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COMMENTARY THE COFFEE KLATCH ... NOVEMBER 9TH 2024 Robert Reich, Heather Lofthouse and Michael-Lahanas-Calderón What do we do now? PLAY YOUTUBE VIDEO Original article: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPWr_UKxd60 Peter Burgess COMMENTARY I am flumoxed ... the image refuses to show on my computer. It makes no logical sense that I can identify !!!!!!!!!! Eventually I got the image to display. It has taken me a VERY long time to get the 'logic' to work. Probably my fault ... but I still have no idea why it didn't work and then by magid works again! This is the first 'Koffee Klatch' ... primarily Robert Reich and Heather Lofthouse ... since the November 5th Election which was won by Donald Trump in something of a surprise result. Kamala Harris seemed to be in a winning mode after taking over the top spot on the Democrat ticket from President Biden several weeks before. There will be a lot of analysis of this reversal of fortune, as well as a lot of panic ... much of which is justified. I am reminded of Ronald Reagan who got the reputation as 'the great communicator'. Back then, my family was friendly with Peggy Noonan who was on the Reagan Whire House communications team and I learned something of the art of communication in the modern era. I cannot do effective communication the way Peggy Noonan as a speech writer was able to do it ... but I learned that effective communication is much more an art than solid reality. But I also learned that this 'art' is as dangerous as it is useful. 'Smoke and mirrors' always comes to mind when I look at the Reagan policy propositions ... and more broadly the policies advocated by the GOP since the early 1980s. The image of 'Trickle Down' from the Reagan era is about as phony as it gets! Forty years on there has been a huge flow of US wealth from the working middle class to those at the 'top of the pyramid'. Reagan enabled this, and the GOP has embraced it for all this time. It has survived multiple crises and remains the primary modus operandi of the GOP. The Democrats in positions of political power have done rather little to counter the GOP driven concentration of financial wealth. This failure has been going on for more than four decades until quite recently. It is worth remembering that there was a huge economic crisis in the USA at the end of the Bush 47 administration in 2008 that Obama had to handle in the first months of his administration. Obama handed over a strong US economy to Donald Trump in 2016 but a combination of Trump and GOP policy choices and Covid ended up with an economic crisis and President Biden being elected. Biden handled the economic disaster inherited from the Trump administration rather well ... and the result has been a remarkable economic recovery, and a massive improvement in US economic prospects for a long time to come. But Biden is not a great communicator. Hardly anyone understands what Biden's administration has accomplished and set in motion. Biden's administration has orchestrated one of the biggest economic recoveries in history ... yet few people know about it. Why is this? Part of this is Biden ... but not by any means all. A big part is what I refer to as the 'media agenda'. In the USA, the media has morphed into a messaging machine for a big variety of agendas many of which are good for the sender and bad for everyone else. My impression is that in modern America, there is really no 'independent media', there is only a media that has 1001 (a thousant and one) self-serving agendas. The idea that 'one can trust the media' is simply not in play on the modern media landscape! Something else is going on that ought to be in the middle of serious socio-political analysis but is mainly missing. How come the New York stock market has been at record levels for a very long time ... say around three years? The modern American economy seems to be 'doing good' for the wealthy investor community at the same time most everyone else feels that the economy is a problem with consumer food prices, gasoline and everything else going up while wages are pretty much stagnant. The fact that inequality has reached record levels and most wealth accumulation has gone to the 'top' is not a subject of polite ... or any other ... conversation. To her credit Kamala Harris started to talk about this in her election campaign ... and I think that it might have cost her the election, but this is my thinking and not much talked about by others yet! Listening at the Kofee Klutch in the series since the results of the election became known, I sense that Robert Reich and Heather Lofthouse really don't know what to say. The outcome of the election is a disaster ... and now it has happened and we have to handle it! I certainly do not know what the next moves should be. It is pretty clear that Trump won the election getting the most votes ... but Kamala Harris got almost as many. It is a matter of 1%, or 2% or 3% but cerainly not losing by a landslide. I may not be happy ... but I am determined! Peter Burgess
