TJ Walker breaks down leaked texts from Arizona Senator Ruben Gallego criticizing the Democratic Party. Gallego says a longtime friend exposed the private exchange. Walker argues the leak might actually help Gallego appeal to moderates, though it raises questions about the risks of sharing candid messages.
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Senator Ruben Gallego in the news. According to leaked messages published by Human Events and amplified by various right wing activists, the Arizona US Senator Ruben Gallego unloaded on his own party in a private text exchange. Here's what he said that got a lot of attention. Quote, oh, man, have you met my party? I've been yelling at them this whole time. Gallego said Democrats, quote, look like the not fun party. Always telling and correcting people, end quote. These are his quotes. A Democratic U.S. senator, someone many people hope and believe will run for president in 2028. Then came the lines that went viral. He complained the Democrats are, quote, not allowing no men to men. I think he meant men to be men, women to be hot. He's saying the Democratic Party doesn't let men be men or women to be hot. We used to be the party of sex, drugs and rock and roll, he added. Now Democratic women look like Democratic men. Oops. Again, the Democratic Senator's words. And Democratic men look like women. Well, you can imagine conservative media had a field day with that. After the texts were leaked, Gallego told ABC News it, quote, it's very heartbreaking that a friend of 20 years exposed the exchange, but insisted the messages are a reflection of, of what I've been saying the whole time about where he thinks the party needs to go. So what's the real message here? Senator Ruben Gallego is someone seen as a real up and comer in the Democratic Party. He has a message that appeals to Democrats, but also moderates and those who occasionally vote for Republican. So when he comes out saying the party, the Democratic Party is a party of no fun and it's a party where the Democratic men kind of look like the women and the women look like the men. It's not a good look for the Democratic Party. This may ultimately help Gallego as he is seen as a real straight shooter. But it's also a message to all of us. You put something in a text or email, even if it's someone you think is the best friend, it might be shared with the whole world and come back to haunt you. Be careful. Let's dig a little deeper here. I do think that it's. Look, it's always fun if you see somebody you don't like, embarrassed saying things that make them and their, their team, their tribe look bad. I get that. But I also think regardless of your party, what tribe you're in, what team you're on, there is something just sad about seeing private communication splattered out to the whole world in an attempt to make someone look bad. I don't like to see this. Regardless of whether you are a conservative Republican or a liberal Democrat or an independent or far right or far left, I do think that a little part of our humanity is chipped away and destroyed. When you shared some thought that you thought was a personal thought with somebody who's a friend, and now the whole world sees it. Do we really want everyone who's a politician, anyone who ever aspires to politics, to keep every single thought they've ever had in their head inside? Do we really want them calculating? Hmm. If I say this one true thought, if I'm actually honest and sincere with this friend, this could come back to haunt me in 20 years when I'm running for office. So let me be bland, boring and say no comment, even to my best friend, even to my spouse. Because who knows, I could get divorced and my spouse could leak this. I think that that's chipping away at some aspect of humanity. Now, the interesting thing here is the conservative media organizations that are having a field day with this are saying it actually makes the senator look cool because he's saying things that they have been saying for a long time. So right now, this senator is, is still new enough in the Senate. He is attracting a lot of attention because of his ability to get votes in a swing state. And for that reason, some in the Democratic Party give him, frankly, a lot more credibility than Governor Gavin Newsom. Or let's face it, if you get the Democratic nomination for governor in a place like California, you're going to win. If you get the Democratic nomination or Senate or governor in a place like Arizona, well, it's a coin toss. You got to really demonstrate your ability to appeal to a wide swath of the public. You have to really demonstrate your ability to seem moderate, to appeal to independent minded people, to appeal to moderate people, to appeal to people who want some issues consider themselves conservatives. And Senator Ruben Gallo has done that, and that's why there's a lot of buzz around him. So prediction. I don't think that this is going to come back to haunt him. It's kind of a one day story. It's the real message for you and me. I think all of us have to be a little more careful about putting anything in text. There is something permanent about that. Although these days you can have what you think is a private phone call and the technology on cell phones and every other device makes it easy to capture. But I think all of us have to really think about who is our inner circle. Who are the people we really care about? Who are our closest friends and allies? And I think you still have to let loose on that. I think you have to let your hair down and give honest opinions and not think about the cold, hard calculation of how would this look if. If one quote were taken out of the context of the conversation and shown to the whole world. Because if you are thinking about never saying anything that could in any way make you look bad, I think it just turns you into a fake, phony person. It robs you of your humanity. But I do think you need to really think twice about, you know, sharing something with an employee you just hired three months ago. Someone is a political ally, but you've never actually had a meal with them. And others where you just assume it's off the record and it's private. It's really not. We live in times when people feel that, hey, I'm on another team now and if I can make you look bad, I'll do anything I can. The one saving grace is I think more and more people are seeing this happen to others and realize, hey, this could happen to me. So I do think there's a lot more sympathy for anyone who gets caught saying something that doesn't look good or makes them look bad or mean or nasty because people feel like, well, that could happen to me too. Ask yourself this. If every single email you've ever sent or every text you've ever sent were suddenly made public, how do you think you would look? I can tell you right now, I wouldn't want that to happen to me. And I don't think I really said anything that much more awful than you or anyone else. But let's face it, we've all had thoughts and said things in text and emails that other people could find offensive. Therefore, I think it's going to have less of a deleterious effect on someone's career when we see things like this happen. So the senator from Arizona, it's a one day blip. He's sort of leaning into it. Who knows, this might actually benefit his career long term. As hard as it is to imagine, we will find out. But meanwhile, try to be more careful about new hires, employees, people where it's just a professional relationship. Be a little more guarded. And I think that is the best way of preserving your own career and trying to minimize embarrassments like this.
