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COMMENTARY The Coffee Klatch ... July 20th 2024 Heather Lofthouse and Robert Reich ... How Is a Convicted Felon and Insurrectionist a Leading Candidate for President? PLAY YOUTUBE VIDEO Original article: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpx20-twWE0 Peter Burgess COMMENTARY The Trump presentation on Thursday was awful ... and many of the 'facts' were pure fiction. Trump is a world class 'con man!' Hardly anything in the Trump presentation was truthful ... Facism 1010! Peter Burgess
How Is a Convicted Felon and Insurrectionist a Leading Candidate for President? \| The Coffee Klatch Robert Reich and Heather Lofthouse 710K subscribers ... 26,344 views Premiered 4 hours ago The Coffee Klatch with Robert Reich Friends, Today, Heather and I assess the Democratic and Republican Parties at a particularly dispiriting point, when the Republicans have coronated Trump, who is taking a wide lead in polls over Biden. Anything can happen between now and Election Day, but at this point things look grim. Will Biden drop out in favor of Kamala Harris? Will Trump stumble? Will America come to its senses? Please join us as we discuss these and other related issues. And, if you’re so inclined, please take our poll. 0:00 it is the Saturday coffee clutch with Heather Loft housee and yours truly Robert R and we have lived through and managed to survive this week of the Republican coronation of Donald Trump uh the convicted felon uh and Heather what's what are we going to talk about today well let's talk about that coronation and where the Republicans are let's talk about Biden's isolation literally and figuratively and also that Tech outage well there is a connection I was going to say between all three of those are they connected uh but let's get into the connection but actually before we get into the connection I want to talk about the coronation of Donald Trump because have to uh because it was uh it was a remarkable male chauvinist uh sort of assertion of power of dominance of hierarchy I mean if you were a woman voter would you have found anything in that coron 1:00 and I'm not just only talking about the Trump speech I'm talking about the people who were invited the the world wrestlers and the and the Hulk and everybody else uh that you found to be compatible with your values and your view of the world well you're asking a good person because I am a woman voter oh so personally I mean it didn't it didn't you know float my vote but I think so it is important um there are 3 million more women in America we're talking about voters people voting age yeah of voting age also um if you think about 18 to 29 year old so this young important part of the population of them of women when compared to men they associate as being more liberal by far if you certainly on the issue of abortion in in states that you know that are Republican states like Kansas and and other states that have had abortion issues on the ballot since the dobs 2:01 decision yeah uh and we have Trump who is vigorously virulently anti-abortion put the people on the Supreme Court that actually voted for dobs and we have now JD Vance who says no abortion even in times of in circumstances of of rape and incest y uh I mean these are and these two two guys uh are I I think kind of symbolize the essence of of the kind of the notion of that's deeply embedded in white Christian nationalism white male dominence right and so I don't think it will resonate with a lot of women now abortion wasn't mentioned you know it was very convenient how they did it all but there was so much as you said misogyny and chauvinism throughout I mean the person that introduced Donald Trump is Dana White who runs UFC who by the way was caught on tape hitting his wife and had to apologize for that 3:00 they are famously Macho I mean and as you said to on our live that we did with everyone thank you for tuning in thank you again for tuning in those of you did but you know we we felt a little bit I think I can speak for you pleas um a little bit not necessarily guilty but a little defensive because that that was a that speech Donald Trump was an hour and 32 minutes and it was drible it was just awful it was ramble it was a self-indulgent melodramatic waste of an hour and a half but yes so thank you to those who watched it um and if we had to do it I'd rather do it together but it was I mean it's been pretty atrocious now whether women will have watched it and make a decision based on that you know whether it's undecideds or people who had maybe been decided you know Pro Trump and decided I'm actually not I don't know about that but I do think that in general the way we look at voting in the elction that women are 4:01 skewing um you know pro- reproductive Health rights and perhaps Pro Democratic we'll have to see U the the other thing that struck me uh just going back to the Republican convention uh was the absence of even any illusion to the heroes the so-called Heroes of January 6 I mean there were you know what Trump normally does is he makes some not you know some obas to to the patriotism of those who were arrested and ultimately uh put imprisoned uh for January 6 no he steered away but he steered completely away