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COMMENTARY THE COFFEE KLATCH ... OCTOBER 5TH 2024 Robert Reich and Heather Lofthouse: Harris Able, Trump Unstable PLAY YOUTUBE VIDEO Original article: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3vb7zAUa7Y Peter Burgess COMMENTARY Peter Burgess
Harris Able, Trump Unstable \| The Coffee Klatch Robert Reich 856K subscribers Premiered 3 hours ago The Coffee Klatch with Robert Reich Kamala Harris demolished Fox News this week, while an increasingly feeble and confused Trump flailed. But with Musk flooding the race with $$$, will he be able to buy the presidency for Trump? See what Heather Lofthouse & I think on the Coffee Klatch. The Coffee Klatch with Robert Reich Robert Reich Transcript 0:00 and it is the Saturday coffee clutch with Heather loft house and yours truly Robert R and Heather what is going on is anything happening in the world or in America always oh dear So today we're going to cover the latest in the race RAC including some reasons to be optimistic two weeks from Tuesday I know 16 days 16 days okay but I think there are I I agree with you I think there are reasons to be optimistic reasons to be optimistic and then we'll cover a couple other things Musk we'll cover I'm sorry I don't feel optimistic about musk I'm not going toot I'm not going to vote for him and then what do we expect over the next two weeks so let's talk about that too okay absolutely what are we looking for well I am feeling optimistic and you say you are feeling optimistic why are you feeling optimistic well kamla Harris was on Fox news this week not a sentence I thought I'd be saying you know regularly and she was fantastic she was I I think actually when they history of 1:00 this campaign is written that Fox news interview with Brett Bear is going to is going to be a major feature because he Brett Bear the interviewer was so antagonistic and so nasty and so trumpy uh and by the way he is the one he's one of the fox hosts who after Fox came out for remember they they announced Arizona was for Biden early and fox viewers were very upset Brett Bear was one of the people who wrote a memo saying we have got to get on the Trump bandwagon as fast as possible so he did and he's been on the Trump bad bandwagon and this interview was a good example of him being as trumpish as he possibly could but KLA Harris how did she do did fabulously so first of all she's so confident do you remember when we were all saying she needs to go on the news shows why isn't she on the news shows so how do we get 2:00 that information out does KLA Harris go on Joe Rogan I mean what is happening well she might go on Fox news for example she here I mean she is she's a viewer of the Saturday coffee clutch I know it yeah right um that would be so sweet and really not a good use of her time um but she's so confident we said why isn't she going on the news and even I was trepidacious you know I thought oh no why isn't she going on the news you know kind of you get in your own in your own head around these things it turns out um but but I mean we have to think back the condensed nature of what she's been going through and if you think about normal campaigns as you know better than I I mean think about she had to get her messaging down she had to feel comfortable testing I mean if you're actually doing testing think about all the months of testing that goes in she had to get all of her stuff together in a matter of weeks well the concern excuse me for the concern had been that she had been too cautious and she had not been wanting to go on any 3:00 place where she would be kind of tested in ways that she was not ready for at your point uh but by going on Fox and by responding so powerfully uh to Brett Bear I think she established her creds in ways that are far beyond what that mere interview was all about let's take a look at a clip I heard about that they were saying I was like threatening I'm not threatening anybody they're the ones doing their threatening they do phony invest inations I've been investigated more than alons Capone he was the greatest no it's true but think of it it's called weaponization of government it's a terrible thing so Brett I I'm sorry and with all due respect that clip was not what he has been saying about the Enemy Within that he has repeated when he's speaking about the American people that's not what you just showed he was asked about that no that's not what you just showed in all fairness and respect that was the question that we asked him you didn't show that and 4:00 here's the bottom line he has repeated it many times and you and I both know that and you and I both know that he has talked about turning the American Military on the American people he has talked about going after people who are engaged in peaceful protest he has talked about locking people up because they disagree with him this is a democracy and in in a democracy the president of the United States in the United States of America should be willing to to be able to handle criticism without saying he'd lock people up for doing it and this is what is at stake which is why you have someone like the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff saying what Mark Millie has said about Donald Trump being a threat to the United States of America good I mean not only tough words but tough words that really did in a very succinct way summarize what the 5:00 campaign is about yes I know she's gotten her sound bit so good she's very confident not overly so and of course the criticisms said you know the Critics on the Maga side of it all said oh she's just angry which is just an old Trope you know for women and women of color and black women and I think you know who's angry I mean I do you think that's anger that's not anger that she was firm right and clear uh and strong uh and sometimes uh when a woman is firm and clear and strong they say she's angry uh but no there was not anger and also the canned laughter in the background of the Trump clip I can't stand all the people laughing at his jokes I can't stand it I'm so tired of him and she also said this in this interview everyone is exhausted and I think that's I'm so tired of him dominating our social feeds and our news and our conversations and our coffee clotch well I'm tired of it too so let's let's move let's talk about 6:02 how he's in Decline but but here let's let's let's talk about uh in terms of the early voting this is another reason to be optimistic in Georgia 328,000 people aord a record in terms of early voting first and second day this past week uh and although we can't be sure they're all for kaml Harris there's a lot of reason to believe that they are we have had early voting before never in this number and most of the people who were voting in Georgia early voters were women again no guarantee that it's kamla Harris but very likely kamla Harris oh it's that was fantastic news the other thing I like to do is read the analyses of Tik Tok I like to stay off the platform and re let other people do that and fill me in so what we learned this week is that Trump appears a lot on that platform he appears everywhere it's his favorite thing to appear places but his stuff is largely negative the videos 7:01 that are showing up that include him are largely negative whereas kamla Harris's are largely positive and the winning messages for the Dems on that platform it seems are abortion is first and foremost well what's interesting about that platform Heather you know more about it than I do uh but it's not paid I mean much of what is there is because people have posted voluntarily they have posted organic organic so this is the most democratic small D platform there is in terms of major they're going to use that sand bite okay sorry but but it but it's true and it it is indicative of how much enthusiasm there is for her particularly in these last weeks now let's ju suppose while she's going up Trump is going down what have you seen of him this week well he is losing it in a in a 8:02 very big way uh I've looked uh it's been painful but every time he's had a public appearance I've been looking at it and making notes uh he is less coherent than ever before he goes off on tangents and can never get back to where he was originally now I say as a 78 year old person I understand it but he's running for president and I'm not um uh but it's beyond that he's been saying things that utterly bizarre uh I mean the quote we were just talking about I'm going to you know the people who are my opponents those people ought to be you know the military ought to be out there uh strongly implying that that's what he would do with his opponents he's already talked about revenge in this campaign uh and uh the the combination you get the lack of coherence uh the the inability to really stay on message the minute he 9:01 has any any capacity to go beyond what is on that particular uh you know sheet that he's supposed to be reading from uh he is and reveals himself to be utterly uh unstable and the word unstable is really the word that kamla Harris keeps on using about him in these final weeks unstable yep so I mean is this I mean I know you're not a physician or that kind of thing but is this you know do we think it's mental decline do we think it's narcissism a narcissistic tantrum malignant narcissism I I mean I'm a physician to the extent that I know you recognize that i' you know I've been around politicians for many years and the malignant narcissism what happens is it eats your brain and finally you can't 10:00 speak I mean but really I mean this feels like a tantrum because he is losing this is not a man with confidence this is not and you know this because you taught me leadership and I took your class on leadership but a lead minus by the way yeah here we go again so but a leader does not has to take criticism every leader if you're you're not taking risks you're not doing your job if you're not criticized by people and people aren't mad at you and she is willing to take criticism you know it's wild to watch the two of them and I do feel like I'm in this fog but that's what he does that on purpose but but the two of them again uh we knew those of us who have known about her or followed her for years uh know that she is this capable and those of us who have been watching and suffering Donald Trump for years know he is losing