What do we do now? \| The Coffee Klatch with Robert Reich Robert Reich Premiered Nov 9, 2024 912K subscribers ... 259,073 views ... 14K likes The Coffee Klatch with Robert Reich Friends, Like many of you, for the last several days I’ve been wrestling with grief, fear, and anger. On today’s Klatch, Heather, Michael, and I take a deep dive into what happened and why. We also ask: What do we do now? I don't have all the answers, but I believe Heather, Michael, and I are at least asking the right questions. We’re eager to have your thoughts as well. Please grab a cuppa, pull up a chair, take our poll (if you wish), and join in the conversation. Transcript 0:00 and it is the Saturday coffee clutch with Heather loft house and also our friend and colleague Michael Lanes Calderon uh something happened this week oh did it what can we talk about what happened and uh each of you from your own generational perspective so I want to talk about what happened and then what the big lesson is right what what the big takeaway is and what do we do next okay great okay three topics what happened Michael do you want to go first do I um not really but I will I think that the Democrats lost the presidency and the Republicans took the Senate and as of this moment it's looking likely that the Republicans will take the house as well but that is still technically up in the air so it's a trifecta it isely if you include the Supreme Court it's a qu what is it a quad quador Quadra nightmare what happens now I mean a lot of people are saying to themselves particularly people who are Democrats and progressives 1:01 they're saying you know what the excuse my language go what what what are we what are we supposed to do now and I agree with those feelings and I have them too and I have a lot of feelings going up and down as I'm sure you all do as well but I don't I want to is the is reality really upside down and let's discuss that cuz I don't want everyone to overcorrect in a way that's overcorrecting it sounds like you think that it was not as much of a route as just as a flounce as it looks well shellacking yeah I mean it was horrific let's be really clear it was we I think a lot of people are surprised except some of the pollsters let's not go there um but I just don't want our reaction to be I want it to be a right-sized strategic reaction I read I read over and over again this is a fundamental historic realignment I don't believe it do you Michael uh I don't think so I 2:04 what the stats say well I mean if you look at the stats certainly there was a lot more ticket splitting than I think has happened in previous elections or at least in the way that people usually expect it you had a lot of people voting for Democrats down the ballot who did not vote for Democrats at the top of the ballot so this is why in all of the Swing states with the exception of Pennsylvania the Democrat won the senate race so this isn't the clearcut rep quote unquote of the democratic party that I think Republicans want it to be but it still is a rejection of the democratic party as we know it in this moment what is it 100,000 votes is across three swing States yeah I mean similarly tight margins to 2020 when Biden won in the blue wall states of wish Michigan Wisconsin Michigan and Pennsylvania Mig is a good whole thing over but let's let's just I mean if if you're right Michael and Heather what you're saying is that we by a hair put 3:02 him in in 2016 by a hair took him out and put Biden in and by a hair put him back in Trump in 2024 and we're dealing with the same tiny margins and it's we it's the same American people who did it every time there's no fundamental change is that what you think I don't think it's quite so cut and dry but on average yes yeah when the numbers are fully in pardon uh because as as some people know I don't think most people know but California takes a very long time to count its votes so the popular vote may look like a wide margin right now between Harris and Trump but as those votes come in it's going to look Tighter and Tighter so why and how did Trump win after losing Last Time by a hair or by more than a hair however you want to slice it and also people know how much of a loome horrible despicable character he is how could America vote him back in after 4:01 knowing that after knowing that unlike the first time he is a criminal felon he has been convicted on 34 counts he has twice been actually impeached uh he has found to be in a Civil Trial a sexual harasser and the judge corrected that and said no he actually raped this woman uh we know much more about him than the public knew in 2016 and yet not withstanding all of this he's back in but I have to think that most Republicans I have to think it's most a lot of Republicans who voted for him don't like him it's not about liking it's not about respecting his moral character now if you're someone who ignores that that's a different conversation cuz it's but people are anxious they are miserable they are scared I would say that I imagine many people it's not that one party is the party of Hope and the other one isn't I think everyone is hoping for things to be better and they looked at him and they said I'm going to put my money on that guy well they did obviously but I 5:05 thought KLA Harris ran I mean she only had about 105 days I mean this is the most truncated campaign you can imagine I thought she did a damn good job in those 105 days I mean her her debate performance was the best I've ever seen anybody uh the Democratic Convention could have been a disaster it was actually beautifully done relative to the Republican convention which which was a hate Fest uh and then you also had the final message on the mall she did a wonderful job on the ellipse Donald Trump did a Despicable and the Republicans did a disgusting show in Madison Square Garden but it worked well why did it work why did it work is it because there's so much deep-seated misogyny and