Afleveringen
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Friends,
Welcome back to our 250th-plus-one-week anniversary edition! Hope you have had a good week, despite the cacophony out of Washington.
Today, Heather and I try to understand the real source of Trump’s power — his power to berate the heads of state at this week’s NATO and yet have them defer to him. His power to conduct a war in Iran that’s increasingly bogged down and which the American people don’t support. And his power to keep Republicans in Congress quietly neutered while much of his Republican base is outraged at his never-ending war, the soaring prices of gas and groceries, and his continuing refusal to release half of the Epstein files.
Trump is on an escalator heading downward at great speed, but his power seems to be intact. Why? We’ll get into that. Please pull up a chair, grab a cuppa, and join in the conversation.
Robert Reich
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I appreciate the active vocal participation of my neighbors, the organizing ability of Sally Baack, and excellent filming by Tia Liddell Ivery.
RR
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Zijn er afleveringen die ontbreken?
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Friends,
Today marks 250 years since we declared our independence from a vile, arbitrary, impulsive, capricious, greedy, selfish, narcissistic authoritarian. Oh, wait. Sorry, we’re not yet independent of Trump. But George III was pretty awful, too.
Today Heather and I examine where America has come — with a Supreme Court that thinks Trump and any successor president needs more power, a president who is making billions off his office, and an utter dud of Trump-glorification activities on the National Mall.
Please pull up a chair, grab a cuppa, and join in our 250th July 4th conversation.
Oh, and Happy Fourth of July.
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Friends,
Today, Heather and I examine all sorts of things that went wrong this week for Trump, starting with Iran’s attack on an oil tanker moving through the Strait of Hormuz and including Trump’s latest problems with the Reflecting Pool — the Strait of Warm Ooze.
Please grab a cuppa, pull up a chair, and join in the conversation.
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Friends,
On today’s episode of the Coffee Klatch, Heather and I discuss Trump’s outright surrender to Iran, his algae-infested Reflecting Pool, Democrats’ plan to tackle his staggering corruption, and much more. Please join us.
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This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit robertreich.substack.com/subscribe -
Friends,
Today Heather and I take a deep dive into Elon Musk’s new status as America’s first trillionaire — worth one thousand billion dollars — and its meaning for the future of American capitalism. How much of SpaceX’s valuation is based on hype? How much on connections in the Trump regime? How much on Musk’s lobbying of major stock index funds? Answer: almost all of it.
We also look at Musk and Trump’s (and Pete Hegseth’s and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s and JD Vance’s) obsession with male virility — where that comes from and how it’s connected to tomorrow’s cage match on the South Lawn of the White House.
So please grab a cuppa, pull up a chair, and join in the conversation.
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Friends,
Today’s weather is so beautiful that Heather and I decided to have our coffee klatch outside on the Berkeley campus. Much to talk about — including the giant initial public stock offerings of the Artificial Intelligence behemoths Anthropic, OpenAI, and SpaceX, in coming weeks, expected to generate over a trillion dollars each. AI may create all sorts of fabulous things, but it’s also dangerous as hell, and the window is rapidly closing on what can be done to stop AI from eating our jobs and destroying the human race.
We also talk about Trump’s 10 days — the House voting to end his war in Iran (or get authorization to continue it), the courts ordering his name off the Kennedy Center and pausing his $1.8 billion Thug Fund, entertainers bailing out of his 250th anniversary megalomaniacal show on the mall, his endorsee losing Iowa’s governor’s race — and what it means for the future of his pathetic lame-duck presidency.
So please pull up a chair, grab a cuppa, and join the conversation.
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Friends,
Heather is back (after a grueling week; we wish her mother a speedy recovery).
Today we take a deep dive into Trump’s Department of Injustice, now headed by Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, who’s criminally prosecuting Trump’s enemies — including private citizens such as E. Jean Carroll.
We also examine Trump and the Republican Party’s obsession with testosterone — part of the so-called “manosphere” — which includes the scheduling of UFC cage matches on the White House’s South Lawn, denigrating Democrats such as Senate candidate James Talarico as being “low T,” ridiculing LGBTQ+ people, Trump and Secretary of “War” Pete Hegseth’s hyper-aggressiveness, and Trump’s fear of strong women who stand up to him.
We also discuss the blatant corruption of the Trump regime and its relationship to the horrific U.S. economy.
So please pull up a chair, grab a cuppa, and join in the conversation.
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Friends,
Sorry for being a bit late this morning.
Today Michael and I take a deep dive into Trump’s corruption — beginning with CBS’s merger deal with Skydance that was conditioned, in part, on its canceling Stephen Colbert’s show (which is why I’m wearing a T-shirt I got when I appeared on Colbert’s “The Late Show”).
We then examine whether Jeff Bezos — the fourth-richest person in the world — is a knave or a fool for going on network television claiming that the richest 1 percent of Americans pay 40 percent of all taxes (a Trump-like lie).
And, as long as we’re talking about rogues and corruption, we look at Trump’s Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche’s $1.8 billion Trump slush fund and immunity from all future IRS audits — and its political fallout.
All that and more on today’s Coffee Klatch. So pull up a chair, grab a cuppa, and join in the discussion.
(Heather will be back next Saturday.)
