The Coffee Klatch with Robert Reich

Friends,

Today, Michael and I take a deep dive into Trump’s most authoritarian week yet. (Heather will be back next week.) We ask: Why did he choose this week to escalate his dragnet raids? From what does he want to deflect our attention? What kind of trap is he laying? What must we be careful to do and avoid doing today, as he conducts a military parade in Washington to celebrate his military might and his birthday, just as other authoritarian leaders have done — and as many protest his rising authoritarianism?

Please pull up a chair, grab a cuppa, take our poll, and join our discussion.

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,

That any of us have to care about the messy breakup of these two malignant narcissists — and that they both individually wield such massive power — is an indictment of our political system and further proves the poisonous influence of Big Money on our democracy. That’s today’s Coffee Klatch theme.

Please pull up a chair, grab a cuppa, take our survey, and join 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 Heather and I examine whether the three big political events of this week — Musk’s leaving the White House, the U.S. Court of International Trade’s striking down Trump’s tariffs, and Senate Republicans’ being stymied over Trump’s so-called “Big Beautiful” (actually Ugly) budget bill — signal the beginning of the end of Trump.

Is Elon really gone for good? Are Trump’s tariffs in real trouble? Is his Big Ugly bill destined for the political junkyard? We’ll probe these and other questions.

Please pull up a chair, grab a cuppa, answer our poll, and join in the discussion.

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,

V Spehar invited me to join them today to talk about how we should deal with America’s aging politicians — our “gerontocracy.”

I’m something of an expert on the subject because I’ve been around politicians for over 50 years. Also I’m getting up there (I’ll be 79 years old soon).

And I recently retired from teaching because I didn’t want to give students anything less than my best. So I know how difficult it is to give up a job you love.

But, as I mention to V, we need a system that allows the relatively few old people who continue to do wonderfully well — look at Bernie Sanders, at the spry age of 83; I know few people half his age with as much energy and intelligence — to keep at it.

We discuss the possible answers, and much more.

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,

One of my favorite people in the world is the Reverend Dr. William Barber, whose moral and strategic insights at this horrific moment in our nation’s history are invaluable. I asked him to join me today to talk about what all of us can do to unite people in America in pursuit of social justice and against Trump.

Barber is a Protestant minister, social activist, professor in the Practice of Public Theology and Public Policy and founding director of the Center for Public Theology and Public Policy at Yale Divinity School, president and senior lecturer at Repairers of the Breach and co-chair of the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for a Moral Revival. He also serves as a member of the national board of the NAACP, and is the chair of its legislative political action committee.

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 look at the Trump regime’s decision to bar international students from Harvard and ask, what’s the difference between a neofascist diktat and Trump’s orders?

As in fascism, Trump arbitrarily targets particular institutions and people, then takes away their freedoms for no reason other than that they’ve opposed the regime. (In recent days, the regime has also charged, investigated, or threatened to investigate Kamala Harris, Letitia James, Andrew Cuomo, Bruce Springsteen, Beyonce, Bono, Oprah Winfrey, James Comey, unnamed “treasonous” Biden aides, the Kennedy Center, and the city of Chicago.)

At the same time, as in authoritarian systems, Trump has openly and eagerly accepted personal gifts in return for unspecified favors — including money (mostly from foreign sources) for his crypto business and that $400 million Qatar “palace in the sky” (which the regime accepted this week, but which will be for Trump’s personal use). Under Trump — as in neofascism — the boundary between his personal, arbitrary, unconstrained power and the power of the state is obliterated.

So please pull up a chair, grab a cuppa, take our poll, and join 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, Heather and I look into the schemes that Trump and the people around him are using to make themselves rich at the expense of the American people — starting with Trump’s business trip this week to the oil-rich kingdoms of the Middle East.

Please pull up a chair, grab a cuppa, take our poll, and join 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 Heather and I take a deep dive into the most corrupt presidential administration in history. We look in detail at Trump’s crypto deals designed to enrich him and his family and milk the presidency, and Musk’s deals to enrich himself by, for example, having the State Department push other nations to use his Starlink satellites. The stench from these and other examples of self-dealing is worse by the day — even as the regime cuts programs most Americans depend on in order to make room in the federal budget for another giant tax cut disproportionately benefiting big corporations and the super-rich.

Please pull up a chair, grab a cuppa, take our poll, and join in the discussion.

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 the outlook for Trump, the Trump White House, Congress, and the economy. Now that we’ve finished the first hundred days, where does America go from here? Is there room for hope?

I’m more optimistic than Heather because I believe opposition to Trump is growing. And it will become even larger if Trump and Republicans in Congress cut programs most Americans depend on in order to make space in the federal budget for a tax cut that disproportionately benefits the rich and big corporations.

Heather is less optimistic. So it’s one of the klatches where we disagree. Hope you find it informative nonetheless.

Please pull up a chair, grab a cuppa, take our poll, and join 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, Heather and I take a look at the shi*tstorm of Trump’s first hundred days (which doesn’t officially conclude until Wednesday), and ask what happened, why it’s so horrible, and how we’re likely to look back on it. Along the way, we examine whether its major theme has been chaos or cruelty, what’s happened to the economy, and why Trump’s polls are taking a dive. In sharp contrast, we also discuss the legacy of Pope Francis.

Please pull up a chair, grab a cuppa, take our poll, and join in the discussion.

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