it uh and he's unhinged but he's becoming so much more unhinged and she is revealing so much more of her strength and that's the issue that's the 11:01 Divergence that's occurring in these last weeks of the campaign and this is really the source of my optimism well and the way they talk about the economy I mean did you hear him describe Jerome Powell in the following way I have it written there it's the greatest job in government the head of to be the head of the Federal Reserve you show up to the office once a month and you say let's see flip a coin and everybody talks about you like you're a God see that's he Reveals His malignant narcissis he wants everybody to talk about him right Trump as if he's a God uh but on the economy he's Looney he's he is absolutely Looney Tunes I mean he keeps on saying tariffs are the answer to everything uh when we know I mean it's economics 101 it's it's economics taught in grade school you put up a tariff and who pays for that tariff the people who are buying whatever you are putting a tariff on against uh it's also so that he keeps on criticizing the economy uh 12:03 there is a point at which the public stops believing him now there's still many people who are suffering in this economy Heather don't get me wrong uh but the economy is better overall in terms of jobs and wages adjusted for inflation inflation itself uh and all of the other India of the economy better now than it has been in almost any time in my living memory and that goes back some years with regard to the economy uh so the argument one of the major arguments under that that underlies the Trump campaign that somehow KLA Harris is responsible for a bad economy or Jerome Powell in the FED doesn't hold any water and people are beginning to understand that yeah did you see the cover of the latest Economist it says we're the Envy of the world our 13:00 economy well in many ways I think we are now you can't tell voters who are unhappy of course that they are better off than they feel that they are of course not uh but this is a process of osmosis people gradually understand that they have more uh they they just have more capacity to buy they have they their jobs are paying better uh inflation is coming down all of these work toward the benefit of most people right I also one other thing on the optimism list I mean we can't stop here is um the Republicans who are endorsing kamla Harris they keep coming out John McCain's son and then on the other side we have Trump constantly criticizing John McCain and misrepresenting what has happened before as it relates to the Affordable Care Act and I just think it's it's so I mean it gives me hope to see that people are putting as KLA Harris says country above party and I 14:00 begin to in the Trump even in the Trump Town Halls uh people are saying well wait a minute uh I'm a little bit worried about you Mr Trump sir former president because you know a lot of people who worked for you say that they are against you yeah uh how how can that be right and he comes off with these kind of answers well they're lousy people or I fired them or but but it's starting to get get to people it's starting to get to Trump supporters uh that he is a lousy manager that he's not a businessman uh that he has uh dangerous impulses and a lot of people who most people who worked for him don't support him now yeah and he's weak and then of course did you see on Univision this week it was so great the audience was not having his answers let's look they thought the election was a rigged election and that's why they came Ashley babbett was killed nobody was killed uh 15:00 there were no guns down there but that was a day of love from the standpoint of the millions it's like hundreds of thousands a day of love I mean hello no I can't I mean I mean this is you get this is where you get to the Tipping Point of looniness people just begin to say this is I can't I can't deal with this this is crazy and then we have musk putting 75 million into Trump's campaign well into his pack which we can talk about citizens united well citizens united uh that uh 2010 case there were some of us who predicted that this would open the floodgates to corporate money and individual money in terms of how McCutchen interpreted citizens united also can I just you have argued before The Supreme Court so this is a pleasure to be talking to you about this thank you and you pleasure to be talking to you about but at the beginning of the citizens united night mayor there was the Buckley versus 16:01 Vallejo case and you were repping the United States well I didn't represent the United States in that particular case but I was there at the time okay representing the United States U and I remember aot a lot of discussion in the solicitor General's office in the Justice Department uh about the case in the sense that this was the first case taking on campaign Finance laws uh and uh the justice department ultimately came out against the position of Buckley James Buckley a a senator that was one of the people who were taking the the law on U but those of us and this goes way back to what 199 four this this is this this actually the case Buckley versus Leo is from the 