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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

Can't believe it? How Biden gets re-elected in 2024

The Coffee Klatch with Robert Reich ·

2022/06/09

My friends, I’m going to press the pause button on today’s news — including the House January 6 hearings that start this evening — and try to answer a big question that hangs over American politics right now like a sword of Damocles: Does Joe Biden have a snowball’s chance of being re-elected in 2024? With his current approval rate in the cellar, most pundits assume no (at age 81, he’d also be the oldest person ever elected president, slightly exceeding the typical American’s lifespan). The

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5:45

Another reason to detest Musk

The Coffee Klatch with Robert Reich ·

2022/06/07

Last Friday — after Elon Musk said he planned to cut thousands of jobs at Tesla and also expressed worry over the economy — Joe Biden dismissed him with a zinger: “Lots of luck on his trip to the moon.”There’s no love lost between them. The fiercely anti-union Musk has been livid ever since pro-union Biden pushed a provision in a bill that would benefit electric-car makers that are unionized at the expense of those that are not (namely Tesla). In recent weeks Musk has said he has become a Republican

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10:09

The Week Ahead: Why everything depends on Liz Cheney

The Coffee Klatch with Robert Reich ·

2022/06/06

The televised hearings of the House Select Committee on the January 6 insurrection, which begin Thursday, mark an historic milestone in the battle between democracy and autocracy. The events that culminated in the attack on the Capitol constitute the first attempted presidential coup in our nation’s 233-year history. The Select Committee’s inquiry is the most important congressional investigation of presidential wrongdoing since the Senate investigation of the Watergate scandals in the 1970s.To a

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14:03

Coffee klatch: Will Congress do anything about guns?...

The Coffee Klatch with Robert Reich ·

2022/06/04

My informal weekly coffee with Heather Lofthouse (the executive director of Inequality Media Civic Action, and my former student), discussing the past week.In this morning’s klatch we discuss whether Congress will do anything to restrict gun purchases (Biden’s passionate plea notwithstanding), how long America will be willing to supply weapons to Ukraine, the likely outcome from next week’s hearings by the House’s special committee investigating the January 6 insurrection, the winner of the national

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2:47

Personal history: When I worked for Bobby Kennedy

The Coffee Klatch with Robert Reich ·

2022/06/03

I was an intern in Bobby Kennedy’s Senate office during the summer of 1967. The civil rights movement was still gaining ground, and Kennedy was crusading for economic and political justice.My job that summer had nothing to do civil rights or justice, though. And it required only half a brain. I was in charge of Kennedy’s signature machine. The machine’s pen mechanically scrawled “Robert F. Kennedy” on thousands of photographs and constituent letters each day. I had to make sure the photos and

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4:44

Financing gunmakers

The Coffee Klatch with Robert Reich ·

2022/06/02

After a mass shooting in Parkland, Florida in February 2018, that left 17 people dead, JPMorgan Chase — America’s largest bank — publicly distanced itself from the firearm industry. Its chief financial officer reassured the media that the bank’s relationships with gunmakers “have come down significantly and are pretty limited.” That was then. This past September, a new Texas law went into effect that bans state agencies from working with any firm that “discriminates” against companies or individuals

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4:33

Empathy and activism

The Coffee Klatch with Robert Reich ·

2022/05/31

We have been through at least two years of social trauma (if you include all the Trump years, almost six). They include a pandemic that has taken the lives of over a million Americans. Wildfires, floods, and other climate disasters. Police brutality. Trump’s attempted coup and continued attacks on our democracy. Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. The Supreme Court’s pending reversal of reproductive rights. A mass killing of Black people in Buffalo followed by a mass killing of children in Texas.Other than

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Guns, abortion, and the stirrings of the slumbering...

The Coffee Klatch with Robert Reich ·

2022/05/30

Hello, friends. I hope you’re having a restful and safe Memorial Day. Today, I want to ask: Can anything positive come from last week’s tragedy? Or the mass shooting ten days before, in Buffalo? Can anything positive come from the Supreme Court’s imminent decision to reverse Roe v. Wade?Making your own decision about whether to have a child, and keeping any child you do have out of harm’s way, are surely two of the most basic of all human needs. Yet both are fiercely resisted — the first by

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13:15

Coffee klatch: talking to a 9-year-old about what...

The Coffee Klatch with Robert Reich ·

2022/05/28

My informal weekly coffee with Heather Lofthouse (the executive director of Inequality Media Civic Action, and my former student), discussing this past —especially tough — week. As usual, pull up a chair and bring your morning cup. Today’s conversation touches on talking to young children about mass shootings, what we can learn from the 1994 Assault Weapons Ban, Trump losing credibility in the primaries, how we confront fatalism, if we should worry about Biden’s ratings, and the fact that many

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12:30

Educating for the common good

The Coffee Klatch with Robert Reich ·

2022/05/26

I think about those 19 children who were murdered in their classroom on Tuesday, and feel the need to go back to basics — to the common good. Given the the difficulty of enacting sensible laws to reduce gun violence — which reflects in part the deepening split between Americans who believe in democracy and those who are throwing in their lot with Trump authoritarians — the question I keep coming back to is: what can we can do to rekindle a sense of common good? One of the most important initiatives

