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Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., said Monday that the United States is no longer a “world power” after engaging in a conflict with Iran “on somebody else’s word.”
“I mean, I guess we’re not a world power anymore,” Gallego told MS NOW host Chris Hayes. “I was in some pretty hard times during the war at a very young age. And it just drove me mad.”
Gallego’s comments came in response to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who told reporters at a press conference earlier that day, “We knew there was going to be an Israeli action. We knew that would precipitate an attack against American forces, and we knew that if we didn’t preemptively go after them before they launched those attacks, we would suffer higher casualties.”
Hayes played a clip of Rubio’s comments and cited Gallego’s post on X reacting to Rubio’s remarks that read, “So Netanyahu now decides when we go to war? So much for America First.”
Rep. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., walks down the House steps after the final votes of the week in the U.S. Capitol on Thursday, Sept. 14, 2023. (Will Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
Gallego, who served in the Iraq War as a U.S. Marine, argued that the Trump administration did not enter the conflict in Iran of its own volition.
“The fact that these guys just went to war on somebody else’s word — nobody decided to say, ‘Hey, you know what? What is the best interest of the men and women of my country first?'” the senator said. “Nobody decided to go and be like, ‘Guess what? Don’t go to war. If you go to war, we’re not giving you the intelligence. We’re not going to give you the support. We’re not going to give you the bombs.’ All these things you could have done.”
“Instead, [the Trump administration] said, ‘You know what? We’re going to go with you,’” Gallego continued. “And I think that really pisses me off, to be honest.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio appears before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee at the Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP)
The senator continued, lamenting that “young American men and women are dying because of these idiots,” and drawing a comparison to what was taking place at the beginning of the Iraq war.
“These idiots that are just willing to sacrifice U.S. men, U.S. women, without any real thought about what they’re doing and what the consequences are going to bring to these families,” he asserted. “You know, it’s just I feel like — I feel like I’m repeating, you know, what I saw 20 years ago. I don’t really know what else to tell you.”
Later in the interview, Gallego slammed President Donald Trump, arguing the administration had not properly planned the campaign and that such action could have unintended consequences.
“This president hasn’t planned longer than a couple of days,” the senator claimed. “To keep saying it’s going to be a day, day two, two weeks, four weeks, five weeks, who the heck plans wars like that? That is not professionalism. That is not top-rate military planning for all outcomes. And that’s why there’s six men dead and maybe even more going forward, because this administration did not plan for it.”
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President Donald Trump speaks about Iran before a Medal of Honor ceremony in the East Room of the White House, March 2, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
On Monday, Trump sent an official notification to Congress about the U.S. strikes against Iran, justifying the military action.
In a letter obtained by Fox News, Trump told Senate President Pro Tempore Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, that “no U.S. ground forces were used in these strikes” and that the mission “was planned and executed in a manner designed to minimize civilian casualties, deter future attacks, and neutralize Iran’s malign activities.”
When reached for comment, the White House directed Fox News Digital to the following statement from press secretary Karoline Leavitt: “President Trump’s courageous decision to launch Operation Epic Fury is grounded in a truth that presidents for nearly 50 years have been talking about, but no president had the courage to confront: Iran poses a direct and imminent threat to the United States of America and our troops in the Middle East. The rogue Iranian Regime under the evil hand of the Ayatollah has killed and maimed thousands of American citizens and soldiers over the years – and that ends with President Trump.”
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Fox News Digital’s Landon Mion contributed to this report.
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