anger among young men especially we see we saw a shift of Latino young men what's the story with latino young men young man Latino young 6:04 man what's the story with latino young men well I think as with most demographics it's complicated and the Latino demographic in particular is not a monolith a sentence we hear a lot there are a number of nationalities who have very particular ideas about what they want from policy and like so many other voters particularly workingclass Latinos their primary concern is the economy and I think we saw people say that over and over again in exit polls and in interviews that they remember a version of the economy from four years ago whatever our feelings may be about it that to them felt better and Democrats I mean in my opinion didn't communicate effectively enough how they would improve upon what has happened in the last four years well let's talk about the economy let's drill deep into this notion of the economy I agree with you I think the economy was number one I think it has been number one it's been number one for 40 years that's what people vote on more than anything else 7:01 uh but why didn't people feel that kamla Harris and the Biden Administration did the kind of job that we know they did I mean they did a very very good job on the economy but most people didn't feel that that's it it's feelings why didn't they feel it I know well so I mean I was reading um so KLA Harris I always felt like she nailed all her speeches and she did but she didn't look into the camera in the way that Donald Trump did somehow convince VC inly and say I see you I hear you and I'm going to make your life better she was holding hands with a lot of celebrities and I think people thought that's not you are an elitist right or wrong and that's I don't feel as motivated by you I feel motivated by the nightmare well let's this is important because although the economy in objective terms is good this Elite versus non- Elite establishment versus non-establishment college graduate versus non- col seems to be a 8:05 huge issue a huge framing factor in all of this do you agree I agree and I think you even you both were talking about this on this very podcast not a few weeks ago you were expressing concern that the Harris campaign was being seen as the establishment from left to right with celebrities and so on when you get the celebrities and you get you know uh the chenies and Dick Cheney dick Cheney I I was even asking myself do I want to vote for somebody who's been endorsed by Dick Cheney I did but but Republicans didn't if you look at the numbers 96% of registered Republicans voted for Trump this time and last time in 20120 and most of them again were concentrated in the non-college male sector of all of these different ways of dividing up the electorate so what is it about particularly non- colge particularly the 9:02 anti-establishment vote why did it go for Trump Why didn't it go is it is it just uh you know sexism uh you know misogyny uh racism no that's part of it but that's it's not just that well i' add I mean as just a data wrinkle for all of the narratives that people are going to be pedaling in the next couple of weeks that I mean we are in the middle of a global anti-incumbent Trend governments across the world have lost vote share in each of the elections that they've participated in and often lost so the Harris campaign was fighting against very strong headwinds mostly because of the pandemic and inflation that people remember that maybe they just couldn't swim against entirely but Al it's also around the world it's also immigration uh and the question you're saying I mean you you you describe it as anti-incumbent could it be described as anti-establishment anti- Elite is there kind of a ground 10:00 swell in the United States and elsewhere against the forces that seem to have power MH it is but I have a problem with the discrepancy between reality and messaging so Biden and the Biden Administration and Biden Harris were incredibly Pro workingclass policy-wise I mean you cannot deny it and we did the soft Landing even though inflation was incredibly high he showed up and shook hands with union members on on on picket lines that had never been done before there were the child tax credit I mean so infrastructure anti trust anti Monopoly Big Time antitrust I mean all these things did happen it was very Pro working class as far as a government goes but people didn't feel it particularly again the non-oled working class and Latino men and even a lot of black men started moving toward the Republicans so it's messaging around the presidential campaign is it messaging 11:02 the entire time Biden was in office to and now we have to look forward and think about this for the midterms I mean it's just a constant message Gap well let's let's hold off on what where we go in the future but but let's just focus on this if it is a wave of anti-establishment anger what then what should the Democrats do what should the Democrats have done also you called this 30 years ago can we just can we watch exactly 30 years ago exactly almost yeah let's watch my friends we are on the way to becoming a two tiered Society composed of a few winners at a larger group of Americans Left Behind whose anger and whose disillusionment is easily manipulated once unbottled Mass resentment can poison the the very fabric of society the moral Integrity of a society replacing 12:04 ambition With Envy replacing tolerance with hate today the targets of that