The Coffee Klatch with Robert Reich

Friends,Today, Heather and I look at how Trump has moved almost all law and policy into personal deal-making — whether it’s what tariff rate (that is, import tax) is to apply to which country, which corporations will be exempted from import taxes, which universities have to do what to satisfy him, which law firms have to do what to avoid his penalties, which media corporations have to genuflect in which ways to gain his approval or avoid his wrath, and so on. It’s a form of government completely foreign to the United States until now and that is based on Trump’s personal whims, his vindictiveness, and payoffs made to him. Call it, well, fascism. We also take a look at the economy — a bad jobs report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which caused Trump to kill the messenger and fire the commissioner of Labor Statistics. He’s nuts. Out of his gourd. And very dangerous. The Trumping of America continues. Please pull up a chair, grab a cuppa, take our poll, 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 we take another deep dive into the murky world of Epstein and Trump, looking at how Trump’s consolidation of power has made it harder for him to rebut charges of a cover-up. We also look at the stories that “Epsteingate” has crowded out this week: Palestinian children starving in Gaza because of Netanyahu’s policies (backed by Trump), more than a third of all federal judges complaining that Trump is defying them, and a mind-boggling number of people being detained in ICE’s inhumane detention camps. We also look at Trump’s silencing of critics such as Stephen Colbert, Washington Post columnists, and the students and faculty of Columbia University. Our special guest today is Elliot Kirschner, director of The Last Class film. (His latest Substack post is about the first time he and I ever met — the origin story of the film.)Please pull up a chair, grab a cuppa, take our poll, 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, Heather and I explore why Jeffrey Epstein’s death in 2019 is now shaking the foundations of Trump and his regime. Why now? What is there about this alleged conspiracy that has made Trump so vulnerable? What does it tell us more broadly about the soaring distrust in our society toward elites that Trump exploited to get elected in 2016 and then again in 2024? What does it suggest Democrats ought to do, now and in the ramp-up to the 2026 midterm elections? 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, Michael, and I do a deep dive into the cruel incompetence of the Trump regime — how Trump is hurting millions of people for no reason, whether he’s doing it because of cruelty or incompetence, and what all of us can do about it between now and the 2026 midterm elections (including not calling him “President,” because he considers himself president of only the people who voted for him). 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,Happy Fourth of July weekend. Today Heather and I examine Trump’s newly enacted Big Ugly Bill — its record-breaking redistribution of income upward, its budget-busting deficits, and its creation of an anti-immigrant police state. And we explore whether there’s anything positive that could possibly come of this. 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 come to you from Central Park in New York City, where we assess the remarkable upset victory of 33-year-old Zohran Mamdani, a self-described democratic socialist, over former New York governor Andrew Cuomo, in the race for New York City mayor.We also take a look at the bind Trump and his lackeys have gotten themselves into — with an attack on Iran that the Defense Intelligence Agency says sets back Iran’s nuclear program by only three months and that didn’t touch Iran’s stockpile of uranium, with a mammoth (“big beautiful”) budget bill that the Senate parliamentarian has shredded, and tariffs that are already hiking prices for American consumers. Wasn’t Trump elected to keep America out of foreign entanglements and to keep prices down?Please grab a cuppa, pull up a chair, take our poll, and join 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 look at the war in Iran through the lens of Donald Trump’s insatiable need to expand and display his power. How can he even consider getting America into this war without consulting Congress? Doesn’t doing so also violate his promise to the American people in the 2024 election that he would avoid foreign entanglements? And who is advising him, now that half of the professionals on the National Security Council have been fired and neither Tulsi Gabbard (who’s supposed to be the intelligence czar) nor Pete Hegseth (at least formally the secretary of defense) is involved in Trump’s decision-making? We’ll get to these and other questions.Please pull up a chair, grab a cuppa, take our poll, and join 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, 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