from January 6 completely away from everything he didn't even mention the uh you know his his favorite topic which is the stolen election that did not come up yeah so it was a kind a tiny nod to it but he followed orders because I'm sure they said this is what's not you know his close a said let's not mention this we won't mention project 2025 let's not 5:01 mention abortion but then he veered off the teleprompter for days it felt like days and stories and these Rambles and free form and and the the rambles were you know classic self you know referential narcissistic Trump I mean it was and it was it was hard to follow a lot of that well so we've talked about this but he lives in a non-reality I mean he is like we yes we've experienced that yes but really truly his untruths that he says he holds them to be true and it is this concept of kind of like the developmental stage of a three-year-old as it relates to how the mind work not intelligence I'm not saying that because he's I I believe intelligent um for better or worse but I do think that this the way he lives in this untruthful world is really real for him and not Tethered to the truth for the rest of us and the idea the core 6:01 psychological reality there is that he cannot empathize with anybody else he doesn't have the capacity to get into anybody else's head in terms of you know I'm telling a lie or my version of the truth is not the same truth that everybody else would actually see if they could see reality right because there are people with brains over there and feelings that I'm recognizing But the irony is that if he can go on for an hour and 32 minutes and if he can get an entire ire Republican party to agree with him and make it the uh the test for your republicanism the test for you're being a loyal Trumper uh that you know you believe that Trump is not lying you believe that the 2020 election was stolen uh you believe that the people who you know raided and rioted on January 6 were patriots now again he didn't say this but this is what everybody there believes right and what he says all the time yeah um and that 7:03 first 20 minutes with him recounting the assassination attempt which obviously is horrible but I mean 20 minutes in this drawn out you know exaggerated the superlatives constant super the greatest the most amazing the Wonder the most wonderful the scariest the worst that I mean it's well the classic narcissist uh you know would just think that this assassination attempt was that the central event of everybody's life and would would draw it out and and and talk about it almost endlessly and then go over and what did he do he put his arms around the um yeah this um it was the the fireman the the person who died right so they propped it up with the helmet and it was the and it was his actual you know his clothing and he went over and he smooched kissed the smooched 8:01 yes the helmet the helmet I mean all of this it's not just melodramatic it it is really there is something that is slightly I believe slightly sick about uh and uh it's all fabric I mean he's a chief fabricator and then talk about fabrication then you went into the lies um and I counted 25 instances where he used the term Invasion Invasion Invasion invasion of America I mean this was his Central lie uh Thursday night that America is being invaded by criminals by rapists by I mean this is how he started this is how he started in 2016 there was Mexicans who were coming here and raping and pillaging and and and and destroying America now the irony is that actually uh illegal entry into the United States is now down to almost zero uh and you have a huge drop uh 9:01 unrelated to that uh in murders in serious crimes all across America had been going on that drop has been going on for years but he gets away with making these false claims that we have a crime wave that we have a huge wave of people coming across the border illegally it is right it is fear-mongering it is smearing it is falsehoods well it's and it's over over and over again part Playbook but the Playbook again is is not new this is what uh you know Hitler's henchmen understood you say the LIE over and over again uh even in the space of an hour and 32 minutes if you use the term even the term Invasion over and over again 24 times 25 times people start thinking Invasion we're being invaded uh and uh it's it's hard to get people back to reality uh but that Invasion metaphor is part of the 10:03 again the male dominant Warrior imagery Trump is the strongman he's going to protect us from the Invaders so the problem with the bid Administration is the bid Administration is weak the Biden Administration cannot protect anybody from the Invaders uh the Biden Administration has done this and this and this the other thing Heather uh was all the lies about the economy uh in the in the point of fact 2.9 Million jobs were lost during the Trump Administration uh the last Trump Administration and you also simultaneously had an economy that generated a huge debt because $4.8 trillion more of debt because of the Trump tax cut he said last night that the TA Thursday night that the tax gun went to everybody it did not it went overwhelmingly to Big corporations and to very wealthy people uh and that's 11:02 where