rage and we see it around us you can only read the daily paper you don't have far to look today the targets of those ra that rage are immigrants and Welfare mothers and government officials and gays and an ill find counterculture but as the middle class continues to erode who will be the targets tomorrow they didn't follow my Direction they didn't listen and your messaging was good I've been I've been saying the same thing for 30 years and it's it's 30 years exactly this month November 22nd well thank you very much for recognizing that I know but really okay so if that's the messaging Gap why haven't they hold and then change the message well the easiest answer is because the Democrats are dependent on the same money that the 13:07 Republicans are they drink at the same trough they're not going to bite the hands that feed them and that message is very much about uh you know the distortions in our system that come about because you have huge money when I said this in 1994 we hadn't got nearly to the huge money we have now but huge money that is in control of the system and that is actually distorting the system in favor of and rigging the system in favor of the people at the top and against average working people you weren't even born when he did that speech were you uh no I was not no but I knew you were coming along Michael you were hopeful about that well and I mean you were you were born were you around yeah of course I never heard from you I never heard from you I a little note I was playing basketball it was my junior year in high school to to bring it back for a second I think the establishment Point continues to be interesting to me as it relates to Trump specifically because in 14:04 again I've been reading a lot of these postmortem and interviews with voters and even among you know the well in any case Andy Kim who is first korean-american elected to the Senate from New Jersey um was talking earlier this week about how he talked to a lot of trump voters after 2016 and after 2020 and what he was hearing over and over again is even after 2020 they did not view him as an establishment figure even though he had been president because the establishment continued to reject him and go after him or whatever you want to say and I think that continued through 2024 like the average person who votes only in presidential elections the low propensity voters as the statisticians might call them they see Trump the businessman they see Trump the Renegade Trump the they going after me and they're trying to get me over and and he was never fully accepted so he could run on being anti-establishment despite being the epitome of the established interests in fact every time he outraged The Establishment and outraged the New York Times and the Washington Post they he got more votes every time people you know editorial 15:05 writers and commentaries people who are on MSNBC or wherever would say I can't believe a president of the United States would do this and say this or a former president of the United States people thought he is maybe on my side that's also the psychology of conflict like lowercase C I mean people are kind of it's reality TV he's from reality TV and you get that dopamine hits and you're like I can't believe the heal right yeah we're stuck in this cycle where it's like I mean it can't can't he's doing it again so therefore but if he's doing it again and again and he's outraging the establishment and I feel that I am not part of the establishment and I resent the establishment and I feel like the establishment has demeaned me and taken my status away taken my jobs away I'm going to say well he's my man I know so then how do Democrats run as the establishment candidates forthcoming or 16:01 how could they have this year well it's interesting interesting you ask because in 2015 before Donald Trump really was a power uh I was out in the Midwest and I was also in Missouri Missouri wow and uh North and South Carolina I was doing kind of fieldwork for a book I was reading at the writing at the time doing uh groups kind of focus groups and I would ask people who do you find attractive for president now this is 2015 this is a time when the Democrats had all but decided that it was going to be Hillary Clinton and it was going to be Jeb Bush remember those days remember Jeb and people would say back to me all across the country you workingclass people but multi-racial it didn't matter uh whether women or men they said we like two people Bernie s ERS and Donald 17:01 Trump and I said and and many times the same person would say Bernie Sanders andd I said why because they're not politicians and they are authentic and they are outside the system and they will shake the system up shaking the system up being authentic being outside the system not being career politicians were the most important things on people's minds and I think that is the exactly what's Contin authentic self is horrendous it's like but kudos for being authentic but if you are horrendous and you again if you're horrendous and you make the establishment crazy maybe that's what is attractive you know I don't think most people in this country who voted for Donald Trump are are bigoted in terms of being you know racist and sexist I don't think most of I don't think that was attractive to most people I think most people said despite the fact he's pretty aw I'll vote for him because he is he's 18:02 he's on my side yeah but even that is a problem I mean even if you know benevolent sexism is still