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COMMENTARY THE COFFEE KLATCH ... May 18th, 2024 Robert Reich and Heather Lofthouse How do we overcome the moral squalor of Trump? PLAY YOUTUBE VIDEO Original article: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UitHpSDJPQ Peter Burgess COMMENTARY Peter Burgess
How do we overcome the moral squalor of Trump? \| The Coffee Klatch with Robert Reich Robert Reich 659K subscribers ... 102,096 views ... 6.8K likes Premiered May 18, 2024 The Coffee Klatch with Robert Reich Justice Alito flying a pro-insurrection flag… Trump's lackeys attacking his trial... Billionaires behaving badly... Heather Lofthouse of @imcivicaction and I break down all this week's news in the Coffee Klatch. Pour yourself a cup and join us. Transcript 0:00 and it is the Saturday coffee clutch with Heather loft house and yours truly Robert R Heather good morning good morning to you what do we have on Deck today today we have Justice alto's upside down flag I just we have the GOP going to the trial we have Republican donors winning at capitalism um and billionaires Behaving Badly uh sounds like the same story over and over different versions of it and what let's talk about the flag the down flag what is this Alo Justice Alo put up an upside down flag outside his home when though January 17 2021 now this this is right after obviously the riot um the Trump induced RI uh but why is the story coming out now that's my I have the same question I mean it seems like based on the New York Times article I read and you read and so many people read the court seems to have known about this the neighbors clearly 1:00 knew about it I don't know why has it been squelched for three years well also obviously why did he do it I mean an upside down flag means in this day and age means you're a Trumper right definitely and at that exact time it meant stop the steal we don't believe in the peaceful transfer of power now we've talked about a lot about uh justice well I mean we we know the justices are not completely neutral uh but uh what's what's the I mean Alo is is is a republican a republican point point uh but how can he possibly justify putting up a flag which is the whole point of putting up a flag is to Signal something I mean you don't put up a flag you know in your living room you put it up outside to tell your neighbors and friends and everybody else going bu the car something and that is Trump is right what is going on here he claim I had 2:00 nothing to do with the flag my wife put it up and it was in response to a neighbor this sounds strangely like another Justice we know about uh who says it wasn't me it was my wife but is that some kind of spousal privilege what is that no no no but it does also it does there's a distinction between what uh you know Jenny Thomas arguably Clarence can say well you know she's her independent person she can do what she wants but when you put a flag in front of your house it sort of implicates the household also there's a flag code there is there is a flag code oh there's a in the in the laws in United States code right so even so finally there's been a code that's been somewhat adopted for the Supreme Court right but back in 202 I think there was 2021 there was no ethics code but you'd think we'd follow the flag code at least that says you only put up a flag in the correct direction if you ever do an upside down flag it's distress or something else but you're a Justice of the Supreme Court you one of your most important responsib ility is just make sure people know that 3:01 you are neutral that you are nonpartisan that you don't have opinions and Views this is right before they were taking votes on all sorts of yep matters that are related to what happened on January 6th doesn't feel very impartial you know I was a supreme I was a clerk not for the Supreme Court for the court of appeals First Circuit uh the Chief Justice of the first circuit and um when uh archal Cox uh was was sacked by uh the Republicans by by Robert Bourke and the Republicans because he was basically a special prosecutor uh I put up a uh on my bumper I had a bumper sticker and I put on on my bumper sticker remember I'm a clerk of the First Circuit Court I just put up a bumper sticker you know impeach the Cox sacker I thought it was pretty neutral did you get in trouble for it yes I mean the whole Court said you have you can't do that you've got to 4:00 cover that up that's that's that's that's a clerk it's not only disgusting but it's partisan it's partisan but you are part of the court system you cannot take a partisan side in a public display way how did it feel to hear that did you feel I felt well I felt a little bit you know what about my free speech and then I was little embarrassed right quite honestly do you think Alo is embarrassed about the situ he has any shame at all I mean uh how many months later how many what was was a year and a half later that the do's decision he authored the do's decision um I think uh I think he's got to explain this doesn't he doesn't this violate the new code of ethics of the Court one would think but it's so scary it feels like they just have power for days well it feels like they don't care well that too and they they don't feel that they are in any way obligated to justify whatever they do right right it's very scary but it is interesting that it's only just now coming out yeah 5:01 I don't understand that what else is going to be coming out I mean with Clarence Thomas is there going to be more with Clarence Thomas and His and the money that he's making and I just you know John Roberts one of the duties of a chief justice is to maintain the Integrity of the court and the the way the people view it and ride rough shot over any justice who's doing anything that in any way