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The Coffee Klatch with Robert Reich

Former Labor Secretary Robert Reich exposes where power lies in our system — and how it"s used and abused. robertreich.substack.com

news politics

All Episodes

2:35

Office Hours: Musk’s racism

The Coffee Klatch with Robert Reich ·

2023/03/02

Friends,After Scott Adams, the creator of “Dilbert,” called Black people a “hate group” and said, “I don’t want to have anything to do with them” and that white people should “get the hell away from Black people,” media outlets have dropped his comic strip.In response, last Sunday Twitter chief Elon Musk blasted the media as being “racist against whites and Asians.” He offered no criticism of Adams’s comments.Later, Musk agreed with a tweet that said “Adams’ comments weren’t good” but “there’s an

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3:30

AI’s biggest impact?

The Coffee Klatch with Robert Reich ·

2023/02/27

Friends,Artificial intelligence (AI) is finally hitting the economy and society big time. Bing’s chatbot (Microsoft plans a wide release soon) is capable of long, open-ended text conversations on virtually any topic. It’s caused a Times columnist to become “deeply unsettled, even frightened.” Google engineer Blake Lemoine was fired after claiming that the firm’s AI model, LaMDA, is “sentient.”It’s causing professors like me to wonder how to distinguish between student writing on exams and AI

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17:21

What’s Kevin McCarthy’s deal with Tucker Carlson?

The Coffee Klatch with Robert Reich ·

2023/02/26

Welcome back to our Saturday coffee klatch, where Heather Lofthouse (executive director of Inequality Media Civic Action, and my former student) and I examine the highlights and lowlights of the week. Today we look into:— Kevin McCarthy’s decision to give Fox News’s Tucker Carlson exclusive access to 40 hours of surveillance video from January 6, 2021. Is this a way for House Republicans to plant a “false flag” narrative about what happened on that fateful day?— Two dangerous illustrations of

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6:17

Two notable presidential conversations with Zelensky

The Coffee Klatch with Robert Reich ·

2023/02/23

Friends,The two men most likely to square off for the presidency of the United States next Election Day have held notably different conversations with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.On July 25, 2019, then President Donald Trump spoke with Zelensky from the White House residence, ostensibly to congratulate Zelensky on his election. During that conversation, Trump reminded Zelensky that “the United States has been very good to Ukraine.” Trump knew full well that Zelensky was desperate for

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19:19

Saturday coffee klatch: Bad actors

The Coffee Klatch with Robert Reich ·

2023/02/18

Friends,Welcome back to our Saturday coffee klatch where Heather Lofthouse (executive director of Inequality Media Civic Action, and my former student) and I discuss the highlights and lowlights of the week. Today we focus on:— The likely indictment of Donald Trump— Hypocrisy at Fox News— Why Nikki Haley doesn’t stand a chance— Senator John Fetterman’s clinical depression— Norfolk Southern Railway’s lobbying— Why the Fed thinks great economic news is awful— The U.S. Department of LaborPlease grab a

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5:38

Don’t let Republicans claim the mantle of patriotism

The Coffee Klatch with Robert Reich ·

2023/02/16

Friends,Last Tuesday, House Republicans stood for a 43-minute recitation of the United States Constitution. This came just after Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee instituted a requirement to recite the Pledge of Allegiance before each meeting. Further pledges, flag salutes, and Constitution recitations are planned. Why are Democrats allowing Republicans to blanket themselves with conspicuous displays of patriotism, especially when the GOP has become the party of traitorousness and

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6:14

The death of shame

The Coffee Klatch with Robert Reich ·

2023/02/14

Friends,At President Biden’s State of the Union address last week, Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene repeatedly yelled “Liar!,” Tennessee Republican Rep. Andy Ogles shouted, “It’s your fault!,” and another Republican yelled “B******t!”Fourteen years ago, Republican Rep. Joe Wilson was formally rebuked by the whole House after shouting “you lie” at Obama.Yet now, anything goes.Meanwhile, Rep. George Santos remains in Congress despite mounting revelations of outright lies, fabrications,

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7:30

How do we get democracy back into presidential...

The Coffee Klatch with Robert Reich ·

2023/02/13

Friends,I don’t know about you, but I look at the next 20 months leading up to the 2024 presidential election with some dread. That’s not because I’m especially worried Donald Trump or Ron DeSantis or someone equally horrific will be elected. I’m dreading the next 20 months because the entire process of selecting our president has become so fraught, divisive, and arbitrary that it threatens the foundation of our democracy. So today I want to share with you a little political hope — not my mother’s

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16:20

Saturday coffee klatch: Axe throwing

The Coffee Klatch with Robert Reich ·

2023/02/11

Welcome back to our Saturday coffee klatch with Heather Lofthouse, executive director of Inequality Media Civic Action (and my former student), where we explore the highs and lows of the past week. Pull up a chair and grab a cup. On today’s docket: — Biden’s State of the Union address. Why we think it ranks as one of the best ever. — George Santos, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert, and other raving Republicans. Why have congressional Republicans gone stark raving mad? — The terrible tragedy in

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1:30

Office Hours: Why the discrepancy between what Biden...

The Coffee Klatch with Robert Reich ·

2023/02/08

My friends,As I mentioned last night, I thought Biden’s second State of the Union address was superb. It was one of the best State of the Union speeches I’ve witnessed — and I’ve witnessed many. Biden’s record so far has also been impressive — even though for the first two years of his presidency, the Democrats held a razor-thin congressional majority, and the Republican Party has become more traitorous and treacherous than at any time in modern American history. Yet despite Biden’s impressive

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13:55

Saturday coffee klatch: Waiting for the other shoe to...