sexism right I mean you can't just be I don't know it is and I'm a privileged white woman who lives in California right so I have it easy but I agree that we have to I don't want to demonize everyone who voted for because that that's exactly the opposite of I'm saying I know I know it's the opposite of what you're saying think this is so critical because I think in this potential overcorrection with all these feelings which are Justified we have to be so careful about where we're P placing the blame well remember an explanation is not a justification Y and so what we're trying to do is explain Y and I think the most powerful explanation is and consistent explanation is this anti-establishment huge huge feeling that comes up from 40 Years of stagnant wages and like the game is rigged and it is rigged and 19:02 could I ask a question then because I feel like I the discourse right now is Democrats are going after each other and I think that lots of people in the Democratic Universe are saying well we tried all of these pro-worker policies and they turned against us we should just throw it in the garbage bin but if I'm hearing what you're saying and what you've written on substack and elsewhere it's absolutely the opposite right you can't give up on this because it's fighting against decades Decades of this well anti-worker sentiment movement policies politics all of it and it's not going to be fixed in one term right yeah Michael I was part of an Administration I was very proud to be part of the Clinton Administration I was a Cabinet member of the Clinton Administration but that was an Administration that embraced NAFTA MH and Chinese Ascension to the World Trade Organization and deregulated Wall Street got rid of the uh you know the the the the the basic basic 1930s acts that 20:02 would have separated and did separate investment from Commercial Banking said to Wall Street go ahead do whatever you want and and and put antitrust and monopolization on the back burner and said big companies you want to merge go ahead I mean and and did not actually move toward labor law change and reform of A Sort that would make it easier for people to unionize and so in 19 you know in 1950s 35% of the private sector Workforce was in a union now it's 6% you see workers have no power so obviously the working class is going to go with somebody who is anti-establishment and looks like he's just pissing off everybody who is Rich and Famous and notable and and may I may I toss a data wrinkle into that point I think it still supports it but I found it really fascinating that they were 21:01 saying or statisticians and pollsters were saying Harris did better with Union voters union workers than Joe Biden Joe Scranton Joe Biden did partly I assume and part because of the policies that they've passed in the last four years but it didn't make enough of a difference because how what percentage of the working population is in a union it's tiny and it couldn't counteract the fact that you have a lot of other workingclass people who did not necessarily in their eyes directly benefit from that where they couldn't see it because it hasn't happened yet so what about all the people who are now from Central Casting from centrus casting centrus casting who are saying H what are we gonna okay here go what are we doing in 2028 it's got to be Gavin Newsome it's go to I mean I'm people are just in this gripping so tight and they're like we got to move to the center I mean how is that the takeaway the Democrats always every time they lose I mean this is what was 1994 the great loss of the house and the senate in 1994 they said oh we have to move to the center there is no Center what does a center mean and if you're particularly if you're dealing with fascism on one side and democracy on the other side do 22:05 you want to compromise is that a center is there a workable Center between Fascism and democracy no there's no you what you have to do is you've got to be on the side of most working people 90% of Americans have lost job security the median wage of the bottom 90% over the past 40 years has increased 15% in real terms of justed for inflation Wall Street has done wonderfully well CEOs CEO Pay used to be when I you know in the 60s and 70s when I first looked it was 20 times the average worker then it became 50 times the average worker and then CEO pay right now is 320 times the average worker so why didn't kamla Harris say that Ah that's the question da da D why didn't she say 23:00 that why did she move actually Joe Biden came up with a pretty good tax plan to start you know raising taxes on capital gains she moved in the direction of the center she moved against that and she had sergus like Mark cubin out there saying if she tries to tax unrealized capital gains or this or that I would I would campaign against her of course she's not going to do this she had billionaire surrogates who were saying let's get rid of Lena KH at the Federal Trade Commission because she's too aggressive on antitrust this is the Harris campaign not the we're not talking about with the the Trump campaign we're talking about the Harris campaign so her big leanin on populist economics was I am going to stop price gouging for groceries I mean I heard her say that a number of times but in terms of messaging does anyone know what price gouging for groceries really I mean I don't like that it sounds like you're gouging groceries really it's like I'm going to lower prices for you 24:01 because you are hurting and there