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

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

I appreciate the active vocal participation of my neighbors, the organizing ability of Sally Baack, and excellent filming by Tia Liddell Ivery.

RR

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 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.

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 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.

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,

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.

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

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.

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’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.

If you enjoy this Substack and are not yet a paid subscriber, please consider becoming one (and giving a paid subscription as a gift).

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,

Trump and his Republicans say gas is hugely expensive in California because of state taxes and fees (mostly related to the environment).

Here’s the sign you’ll see at Chevron stations:

This is total rubbish. See my video, above.

Gas prices are higher in California because giant oil corporations like Chevron have more monopoly power in California than they have in other states, which gives them the power to charge higher prices and make a fatter return.

Chevron, by the way, is a direct descendant of the original Standard Oil Trust, which the Supreme Court decided in 1911 was an unlawful monopoly, and busted up. (Chevron used to be called Standard Oil of California, SoCal.) It’s regrown to become one of the largest corporations in the world.

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,

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.

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