The Coffee Klatch with Robert Reich ·

2023/02/04

Welcome back to my Saturday coffee klatch with Heather Lofthouse, executive director of Inequality Media Civic Action (and my former student), when we review the highs and lows of the week. Today we look at:— Friday’s extraordinary labor report, showing that 517,000 new jobs were created in January, almost double the number in December. How is the Fed likely to react?— Kevin McCarthy’s moves on the debt ceiling and on committee assignments in the Republican House. Why is he putting Marjorie Taylor

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4:04

10 reasons you shouldn't believe Kevin McCarthy when...

The Coffee Klatch with Robert Reich ·

2023/02/03

Friends,Speaker Kevin McCarthy said this week that Republicans will not call for cuts in Social Security or Medicare as they wheel and deal over the debt ceiling. He has promised to take Social Security and Medicare cuts “off the table.”Here are 10 reasons why you shouldn’t believe him:1. It’s incredibly difficult to cut federal spending without touching Social Security and Medicare. Social Security and Medicare together comprise over a third of the federal budget. Everything else (except defense,

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17:44

Saturday coffee klatch: Oy

The Coffee Klatch with Robert Reich ·

2023/01/28

Friends,Good morning, and welcome back to another Saturday morning coffee klatch with my guest Heather Lofthouse, who runs Inequality Media Civic Action and was also my student long ago. (I recently did a back-of-the-envelope estimate on how many of my former students are out there after 42 years of teaching, and it came to 28,000!) Each Saturday we talk about the highs and lows of the previous week. This week it was mostly lows:Mass killings. Why can’t we seem to be able to do anything about

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3:33

Should Trump get back his giant megaphones?

The Coffee Klatch with Robert Reich ·

2023/01/27

Friends, Weeks after Elon Musk’s decision to reinstate Donald Trump on Twitter, Meta (the parent company of Facebook and Instagram) yesterday announced it will allow Trump back on its platforms, too. “The public should be able to hear what their politicians are saying — the good, the bad and the ugly — so that they can make informed choices at the ballot box,” wrote Nick Clegg, Meta’s president of global affairs and the U.K.’s former deputy prime minister, in a blog post announcing the

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19:20

Saturday coffee klatch: Hitting our heads on the debt...

The Coffee Klatch with Robert Reich ·

2023/01/21

Friends,Welcome back to my Saturday coffee klatch with Heather Lofthouse, executive director of Inequality Media Civic Action (and my former student). This morning we take a look at the past week, in particular:— The debt ceiling scare, and the House Republicans’ attempt to hold the full faith and credit of the U.S. hostage to their demands.— George Santos, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert, and other luminaries of the new Republican House.— Supreme Court leaks, who Sherlock Holmes would name

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3:39

The media's remarkable silence on the cause of...

The Coffee Klatch with Robert Reich ·

2023/01/16

Friends,My good wishes to you on this Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. I live in California, near the coast. Since the week after Christmas, we have been pummeled by eight “atmospheric rivers,” a weather phenomenon that summons moisture into a powerful band and then unleashes intense blasts of precipitation.The stream next to my house has become a river and some of the roads I rely on are impassible. I’m one of the lucky ones. At least 19 people have died as storms continue to cause widespread flooding,

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10:38

The basics: How we actually spend our days

The Coffee Klatch with Robert Reich ·

2023/01/14

Welcome back to my Saturday coffee klatch with Heather Lofthouse, executive director of Inequality Media Civic Action (and my former student). In response to our discussion last week about work and family — and our New Year’s resolutions for how to better balance them — many of you asked how we actually spend our days. So that’s the topic of today’s klatch. (We’ll return to politics, economics, and all the other big topics next week.)Please grab a cup and pull up a chair. And also take our poll.

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12:35

Saturday coffee klatch: Work and life, or work OR life?

The Coffee Klatch with Robert Reich ·

2023/01/07

Welcome back to my Saturday coffee klatch with Heather Lofthouse, executive director of Inequality Media Civic Action (and my former student), where we usually talk about the highs and low of the prior week. But with the new year just beginning and House Republicans tied up in knots, we thought we’d make today’s klatch a bit more personal: How we and others we know are trying to both do our work and still have a life. Grab a cup and pull up a chair. And please be sure to take our poll and add your

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5:50

For Speaker of the House: David Joyce. Who?

The Coffee Klatch with Robert Reich ·

2023/01/02

Friends,Welcome to the challenges of 2023. Today I want to talk about one of the first. When the 118th Congress is sworn in tomorrow, Republicans will hold very narrow control of the House — 222 seats to the Democrat’s 213. The first thing they’ll do is vote for the next Speaker (who’ll determine the agenda for the House, what bills make it to the floor, the fate of critical legislation such as spending bills, and the House’s negotiating positions with Senate leaders and the White House).The most

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5:38

Staying hopeful in a cynical time: Thoughts for the...

The Coffee Klatch with Robert Reich ·

2022/12/29

My friends,It has been quite a year. Some of the regressive forces undermining our democracy, polluting our planet, widening inequality, and stoking hatred have been pushed back. This is a worthy accomplishment and cause for celebration. It offers hope that the Trump years are behind us and the hard work of building a decent society can resume. But this is no time for complacency. No one should assume that the battle has been won. The anti-democracy movement is still fulminating. Trump is still

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