are people who are taking the money from you I mean that's your point that the narrative has to be so the narrative has got to be clear big corporations have huge power in our society economically and politically and economically they have kept up their margins their profit margins and they've kept their prices up and very wealthy people like say Elon Musk have huge political power is there any question anymore about that and what you have got to do is campaign on the side of average working people not on the side of the big corporations and the wealthy I think we can't underestimate to the pandemic it's not being talked about as much as I would think I feel like if we look back you know assuming we all live for more thousands of more decades the pandemic was so isolating for so many people financially but also it allowed the internet to just grow and 25:02 all of these micro networks online and these parasocial relationships all of it kind of started and we cannot I mean the information system is broken but we are fighting something very big we are fighting a disinformation system and people who are wedged into their Corners I mean people are loner than they ever have been and the sense of community how do we bring that back cuz I think that will help Dems as well Heather don't you think that that question and the answer to that question is part of what we're talking about right now that is people are lonely and fragmented and fractured and they are susceptible to demagogues and they are susceptible to lies on social media and these platforms and on X because they really don't have an alternative they're not being told the real narrative nobody is saying to them what's really happening and so they are susceptible to a narrative that says well your real enemies are immigrants or your real enemies are are are are 26:04 transgender people or your real enemies or I mean there's a void here that Democrats need to or somebody needs to fill in terms of saying what's actually happening who has the real power and who because they have the real power has been causing so many people to feel insecure and angry and upset feel like they're in a support group you know if we're all listening to Joe Rogan together and it's like there is a system of support and I feel like we need to create something where people feel like they're fighting something besides Donald Trump and they're part and they're together exactly together but so they have to we have to have another villain and there is one yes it's big corporations and the rich right well villain in the sense that they have abused their power uh and yes there used to be things that brought people together called political parties 27:03 and the Republican was party was I me know Democrat and Republican Party in the 60s 7s 80s I lived through it there wasn't much there but Donald Trump created a Maga Republican party that felt like you know it had its own hats it had its own emblems it had its own music it felt like a club you were joining why can't Democrats the anti-establishment Democrats create something that is a real Club something that you really join that is yes anti- big corporate remember the Bernie Bros well Bernie came very close I know yeah I it's funny I'm just thinking there's a documentary that you were interviewed for not a couple weeks ago that I think it was the BBC did and one of the people they talked about was somebody from Ohio who was a member of Trump's front row Joe's um and it's just this group of people that would go and 28:00 sit in the front row of trump rallies all across the country and they'd become friends and they'd Forge these social connections exactly like you're saying and I cannot imagine any version of that happening with the Democratic party as it existed this cycle I really can't no I mean how can you how can you think of that you're joining some some Club of people who are like you and have the same feelings when it's you know it's Mark Cuban and it's it's the celebrities from Hollywood but I billion but a lot of people I know a lot of people that went around to different states and volunteered and felt like she is bringing us back to where we were She's Fresh she's new she's smart I mean really we can't PRT with too broad of a brush absolutely I think and I want to say it again I think she did a beautiful job uh I mean I was I was moved it was the best debate performance I've ever seen uh and that's you know over 70 some odd years but uh the first debate that was actually 1960 um but uh but what we're 29:03 talking now is something different from kamla Harris's in you know her 105 days we're talking on a different level we're talking about the structure of the economy and politics we're talking about what Democrats in the future must do in terms of filling the void that is now being filled by bys but people we cannot let people become cynic so we can't say the Democrats have failed entirely and no one wants to go to a party that comma throws you know a Democratic party the life of the party to follow up on that point I mean but that's so specific to Trump right you wouldn't see front row Joe's for Mid Romney right or your typical person that you'd run on the Republican ticket and I I personally believe and I hope knock on wood that in the post Trump era even if he tries to appoint an heir it's just it's so specific to him and that's reflected I 30:01 think in the data like of the down ballot races who were not Trump even the people who emulated Trump they couldn't