denigrates the court uh John Roberts did not done anything I mean this this little ethics thing is is a joke right as a result the public The public's view of the Court the last time I looked was was lower than it's been at any time uh since the mid 20th century since the early part of the 20th century which is not surprising upside down Flags it's it's not surprising but I I I have to admit that this one does surprise me yeah it's pretty egregious oh well we'll see more will be revealed because it only just came out yesterday or than I before whenever it was 6:00 outrageous it's outrageous outrageous Sam Alo will you explain what you just did or what you did two years ago or what you say your your your your wife did and why you're not implicated I hope he listens to you okay so then we should talk about the Trump trial Michael Cohen all week well you know the trial drows on and on and on an interesting thank goodness it's not televised that's what I think too I mean it's so it's nice to be able to in this day and age I mean you have the little Court sketches and you get to read the articles about it but you don't have to watch it you can kind of use your imagination and we don't have to watch and Trump doesn't have the privilege of being on camera but you know Heather the other thing I was I was thinking about this particular trial this election interference hush money trial uh and everybody involved you know from David Becker the head of the the publisher of the of the national Inquirer through Stormy Daniels there's something kind of toddy about it it's 7:02 kind of the moral squalor of the Trump crowd I mean they're not part of the Trump they all part of the Trump crowd they're all influenced by the same things that Trump is influenced everybody is out to make money everybody's out to screw everybody else everybody is out to you know even stormmy Daniels what does she do as soon as Trump is running for president she says she she's shopping the story around what is David pecker doing he is trying to repress stories and get chits that he can use with Donald Trump later on and what what is uh with the fixer doing he's trying to fix things by you know paying people off and what is Donald Trump doing he's saying pay them off I mean every it's kind of a human people don't treat each other this way in real life do they I mean this is real life right but no but most people don't I mean there's a we we're we're Guided by norms and rules I don't mean to sound naive I mean I've been in I've been 8:00 around powerful people I've seen some pretty bad things but this is this is sort of we're taking for granted that this is the code of conduct and it's not a code of conduct there's no standard of decency here at all right everything is so transactional it's all normalized as of course this is how things go you have you have a bully for hire you have you know everyone's everyone's looking for everything's for sale Y and it's all transactional there's no relation there's no friendship uh there's no loyalty there's no honor there's no Integrity I know and then of course the GOP the Bonkers GOP so we have speaker Mike Johnson goes to New York to attend the trial a bunch of people from the house what is happening and you know this is again it has to do with the the the Trump's tendency uh I mean he's he's actually made entire the entire GOP the entire American populace into this let them game uh worse than a game I mean it's either us or it's them speaker Johnson is there because he wants to 9:01 show that he's one of the trumpers and uh Allegiance yeah well it's undermining the Integrity of the court for one thing uh it it kind of it does exactly what ELO did in a different way it's just basically saying there is no neutrality right uh we're all you know we're on one side or we're on the other side I know um can we talk a little bit about the economy the market this week consumer protection there was one C there was one case um where the cfpb the Consumer Financial Protection Bure right this this is a this is a good corrective to what I just said because Justice Thomas wrote the opinion it was a 7 to2 opinion seven justices to two outliers uh and the Seven justices said uh that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau uh should be protected uh it's not illegal 10:00 uh the allegation was that the source of funding because it didn't come directly from Congress violated the Constitution and uh Thomas I think in a very responsible opinion did I just say that about Thomas you did I never quote me yeah uh he did have a responsibil opinion he said uh look there's nothing in the Constitution that says exactly where the funds should come from and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau should remain Elizabeth Warren was out there after the opinion saying great um I think it was not only the right decision uh but it did uh it did sort of make me feel like maybe there is some Integrity a little bit left well and then we whittel that away days later it was Whitt New York Times um but yeah so that is a win for consumers but in terms of the other news of the week we had some losses I would say so Biden the Biden Administration has tried to fight junk feed it's tried to fight hidden 11:01 fees you know that are with the big Banks put in there um in terms of late fees and these Airline fees if I can just stop you because I want to make sure that that we're all together on what these fees are these are fees that people don't anticipate they're going to have to pay I mean uh I just rented a I did a rental card just a couple of days ago that's a good one and uh there you know I had a a price quoted to me yeah like we do $29 a day until until $400 a day I I actually took my car back after renting it for two days and it was a you know all