70s but there were a series of cases all the way up uh and all of these cases kept on opening more and more the door 17:01 to big money on the assumption that a money is speech a very questionable proposition but the Supreme Court kept on buying it under the First Amendment and secondly the corporations are people under the First Amendment uh and both of those ideas once they get into Supreme Court uh logic once the the Supreme Court begins to move in that direction there are enough conservative justices uh that kind of open that door wider and wider and that's what happened uh the net result is yes you have people like Elon Musk can you imagine putting in $75 million into a campaign it turns out I can't imagine that I mean for a number of reasons it's worse than that I mean there are three people three billionaires in the last 3 months who together have put in $220 million into the Trump camp campaign and that does 18:00 not even include Tim Millan right uh who is the grandson of Andrew Millan who was the treasury Secretary of Herbert Hoover uh and got a lot of the tax uh taxes removed that allow intergenerational transfer of wealth so in a way Tim melon is putting huge amounts of money into the Trump campaign that came from his grandfather Andrew melan the Secretary of the Treasury and the Rober Baron I know and the other two are Miriam Adon is that Mar ad Marian and then um and also the Uline packaging magnate but this hearkens back to the Gilded Age which is something you often connect these dots for us all but so 96 not 1996 1896 this is reminiscent of and it was McKinley who had gotten all this money and in today's dollars it would have been $3 billion 19:00 there the parallels are astounding McKinley's uh you know his the person he was relying on to gather all this money and make these deals and they were deals right was a a man named Mark Hannah and Mark Hannah will go down in history as the first real political operative uh and uh yeah the parallels between the 1890s uh the first Gilded Age with robber barons who were who basically monopolizing industry keeping wages down uh firing people for whatever whim uh and widening the gap between the rich and the poor we are now in the second guilded age uh and you can see the same patterns emerge yep yep I just had a thought which is did you ever watch Who Wants To Be A Millionaire did you ever see that show and remember the phone of friends you so you had you were able to dial a friend it was one of your you know help me options you have been you 20:00 you have some good statistics and some good knowledge in your head would you have been one of my phona friends if I had been on the show oh of course are you kidding can you how can you even ask called you on certain political economic question I would have called you too really I would have been your phone a friend that's ridiculous a friend okay I would have like done something when you called can we talk about you have said with the last two weeks before an election that is the time of closing Arguments for campaigns now kamla Harris is a pro utor so something tells me she's going to be good at the closing argument but what does that mean and what are you looking for well the this is a a kind of a a tradition that has grown up since the 50s 60s where in the last two weeks the press the media understands that a candidate is basically saying to the public this is what I represent this is my this is the reason for voting for me now sometimes it's explicit uh I mean Donald Donald Trump is going to have a a big rally at 21:00 Madison Square Garden in which his uh fascistic Tendencies are all going to be on display I mean it's kind of a in a way it it it it mirrors a rally at Madison Square Garden that occurred in February of 19 uh let's see it was 1939 uh and that was a basically a Nazi rally uh and the headline there in 1939 was uh America First o oo uh but uh so I think that that the closing argument in effect for Donald Trump is we need a strong man we need a thug uh America has to keep out all of the Vermin from the rest of the world and also women really need to rely on him for our IVF and everything else and men should be dominant I mean this is these are these are all very much fascist them directly from the 22:00 1930s uh and I think that kamla Harris's closing argument is fundamentally different it's that I am strong and capable and powerful and I will care about you I'm not like him who cares about him I care about you and I'm going to make your life better right and I think she's saying it and I think she's showing it and those two things are very important exactly very important but but but just getting back to the thug I mean I hear it uh from people uh around the country all the time uh people say well don't we need a thug our own Thug Like Donald Trump because there's so many thugs around the world there's there's Putin and there's uh even Netanyahu in a way anti-democracy Thug um and uh don't we need our own Thug uh and and this is the argument that strong men make and have made from 23:01 the 1930s certainly on uh and that is that uh a country needs if it's going to survive it needs the leadership of a strongman uh