that uh huge increase in debt actually ultimately is going to be uh is going to be lodged right but instead he said I was the best back then then it's been real bad for four years and I'm going to be the best again I mean that was the narrative if you follow the bouncing ball was not here on this planet but it's a brilliant he's a brilliant con man in terms of being able to say it over and over again in a lot of different ways uh and not be corrected you know one of the problems uh in the background here is we no longer have any neutral trusted Arbiters of the truth and without any neutral trusted Arbiters of Truth Donald Trump can say anything wants anybody in that Republican party who says wonderful things about Donald Trump neglecting to say that he is a 12:00 convicted criminal that he orchestrated a coup an attempted coup against the United States that he refused to accept an election outcome that even his own attorney general said was legitimate right he is the writer of this tale of this anti-hero and there isn't so when you say the Arbiters of the truth you mean journalists I mean I feel like there were people there were journalists who really you processed with and through well journalist kronite the Walter I'm old enough to remember Walter kronite uh I'm even old enough to remember some of you may also anybody remember Edward aruro of course well Edward armur brought down essentially Joe McCarthy y you know the last demagogue we had in America serious dangerous demagogue uh carried on the Communist which witch hunts uh but when you have trusted Arbiters of the truth democracy is much more much safer right 13:02 now we are unsafe in part because of that because we don't have but also because people are anxious and they want a strong some people want a strong man to relieve their anxieties and they want others to blame and they want to blame others they want to blame immigrants they want to blame everybody that to do that you know this this this again goes back to Fascism 101 I know in these kind of primitive narratives and it is a primitive narrative about the warrior Chief yeah protecting the assembled group uh there were there were references last night even in Trump's speech to the The Good Wife oh I know he mentioned a couple women one was a waitress and one I forget what exactly it was but it was you know he had to go away for a long time and his wife was cool with it she's a good wife she's a good wife you know it's like seal of approval oh sickening 14:00 well it it's and it's strength versus weakness and male versus feemale I mean it's all these dichotomies that he's reinforcing in but it reinforces each of them reinforces the next I know and he comes off looking if you don't understand any context if there's no truth he comes off looking fairly strong fairly I know so on the one hand it's fairly strong on the other hand I mean the going I just want to you know a diplomat who knows how to give a speech I mean this was just Rambles and well but it it was Rous it was on and off the monitor you could tell when he was on when he was off JD Vance uh we touched on this a little bit Thursday night but I just want to touch on it again I want your view because there were people like JD Vance who had been very very substantial critics of trump never trumpers the N is now gone I feel like it's ever trumpers and and Nikki Haley I mean these people were fierce fierce critics of Donald Trump they appear at this inauguration of or 15:02 this coronation of Donald Trump uh and they just they they couldn't stop saying wonderful things about and worship so what is what is your view what is going on what how do these people what are what's the rationale behind this hypocrisy I mean so I think it's self-preservation I think they want to survive in politics so I think the morals are out the window I guess why survive in politics if you're just going to be undermining democracy I mean what's the point of surviving in a in a in a political environment you're you're destroying well I think they think they won't they'll be saved I mean I think or they have a conscience and they think this is really terrible but I'm doing it anyway I mean is that what's happening well how can you with a conscience say this is really terrible and I'm doing it anyway I mean JD Vance uh I thought initially when he was a severe critic of trump I thought well maybe you know maybe he not as bad as I thought he was 16:01 I mean hillbilly El close was a you know very right-wing book if you read it uh did not well it and haven't seen the movie well I I don't I haven't seen the movie but the theme in the book is that one of the reasons that so many poor people in Appalachia or like his own family were being destroyed is because they had too many handouts yep I mean this country is the most you know our form of capitalism is the most the harshest form of capitalism in the world there I mean handouts people are starving in America we have more people who are sleeping outside who don't have any homes uh people who you know the the rate of child poverty in this country and no savings by the way and Trump kept saying people are having to dip into their savings as though he understands how the economy works but uh just I mean J F I think