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Friends,
To say Trump’s trip to China was underwhelming is to give it even more credit than it deserves. In fact, Trump’s main purpose for making the trip probably wasn’t to accomplish anything important but to deflect attention, even for a few days, from his failing war in Iran (the strait is still closed, and Iran is more determined than ever to build a nuclear bomb) and his failing economy (the closure of the strait continues to push up gas prices in the U.S. to near record levels).
Today, Heather and I take a hard look at these three items — Trump’s China visit, his war in Iran, and the U.S. economy — and put them in the context of the 2026 midterm elections. We also discuss Kevin Warsh’s Fed and the unlikelihood it will cut interest rates any time soon. And we examine the rampant, unprecedented corruption of the Trump regime.
Please pull up a chair, grab a cuppa, and join the conversation.
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Friends,
This morning, Michael and I (Heather is out today) delve into the redistricting wars — including the decision by the Virginia Supreme Court to cancel that state’s redistricting — and examine strategies still open to Democrats before the midterms. We also try to decipher what’s really happening in the Persian Gulf. And we take a close look at Trump’s sycophants Kash Patel at the FBI, Todd Blanche at Justice, Brendan Carr at the FCC, and Bill Pulte at the Federal Housing Finance Agency and the wrecking balls they’re wielding.
Given all this, we compare Michael’s Gen Z’s outlook on America with my postwar boomer’s outlook.
So please pull up a chair, grab a cuppa, and join in today’s conversation.
RR
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Friends,
Today, Heather and I ask: Why is Trump so obsessed with his ballroom? What is actually going on in Iran? Is this the worst Supreme Court of all time?
We look ahead to the midterm elections in six months and make some predictions.
We’re also joined by Ben McKenzie to discuss Trump’s crypto corruption.
So please pull up a chair, grab a cuppa, and join in the discussion.
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Joyce Vance was U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama. I’m grateful to her for sharing her views on today’s shameful and dishonest Supreme Court decision kneecapping Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, in which Samuel Alito pretends he’s not nullifying Section 2 while doing exactly that. It’s a bad day for American democracy.
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Friends,
Today, Heather and I try to make sense out of this week’s riddles: What is Trump’s strategy for reopening the Strait of Hormuz? What’s he doing to stop his base from unraveling over his failed war? How can he avoid a “blue wave” in the midterm elections? And, by the way, why are jobs so hard to come by these days, anyway?
We answer these and other riddles of the week. Please pull up a chair, grab a cuppa, and join the conversation.
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Friends,
Today Heather and I are joined by our colleague Michael, who helps us dissect a wild week. What’s the truth about the Strait of Hormuz? Why did Trump and Vance pick a fight with Pope Leo? Who or what’s behind the booming stock market?
We grapple with these and much more on today’s Klatch. Please pull up a chair, grab a cuppa, and join in the conversation.
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Friends,
Today, Heather and I examine this wildly horrendous week and tackle a basic question: Did the United States win its war with Iran, or lose it? We also take a deep dive into whether Trump is a war criminal for having threatened to cause the death of an entire civilization. And we talk with our friend journalist Amy Goodman, who’s out with a new movie about her life speaking truth to power.
So, please pull up a chair, grab a cuppa, and join in the conversation.
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Friends,
Today Heather and I venture to the far corners of Trump’s galaxy. First, to the planet from which he’s viewing his war in Iran. He says he’s eliminated Iran’s capacities to threaten U.S. air power, but on Friday Iran shot down an American F-15E bomber.
Next we travel to planet Bondi, whom Trump has sacked. We ask why, and whether this is good news or bad — I think it’s bad. Then on to Trump’s ballroom fiasco, which a federal judge has halted. And we look at Trump’s Supreme Court, which is decidedly skeptical about his argument against birthright citizenship for children born in the United States to undocumented people (the plain wording of the 14th Amendment says “all persons born” in the U.S. are citizens).
Much else to explore today, including the Artemis II mission, now taking four astronauts on a 10-day journey around the Moon and back to Earth. And Larry Ellison’s layoffs of 30,000 Oracle workers on the same day he became $9 billion richer. What planet is he on?
So please pull up a chair, grab a cuppa, and join our conversation.
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Friends,
Today is the third (and hopefully the largest) No Kings Day demonstration across the nation — and Heather and Michael and I focus today’s Klatch on how Trump has managed to exert near-regal powers in America. We also give you an update on his calamitous war in Iran and how average Americans are paying for it. But — good news — we focus on how public opinion has shifted against him, as illustrated not only by his awful poll results but also a blue wave of Democratic wins in special elections. And as a special bonus, we offer our recommendations for the best books we’ve been reading.
So pull up a chair, grab a cuppa, and join in the conversation. Then demonstrate! (Your nearest No Kings action can be found here.)
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Friends,
That quote comes from someone who voted for Trump three times and now feels betrayed by his war in Iran and its consequential price increases for gas, food, and much else.
Today, Heather and I delve into why Trump is losing his MAGA base, why he’s losing his war in Iran, why he’s losing the economy — and why he’s losing his mind.
We look at Iran’s strategy for outlasting Trump and Israel, based on maximizing the political and economic pressure on Trump.
We also look at Trump’s likely plans for subverting the midterm elections and what must be done to protect those elections from his plans.
And we’re joined by special guest Leah Greenberg, co-founder with Ezra Levin of Indivisible — the powerful decentralized organization that’s leading the way on No Kings.
So please pull up a chair, grab a cuppa, and join in the conversation.
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