but we know what happened in the 1930s I mean it wasn't just the oppression but it was the leadup to Nazism and World War II right and that message works with people who are feeling less than in terms of their wallet and in terms of their spirits and if they feel that they've uh certainly a status deprivation or they've declined in terms of uh what they expected they would be they played by the rules they've worked hard and the American dream has not become apparent to them uh so I think that it's very important to understand that a lot of the Trump followers a lot of the reason we have trumpism is not because of trump per se it's because of 40 years of uh of stagnant incomes for many 24:01 people many people actually on a downward escalator who expected to be on an upward escalator and this is something we're going to have to deal with Heather I mean regardless oh in the future I mean even if KLA Harris please God wins uh we are still going to have to deal with the fact that something like 46% or 45% of Americans uh have given up on the country right and you mentioned Netanyahu in a big uh news worthy event this week was the leader of Hamas sinir was killed he was the architect of October 7 and this has hopefully right triggered kamla Harris and others to be knocking on the door of Netanyahu saying okay now what and and Biden's already apparently done that I mean there is now an opportunity that did not exist before because sinir is gone right but it kind 25:01 of existed it existed before but well it existed before but now it is right there in front of nah you say hello you said we couldn't do anything but this man is now gone uh you can now have a ceasefire you can move to a two-state solution uh but I think unfortunately Netanyahu wants the war to go on I mean he needs it for his own political standing he needs it to avoid jail I I mean there is a corresponding reality in the United States I feel like self-gain compared to being pro- democracy Yeah by these leaders that way so you this reminds me of and my favorite segment each week is the torture Bob oh embarass me segment yeah the embarrass you segment I'm glad it's now become officially a segment it is weekly in fact I think we should do it a couple times a week um but so this is a goodie so you did uh debate and I think you technically won even um in 26:01 2007 and you talked about authoritarian populism and what it can turn into can we take a look I guess so you have no option I don't care now there is in history two different forms of populism one I will call authoritarian that is those are the demagogues that want to channel that anger and anxiety and fear uh and channel it toward scapegoats and want to blame foreign ERS or immigrants or minority groups and we've seen in history this is nothing new the tragedy of what happened 7080 90 years ago in Europe is still within at least living memory or at least the minds of many of us but the alternative to that is genuine reform you reform your political and economic system you do invest in people you make equal opportunity a reality and that's the only alternative when people are stressed another words it really is a choice between 27:00 authoritarian populism or reform populism and that's what we face right now in the United States well that's pretty yeah Artic feel free to did you see did you see new K I saw new kingri and Laura Ingram so that's who you were up against and you won the debate I won that's and this but I mean scary this is eight years later no well eight years after Trump but that was from when 2016 yeah eight years later and we're still exactly this is Bob being Prussian which is not my favorite actually to see how psychic you were and that not much has changed uh well I think the choice is still very similar that is it's is either authoritarian populism uh which is very close to Fascism and it's exactly what Trump is pedling uh or it's fundamental reform of the system which also requires uh utilizing the dissatisfaction uh the anti-establishment feelings that people 28:01 have but channeling them into something that is really going to help most people and I think K Harris will do that me too and I'm glad she's not using the term reform populism I'm not sure that's my favorite messaging of the day I'm not a politician have you noticed I won the debate who won theate I did I did listen uh thank you once again Heather your optimism your energy is so great I'm so pumped up it's genuine we're a little bit more than two weeks before the election of the of our time of our era maybe the last election if the wrong person gets in um and I hear from many of you out there uh you are worried obviously you're worried some of you are depressed you tell me and I understand that completely but I hope that we are uh giving you a little reason to be upbeat as we go into these very difficult final two weeks of this 29:02 campaign work very hard if you are not working for kamla Harris already please do uh if you are working for Donald Trump stop whatever you're doing uh but uh quite seriously keep the faith uh and maintain your faith in the future of this country thanks [Music]

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