do it also he hasn't been on social for three days he likes the winning he's not a good president leader businessman he was so unpopular so I'm we know that we know that we know that we also know something else and that is it's very likely that Republicans are going to be in control of not just the White House and not just the Senate but probably also the house and we know that they're also let's face it in control of the Supreme Court so the fact that they're in control of everything they own it I mean what happens that is a disaster for the economy and by the way those those tariffs are going to be a disaster for the economy and and mass deportations are going to be a disaster for the economy these disaster is going to be owned by the Republicans they have no excuse God willing I feel like they'll deflect like no tomorrow well they will but this is the opening this is the 31:02 opportunity for Democrats to to do a a kind of fundamental pivot so how do we do it so how do we do it well we we do it we start right here with us three and and all of you out there right right you I mean you you're part of this you're part of this uh and we build a a new foundation and it may not be completely built by the time by the time I'm gone but you been fighting for years young you will carry this gone you handle it I mean in a sense this is a very small example audience but Bob you're right I mean we're building we've got to build communities and social connections among the people who care about democracy and human rights and Progressive economics populist economics whatever you want to call it because and social justice social justice these are not these are not Pie in the Sky ideas and we have we have a history you know I am old enough you know this is a theme Here age I'm going to come 32:04 back to this theme in a minute but I'm old enough to remember I remember I didn't live through the 30s but my parents did and I heard about the 30s and I know about Franklin D Roosevelt and I read his speeches and he created a coalition not perfect not perfect in that in any way I mean he excluded black people from a lot of that Coalition but it was a coalition of the working class and the Coalition of the downtrodden and people who felt that they were getting a bad a bad treatment that the game was rigged against them by the economic royalists by the big corporations by the captains of industry and what he said Franklin D Roosevelt again and again and I was reminded of it this morning his final discussion his final spe speech in 1936 in which he said they hate me they 33:04 and I relish their hatred they the captains of industry the big corporations the people with power in this economy they hate me well that's what we need we need but we had it so now we have to do it again we have to do it again and and on the on the theme of age I just want to say that we have two birthdays coming up uh we have uh Michael your birthday you're going to be I don't even want to say 28 MH Michael you are 50 years younger no than I am my gosh talking across the ages no wonder I have no IDE age is represented by this amount of table space that's right right 50 years and and today is the birthday today is Heather's birthday also 28 also 28 and I think I think we ought to raise our glasses oh and give Michael and Heather a huge huge C 34:07 celebratory happy birthday thank you thank you for that okay can we get down to business I'm not big into birthdays oh do you have more business okay so my f my just on the what are we going to do I want to be a little more specific I don't want we have to mobilize and not get cynical okay great did that check like we're here what else can we do are we looking looking for wins at the state level are we looking for what are some other levers and what is our next big tent pole moment is it the midterms or is it before then well the midterms uh and I think we do have to mobilize and organize I think a lot of people out there a lot of you are going to go H I can't well yes we have to we have to get our strength back first uh but we've got to mobilize an organized for the 26 midterms uh and then there are a lot of states where like California where we 35:00 can do a lot and preserve and protect what we value uh including women's rights and the rights of uh people who have worked very hard and played by the rules and are parts of our communities who are now going to be uh in danger because of a mass Roundup of people who could be who are accused of being here illegally and the families of these people who are in danger of being uh broken up uh and we have a lot of people who are political opponents of Donald Trump who have every reason to be worried right now and we have to protect them and we've got to enshrine the notion that dissent is going to be invited and protected in our society and we can do that personally every one of us can I add some statistical Silver Linings to that very beautiful passionate emotional yes please well I mean you young you little shrimp also messaging statistical this is what US those on the left no but in all seriousness I mean if you look at 36:02 the down ballot races even beyond the Senate Democrats broke GOP super majorities in a handful of States they retained legislative majorities in places like Pennsylvania just by like a seat they are competitive in Trump leaning districts on the presidential level this is not like 2016 where everybody down ballot was wiped out with trump it is not even to some degree like 2020 it is a