these fees that I'd never agreed to uh that are but you see it with hotels you see it with uh all kinds of places Banks and the banks especially uh credit card fees they don't tell you how much you can have to pay or it's in such tiny little print nobody even pays attention and so I think that the the Administration bu Administration is 12:01 appropriately trying to hit back on these fees these junk fees and the banks of course say don't do that yeah you're interfering in capitalism right exactly and is there a link between big Banks and politics well here we get back to you know the fundamental problem Heather and I go on and on about this and you're very good to to to hear hear me out but as long as you've got big money dominating politics and big money is more and more I mean it's by from the big corporations and the big Banks and the richest people in America that money is influencing inevitably the outcomes of our politics I mean if that's not corruption and bribery and and people know that and and it's it it really started in a very big way with the financial crisis of 2008 uh where the banks got bailed out uh and millions of homeowners uh lost their homes and they 13:02 lost their jobs and they lost their savings and people said this is a this system stinks you know it's really it's rigged yeah and we're still living with that and as more and more money comes into the system from the big Banks and and the richest people well I I I can understand why some people will throw up their hands and say I'm going to vote for Trump because because uh yes he's anti- democracy but so is the system right now at least he's on my side I know it I know it and speaking so he got a day off of court yesterday of course to attend his son's graduation oh but also throw a gigantic fundraiser so his Excuse excuse from court was was he wanted to attend his son's graduation but who did not go to Trump University by the way oh that's really I'm I'm sorry did he not get in probably that's funny anyway anyway now the one other thing on the that I read this week too is um it's cheaper in some 14:03 instances to fly to Europe to see Taylor Swift than it is to see her in America okay well this is this is another this goes right with the junk fees because you've got these uh these these scalper systems this secondary market right yes and it is driving costs through the roof uh and uh and they're getting together Live Nation uh and Ticket Master uh so it's it's it's the scalping industry is consolidating making it even less competitive uh and so and people are paying through their nose in the United States oh yeah in apparently for her concert in Miami tickets on StubHub were going between $2,000 and $8,000 I me you can fly to Paris and it doesn't but it doesn't go to Taylor Swift Bingo it goes to the scalping industry to Live Nation and to Ticket Master and that's why the B Administration is trying to break them up why it is so important uh to and this is just like the junk fees y I mean in 15:02 other words you can have capitalism that works for regular people or capitalism that works for the CEOs and the biggest shareholders uh and and and the choice of capitalism is very important right it's not capitalism or socialism the the pragmatic choice is between a capitalism that is on the side of consumers and workers or a capitalism that's on the side of uh the people who the richest people in the world right and the Biden Administration is trying to make good for consumers right and that's what they do in the and and workers and workers and consumers are workers workers are consumers and you know the bottom 2third 3/4 of Americans by income uh are getting shafted and they've been begin they've been shafted for years but the Biden Administration is the first Administration in years that is actually trying to change the rules of capitalism uh to make sure that working people and poor people and lower middle class 16:00 people get a a better deal right now I might have gone down a little rabbit hole no seriously Googling consumer protection so it first appeared in Hammer Rob's code I remember I was there were you back inia ham Robi actually was very nice man he yeah he had a good sense of humor and he was kind but a lousy politician was he well so but really consumer protection has been around a long time it's mentioned in the Old Testament it was mentioned by Adam Smith exactly Wealth of Nations we've taken our political economy courses but so I mean this is what should be happening but of course there people keep the airlines are suing the Biden Administration the big banks are coming Adam well again uh you know during the Franklin D Roseville Administration you had the same forces the big big Banks and the corporations were trying to come down uh FDR was trying you know he was trying to do social and all kinds of 17:00 things uh that were going to cost money and that were going to also regulate uh the stock market and they didn't like it and in 1936 in the campaign of 36 uh Roosevelt said my enemies they hate me and I welcome their hatred yes uh well they're still at it but they're at it with even more money right I mean the Supreme Court opened the floodgates with citizens united uh and uh I I think it to be changed the quote has changed too I welcome their money that's right they hate me and I'm going to welcome their money well if for enough for the right price tag well this gets back to Alo and Thomas again I mean they they are uh you know the worst I mean the the the Trump appointees are are not much better uh but uh the six of them including John Roberts uh are really dragging us back to the pre- new deal that's what they're trying to do I know in so many ways um yeah okay so in this this week uh we saw billionaires 18:00 Behaving Badly Joe Hammer Robi