going to respond because supposedly as Democrats supposed to be fighting for everybody, right? But the way that these men think about things and look at the world, they don't see that. And, you know, as someone that grew up on job sites, construction sites, you know, I worked in factories.
The Daily
'The Interview': Senator Ruben Gallego on the Democrats’ Problem: ‘We’re Always Afraid’
If you go to these construction sites, these factories, the type of communication you're hearing, these guys talking to each other, it's very much not at all what we think. Tell me what that means. Well— Working class men don't really listen, especially Latino men, don't really listen to political commercials. They don't watch TV news. They largely will talk amongst themselves.
The Daily
'The Interview': Senator Ruben Gallego on the Democrats’ Problem: ‘We’re Always Afraid’
And sometimes other working class men will come in with their opinion, and that's the only thing they're hearing. That's it. And there's the WhatsApp groups. Come on.
The Daily
'The Interview': Senator Ruben Gallego on the Democrats’ Problem: ‘We’re Always Afraid’
Those WhatsApp groups aren't good for Democrats either. No. And so we have to break that. I mean, so, you know, one of the things I did is like I would host, you know, morning tacos at work sites. Right. During the election.
The Daily
'The Interview': Senator Ruben Gallego on the Democrats’ Problem: ‘We’re Always Afraid’
So I would go set up at, you know, knowing when the 530 shift was coming off and I set up tacos and I'd hand out tacos to the dudes and I could talk to him about, you know, life. And we have to understand where they are. We have to understand what they're hearing, because what they're hearing is that the Democrats aren't really for them.
The Daily
'The Interview': Senator Ruben Gallego on the Democrats’ Problem: ‘We’re Always Afraid’
And they're hearing it from the one dude that heard it from WhatsApp or the one dude that's listening to talk radio. And there's no one saying like, well, you know, actually, I heard from another guy that Democrats are actually doing this. Doesn't happen. Just doesn't happen because we don't there's no way for us to give that information because we're not going to where they are.
The Daily
'The Interview': Senator Ruben Gallego on the Democrats’ Problem: ‘We’re Always Afraid’
You said effing. I said effing.
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'The Interview': Senator Ruben Gallego on the Democrats’ Problem: ‘We’re Always Afraid’
Because I was right then. In 2022, this is when I was the head of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, we had polling that showed that there was no slippage happening because men, especially Latino men, were frustrated, but they felt that things were getting better. And there was also an understanding, especially from women, that Democrats were better for them.
The Daily
'The Interview': Senator Ruben Gallego on the Democrats’ Problem: ‘We’re Always Afraid’
With the recession, with the personal recession, not necessarily the government recession, continuing on more and more and more. And with housing pricing not going down, that's when things just started sliding. Economically, we weren't meeting the demands of where they were. I think they were willing to be hopeful because Biden had just gotten in.
The Daily
'The Interview': Senator Ruben Gallego on the Democrats’ Problem: ‘We’re Always Afraid’
A lot of the stimulus money still had not worn out. But starting around like early 2023, a lot of the stimulus money went away because we negotiated with the Republicans for it to go away. Interest rates stayed high. And for a lot of families, Latino families, owning a home, buying a home is part of the American dream. And now it has gone even further and further away.
The Daily
'The Interview': Senator Ruben Gallego on the Democrats’ Problem: ‘We’re Always Afraid’
So the economics just did not improve. And as soon as some of us heard it, we started putting up the warning signs, but it just wasn't heard. Lastly, what also is the difference is that the way that Trump communicates is actually more apt to get younger Latino men voters because where they gather their information, where they listen to politics, is where Trump is more often versus where we are.
The Daily
'The Interview': Senator Ruben Gallego on the Democrats’ Problem: ‘We’re Always Afraid’
He's on podcasts all the time. He's at UFC fights. He's at all these things where they actually see him being a real quote-unquote man. And going into the election in 2023, I also warned Democrats about that we needed to get out there. Like I had a lot of recommendations that weren't listened to.
The Daily
'The Interview': Senator Ruben Gallego on the Democrats’ Problem: ‘We’re Always Afraid’
Like I wanted, you know, President Biden go to the Copa America game and sit next to some Latino celebrity. You know, I love boxing. I'm like, let's go to some boxing matches, right? Let's take some Democrats to boxing matches and meet where, you know, a lot of Latinos are. And the fact is when you go into a big election in 2024 –
The Daily
'The Interview': Senator Ruben Gallego on the Democrats’ Problem: ‘We’re Always Afraid’
And you're going to have a lot of young men coming to vote for the first time that didn't vote in 2022. And all they're learning about politics is through podcasts, through UFC fights. You know, we're going to start losing that vote if we don't. And we did. And we need to figure out how to get into that world.
The Daily
'The Interview': Senator Ruben Gallego on the Democrats’ Problem: ‘We’re Always Afraid’
Yeah, and he'll do everything, right? And like, why are we not doing it? I'll tell you why, because I have heard this before. I'm not going to tell you which politician was worried about this, but their staff told me, like, I don't want my guy getting booed. It's like, well, I mean, like, so you don't expose yourself to anybody, but then you also don't expose yourself to anybody.
The Daily
'The Interview': Senator Ruben Gallego on the Democrats’ Problem: ‘We’re Always Afraid’
And again, this isn't just the president. This is everybody really running last year. This is the thing that we have to understand as Democrats. Like if we're not, willing to be booed, take chances. The people that really get hurt are the people that we're supposedly in office for, right? The people that are barely making it now. And they're going to be hurt because we didn't take chances.