really solid foundation to build on for the next year or two and I think that makes me personally feel a little bit better this week to know that even if there was an Embrace of trump at the presidential level everywhere else people were willing to say I will still vote for a Democrat and I will still vote for populist economics or Paid Family Leave I mean look at the down Ballot or excuse me the ballot initiatives you had minimum wage increases abortion protection amendments and paid family leave things passing in places like let me pull out my piece of paper that tells you the exact States Arizona Colorado Paid Family Leave in Arizona sorry abortion amendments in Arizona Colorado Maryland Montana and Nevada uh overturning an abortion ban in 37:07 Missouri not Florida unfortunately um voters in two states Alaska and Missouri approved ballot measures to raise the minimum minimum wage and Nebraska also approved a ballot measure giving workers right the right to earn paid sick leave as part of that so I you've got a number of what many people would view is Ruby Red States embracing populist economics and social welfare I think Embrace is more accurate there than embracing Trump I would like to think that PE many people who voted for Trump didn't do it because they like him they did it because they thought it was the option that would help them economically better whether that was uninformed or to them informed I just want to be clear that the one of the reasons I'm staying saying hopeful saying and staying hopeful saying and staying yes yeah is because I don't think it's a full Embrace I think people are panicked and I don't 38:03 they're not all showing up at the events I have to think that well I think Michael what you just went through I mean to have paid sick leave pass in Nebraska for example uh and all of those abortion uh changes and amendments and and statutes that give women the rights over their bodies that they deserve uh even in Florida you know you had they had that that proposition in Florida that did not pass it didn't pass because in Florida you had to have 60% it got 57% well if it were a majority that would have passed in other words it's not it's not what a failure so what we're saying is that there is Alive and Well in this country a very dramatic powerful populist economic movement and if the Democrats nationally knew what was good for them they would and what was good for most of us they would Embrace that as well definitely if 39:05 that brand if that populist economic brand or that Progressive social welfare brand that passed in these States can be tied to the party it's a whole different ball game well uh on that very positive Progressive note uh I I feel better than when we sat down together thank you for that yeah same thank you for that and still still lot to work through yes be honest listen this is I I think this is an opportunity for me to kind of summarize I want to thank both of you and congratulate both of you on your birthdays thank you and and my birthday is not for a while but um what I want to say to all of you uh quite sincerely is that number one you are not alone you may feel like you are alone right now and a lot of you particularly you in towns and cities and red States uh you you're feeling more alone than you've felt in years but you are not 40:06 alone in fact if what we are saying is the case most America is with you working Americans are with you what we have to do is regenerate the ideals that actually animated the Democratic party before for and we've got to make it real to people we've got to help people in terms of kitchen table economics you know the cost of living what things that everybody is concerned about uh secondly please and Heather has said this repeatedly don't become cynical it's easy right now I mean uh many of you and I've talked with many people and many people I've worked with over the past 20 years uh they have just are shocked and depressed and they say you know this country is not the country 41:00 that I thought it was uh I understand that cynicism and certain times over the last you know four days I've felt it as well but just remember the only way we get back the only way we get positive change in this country is if we overcome cynicism and we get on with the business of rebuilding what must be rebuilt in this country and I'm talking about the power of working average working people and the power of most Americans uh and so don't be cynical because what they want what the billionaires and it is billionaires who are taking over the country right now and the plutocrats and the oligarchs what they want more than anything else is for the rest of us to become cynical so they can have it all and they almost do have it all but we now have an opportunity to to take it all back so again don't feel alone don't 42:04 feel cynical and give yourself a little break now you've been working very very hard we've been working very hard we're all going to take a little bit of a break we're all going to be back next week um it's called the weekend but we're going to take the weekend um but uh but but be nice to yourself be kind to yourself um we we'll get through this I I promise you we will uh I also want to thank our loyal technician Jordan Albert who's right over there you don't see him but Jordan has done a wonderful job making sure that we can be here for you and uh we will continue see you we will continue see you all next week [Music]

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