that's I was trying to remember his first name stop imagine if it was for Joe I mean Joseph is how I knew Joseph habab Joe habab we called him J J yeah love that guy um but so you saw that Tesla doesn't take out many ads but has decided to take out some ads to put in front of its shareholders tell us more about that oh well you remember the Delaware Court of last year Delaware Court said no to to uh this gigantic I mean 56 or 57 billion agreement with Elon Musk uh and said that it's not fair to the shareholders of Tesla it's just it's it's ridiculous it's out it's just it's beyond belief uh and the Delaware Court which is basically America's Corporate Court oh yeah it is I mean most companies are in companies are Incorporated there because the courts are so favorable right uh the Delaware Court said no even this is too much for 19:01 us uh and uh You' got to do it again in fact you it's no so Elon Musk takes the company out of Delaware uh and they do and they he gets the board of directors who he controls completely his brother's on it you know the uh rert Murdoch's son is on it uh and uh he says to the U the the board of directors of Tesla uh I want I want this I really want this this is mine I deserve it uh and the head of the board of directors sends out a message to all the shareholders say isn't it unfair what's happened to Elon I mean he's been working and he doesn't even and the and the and the Delaware Court threw out his his 5758 billion and we've got to vote again and now they are using shareholder money to promote Elon musk's bizarre 57 58 billion I mean there's something wrong 20:02 here there's something very wrong here and it's again it's the CEOs who are just at the top oh in good news there um there was a win for Apple they're going to go um on strike the Apple workers had a good win I I I think Apple um is ripe oh hello not only not only workers but also consumers and anti trusters I mean apple is uh you know Apple has been sending more and more of its profits to its CEOs top Executives and shareholders through stock buyback we talked about that last week 70% billion yeah 70% of all the profits I mean more than they're spending on research and development so and apple is just you know it's getting too big it's pushing itself around it's it's pushing everybody else around consumers workers so it's time yeah it's time so our final note of the week there is an anniversary 20 years ago marriage 21:02 equality yes got a win in Massachusetts but the neat story that I like to think about is you in 20 2002 20 tell us what you said about marriage equality and what you did 2002 hello yeah I ran for governor of Massachusetts in 2002 how did how' it go I didn't win I didn't I didn't even get I mean I I lost the primary there were six of us running in the primary um I came in second oo if I had come in first I would have taken on Mitt Romney for governor wow that would have been I would have whipped his ass would you have but anyway um no I didn't because I one of the reasons uh all honesty uh was that I came out in favor I was the first I was the first candidate to come out in favor of marriage equality and my my campaign manager after I gave this speech my campaign manager took me aside he said you lost lost it we just lost the 22:00 election should we take a look let's take a look at the clip and come right back I think it is a matter of civil and human rights it goes beyond the idea of civil union however and and so a lot of people you know find that very upsetting 30 years ago a lot of people found the idea of uh intermarriage racial intermarriage upsetting and there were a lot of state laws against it but we've come a long way you are absolutely right it's not necessarily a popular position but my view is what is a campaign all about if not at least staking some positions that you believe in that may not be popular but uh you know that's uh you want to you want to educate the public about things that you think are important well I that was tremendous and you basically said look we are going to look back on this like are you kidding me why were we even talking about this well because because the court going back to what the theme of of this session here our clotch uh the court uh particularly Thomas uh has threatened uh in the same 23:02 in the same Do's decision that all of these all of these rights equal marriage rights could be thrown out I mean it's it's all up in the air now yeah I know and who's who's pushing that it's Alo and Thomas well Alo and Thomas but also Gorsuch I mean there you can't count on anything anymore because they once they eroded uh and rever uh a woman's right over her body and to make a decision over abortion uh the same logic could be used to reverse all of these other makes me so angry I actually have a physical reaction when we talk about it well uh I think it makes a lot of men angry too this is not just a woman's issue um and it shouldn't be and uh and rights are on the on the table in this election these intimate rights these rights of of of marriage equality and and what you do with your body and and how people live in terms of 24:01 their the most basic freedoms we can talk about I mean these conservatives for years saying government should not intrude on the well what they said what they're saying government should not intrude on the private sector but what about intruding on people on on people's intimate private lives uh and that's what's really at stake anyway well good for you fighting the fight well it was years I was young and I didn't know better feel like you still fight the fight well you do too you do too and here's to the fight here's to you Heather thank you and thank all of you for joining us we will see you next Saturday

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