is not only hypocritical but potentially very very dangerous but what do you think I mean they're just cynical 17:00 Beyond I would like to think that there are some principles there uh maybe they kind of have this means versus ends I've seen it in politics I've seen it among politicians they say and they rationalize to themselves well I'm going to do something that's pretty crummy uh that maybe violates my principles but it's because I need to get the power and if I have the power then I could do good things that are more consistent with my principles but what if the ends aren't good what if the ends are if I have more power then I have more power and then I have more money and then I have more power well there's that's what happens ultimately when you get into these Means versus ends conflicts uh very often the politician forgets what the ends are and it's all politicians yes can we please move to a new topic which is what are the Democrats going to do what is so many people are now how did we segue from forgetful politicians to the Dem yes I understand just wanted you to be sry clear about sorry um but I do I mean 18:03 I I don't know if I can take another minute talking about the RNC and Trump oh this was funny so when you put it on substack that come and watch Heather and I will watch along with you and then we'll all watch it together and it'll be less terrible and the number one comment did you see this was I'd rather get a colonoscopy and then a thousand people harded it did did anybody get a colonoscopy instead of in late night would have been faster it would have been faster and things would have flown yeah exactly but anyway but really truly so what is happening with the Democrats people are coming out and saying a lot of people right a lot of senators tester came out they're not they're not that many but I think it's important to keep in mind that you've got three levels of discussion going on in the Democratic party among Democratic so-called leaders members of Congress uh senators and others uh there is the public statements very few have come out publicly and said I think what do we have how many senators now three I think 19:00 it's three and then we've had you know speaker Pelosi and hakeim Jeff who have said you know maybe he well but it's his decision so there's some off okay so but these public statements are really the least important they may give you a sense of what the underlying reality is but they are just the surface underlying that uh is something much more interesting much more important and that is what people are saying to each other and also even more important what they are saying to people like Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi who in turn are talking to Jo Biden right or the people around him or the people directly around him uh and I think that Biden is you said initially when we start this discussion that he is figuratively and actually literally isolated with and he is getting more and more figuratively isolated um and I've seen this before I I remember it with Bill Clinton with with Monica Lewinsky uh because there's more and more of a pileup and people say 20:02 you have got to leave or you've got to you know do something quite dramatic and then the people who are immediately around the president uh say no you've got to dig in you can't listen to them you've got to be strong you've got to and if you are strong and if you remain strong you will ultimately win y now that was the case with Clinton uh he survived but he was not running for president right the Tipping Point was kind of different I mean it wasn't are you in or are you out well no the Tipping Point unfortunately was uh him confessing essentially on tape very embarrassing for him uh but this Tipping Point unfortunately is coming up in three and a half months and that is the election yeah and uh we I I I think it is time for Democrats uh and I hope it happens within the next week uh to ultimately cut the cord I mean I I've 21:02 been a a Biden loyalist and you've heard me over and over yeah and we will continue to remark on what he was able to get done uh not only what he has able to get done and has been able to get done but I have been arguing that an incumbent president has so much power and there is so much likelihood that an incumbent who's running for reelection will be reelected uh and that's been generally speaking that's been the rule because incumbents have that much power uh and you have here an incumbent president in the form of Joe Biden who has also won an election over this person I know so you know there there are two big reasons if you didn't even pay pay attention to anything else for why you want might want to be in that inner circle saying to Joe Biden just hang hang in there stick it out just hang in there but 22:00 look at the polls now I'm not a pole Watcher I don't believe in the polls but if you just look at the aggregate Heather poll after pole after poll after poll it's not just one and they're using slightly different techniques and they're making up for each other's weaknesses uh these polls are showing in not only nationally but also in swing states that Joe Biden is losing by more and more and more the trend is not in a good direction the trend