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11:21

Why unions are coming to the new economy

The Coffee Klatch with Robert Reich ·

2022/05/24

Yesterday, the Game Workers Alliance (a union of quality assurance workers at Activism subsidiary studio Raven Software) won their vote to form a union. This may not seem like such a big deal, but it is. The games industry is large and growing. Quality assurance testers do the grunt work of rooting out bugs and potential problems in the weeks and months before games are released publicly. These jobs are typically among the lowest in the game industry, with demanding workloads finding and cataloging

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6:56

Bombardment by the billionaires

The Coffee Klatch with Robert Reich ·

2022/05/23

The richest person in America tweeted last week that Democrats have “become the party of division & hate, so I can no longer support them and will vote Republican.”Hello? Democrats are the party of division and hate? What planet has Elon been living on? Meanwhile, the second-richest person in America (Jeff Bezos) tweeted that the Democrats’ proposed tax hikes on the rich will not tame inflation and their proposed spending would worsen it (he’s wrong, and I’ll explain why in another post).In addition

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17:34

Coffee Klatch: CPAC in Budapest, Bezos and Musk, Doug...

The Coffee Klatch with Robert Reich ·

2022/05/21

My informal weekly coffee with Heather Lofthouse (my former student and executive director of Inequality Media Civic Action), exploring the lows and few highs of the week. As usual, pull up a chair and bring your morning cup.Today our conversation touches on the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) being held in Budapest, why Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos have it out for President Biden and the Dems, what Doug Mastriano’s Pennsylvania primary win could mean for the 2024 election, what’s

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6:09

What you need to know about the anti-democracy movement

The Coffee Klatch with Robert Reich ·

2022/05/19

Decades ago, America’s wealthy backed a Republican establishment that believed in fiscal conservatism, anti-communism, and constitutional democracy. But today’s billionaire class is pushing a radically anti-democratic agenda for America — backing Trump’s lie that the 2020 election was stolen, calling for restrictions on voting, and even questioning the value of democracy.Peter Thiel, the billionaire tech financier who is among those leading the charge, writes “I no longer believe that freedom and

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6:17

How Russian oligarchs, the Saudis, and China are...

The Coffee Klatch with Robert Reich ·

2022/05/17

Hello friends,In 2017, Donald Trump repeatedly lied that between 3 and 5 million unauthorized immigrants had voted for Hillary Clinton. In the last few weeks, Trump has resurrected his lie during campaign rallies for the Republican primary candidates he has endorsed — whipping up fears of “open borders and horrible elections,” and calling for stricter voter ID laws and proof of citizenship at the ballot box.Trump endorsees have been amplifying the lie. J.D. Vance, the Trump-backed winner of last

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8:40

We need a hope machine. Anyone know how to build one?

The Coffee Klatch with Robert Reich ·

2022/05/16

In a comment on this past Saturday’s post, Paula OH said: “It’s a very tough time. We need a hope machine! Anyone know how to build one?”My answer to Paula is a resounding: “yes!” And in a moment I’ll give Paula and you some hammers, nails, and solar panels to build one.First, though, I want to validate your discouragement. We expected COVID to be gone by now. We thought the minimum wage would be raised by now, that bold measures to slow climate change would be enacted by now, that pharmaceuticals

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12:56

Coffee klatch: Dems' message for midterms, Manchin,...

The Coffee Klatch with Robert Reich ·

2022/05/14

My informal weekly coffee with Heather Lofthouse (my former student and executive director of Inequality Media Civic Action), exploring the lows and few highs of the week. As usual, pull up a chair and bring your morning cup. If you somebody who might enjoy a conversation over coffee, please share. 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

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5:52

Personal history: The Supreme Court I argued before...

The Coffee Klatch with Robert Reich ·

2022/05/12

Hello again, friends. After pro-choice protesters showed up outside the homes of Justice Samuel Alito and two other justices — peacefully chanting while walking in the street that lacked sidewalks — the editorial board of the Washington Post described such protests as “problematic” because they “bring direct public pressure to bear on a decision-making process that must be controlled, evidence-based and rational if there is to be any hope of an independent judiciary.” I’m sympathetic to this view

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6:19

Psst: Wanna know the real reason Washington leaks?

The Coffee Klatch with Robert Reich ·

2022/05/10

Hello friends. I hope you’re reasonably well, under the circumstances. Today I want to talk to you about leaks. I’ve had a lot of experience with them. I spent almost half my adult life in Washington. Justice Samuel Alito’s first draft opinion overturning Roe v. Wade — which was leaked to Politico — was dated February 10. It is probably obsolete by now, as other justices have had time to offer critiques, dissents, and revisions. But according to another leak from the Supreme Court — this one

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Coffee klatch: Roe, law school with Clarence Thomas,...

The Coffee Klatch with Robert Reich ·

2022/05/07

My informal weekly morning coffee with Heather Lofthouse (my former student and Executive Director of Inequality Media), exploring the lows of the week. As usual, pull up a chair and bring your morning cup. If you know others who might enjoy a conversation over coffee, please share. 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

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