is terrible uh the big donors are withholding their money from Biden they're saying no more uh and there is almost no place there's almost nowhere Biden could go unless he so uh you know sort of narcissistic unless he has the same traits As Trump and he doesn't have the same traits as trumps As Trump so I think that we will 23:00 see over the next week Biden essentially uh graciously uh dropping out and giving the mantle to KLA Harris interesting okay we will see so he's running the clock I mean I think so too but it's it's also he has covid so he can't do it right now he won't do it right now now I know a lot of you uh disagree you think uh because I I hear from you many of you say Biden should stick it out uh and I was with you I was with you uh but the the weight of the evidence and the polls and the and the stakes in terms of actually losing this election are so huge um as many of you know as many of you saw if you if you didn't know already uh Thursday night uh we just can't risk it I know it um okay should we talk too um about the tech outage that happened happened which floored me 24:00 when I woke up on yesterday morning and it said you know planes are stopping and banks are stopping and you think what is behind what is behind all of what's happening every day that I don't know about it's our financial system our communication system our our transportation systems uh and they are all Linked UP they are linked up through software much of it from Microsoft Microsoft Farms out some of that kind of soft that is defensive to guard against C security y uh and that security system has a bug in it uh and so all around the world this isn't just in the United States all around the world no they had to reboot there was a you know there was an upgrade this is a this is a huge weakness in the system I mean Microsoft has too much power for one thing if if there was any doubt about Microsoft's having too much power this should resolve it so it's a lesson and antitrust and the danger of having so 25:01 much power in one company Consolidated uh but it also uh I think it feeds the same underlying sense of lack of agency lack of power slight paranoia that many people have with regard to this election Politics the economy uh and uh and and trumpism right other people are in control and it's not you anded and when I hear people people people you know tell me all the time that they they think there's a conspiracy uh a conspiracy about here here here here when you hear nothing but conspiracy theories you know that trust has disintegrated to such an extent in the system as a whole uh that it is it's dangerous in terms of preserving democracy right so that's the that's the connective tissue between all of these stories we're talking about today I think you know the the the anointment of 26:01 trump U Biden becoming more and more isolated figuratively and literally uh and Microsoft having so much power that it can just a bug in its in its in one of the companies that it uses to crowd strike which we had never heard of before yesterday and all of a sudden you see but that's that's what I'm getting at know I mean there's so much we don't know and we don't know what we don't know right uh and uh it makes people who are insecure and anxious and that is most people most people in this economy are insecure and anxious makes them even more insecure I know and heightens the anxiety okay well if we have to do live this life it's good that we're in it together with everyone else having coffee well we are are it's a lot these days well it is a lot these days and uh I want to just say again slightly different words first of all Heather thank you you are thank you for inviting 27:00 me well thank you for inviting me and it's it's great to work with you uh it's a source of uh security let's put it that way since one of the issues is security yeah U but I I want to just say something in terms of these dark days and they are dark days if you are if you're Progressive you if you believe in the common good if you believe in social justice if you believe in equal opportunity and equal voting rights uh these are all issues that we are seeing threatened in very fundamental ways uh if not by Trump then indirectly by all the big money in politics what I want to say is that the only and best and really the ultimately the only way to solve this crisis this crisis with regard to our democracy is to be active uh not to fight fight fight uh the other side no to be activist in 28:03 pursuit of these fundamental ideals uh and I know how dark it is and how well how pessimistic some people some of you are uh but I want to urge you to have the faith to make sure that you understand historically you know uh we do get out of these positions these terrible um sort of uh uh Grim situations uh and Heather you know that I sometimes go back to 1968 in terms of the grimmest situation in my in my history uh well we we do survive and maybe sometimes we get stronger because of it so uh be activist uh don't be a don't don't assume that politics is a spectator sport it is not uh and don't lose your 29:00 spirit and lose your faith thank you for saying that it's helpful we'll see you next Saturday [Music]

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