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COMMENTARY THE COFFEE KLATCH ... JANUARY 4TH 2025 Robert Reich, Heather Lofthouse and Michael Lahanas-Calderon Will Anything Stop Trump? PLAY YOUTUBE VIDEO Original article: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVsNGvjxn6w Peter Burgess COMMENTARY Peter Burgess
Will Anything Stop Trump? \| The Coffee Klatch with Robert Reich Robert Reich 989K subscribers ... 104,283 views ... 6.2K likes Premiered 12 hours ago The Coffee Klatch with Robert Reich The GOP takeover of Congress. The debate over H-1B visas. The legacy of Jimmy Carter. On the first Coffee Klatch of 2025, we cover some of the week’s biggest news. The Coffee Klatch with Robert Reich Transcript 0:00 and it is the Saturday coffee clutch with Heather loft house and Michael Lans Calderon uh and Heather what do we have what do we have today any news well Happy New Year everyone let's get into it the certification of the presidency the Speaker of the House Elon Musk this is this is the Republican takeover uh that we have all been dreading and it is actually happening it is starting already happy New Year happy New Year Michael happy New Year it's a happy new notwithstanding that's what I say to people happy New Year notwithstanding everything considering all consed Yes um so what about the 119th Congress uh particularly the Senate this coming Monday in two days is January 6th yes what happens on January 6th which is 30 days after the election is the certification of the presidency which will be done by vice president kamla Harris what is the symbolism in contr well this is 1:00 first uh certification since the certification of Biden Joe B Biden you remember what happened on that day it went completely smoothly January 6 U and you know the the Constitution and the founders and everybody who cares about this country fundamentally depends on a smooth and peaceful transition of power and what we have got to remember uh and we've got to come because it's so so easy to put it out of our minds is that the last transition of power that is last time January 6 2021 was a day of violence a day of death a day of uh basically an attempted coup uh and the person who was behind that is now about to become president of the United States uh if there's nothing else that out that is outrageous the fact that he was never held accountable and this is and this m day is an aniversary of his lack of 2:03 accountability in effect it's scary um well it's scary and it also is a blemish and a and a it is it is something that will historically I don't think American democracy will ever be the same because of it oh of course not I mean we know this but it'll be interesting to see how vice president Harris just shows up and handles her Duty um and oversees what should be done right yes and I think hopefully it'll be very smooth and hopefully uh but will she say anything about what happened last time I doubt it I hope so but God it would be great and this isn't the first time that a vice president has had to oversee or certify their electoral loss right it's only something we care about because of Donald Trump yes exactly but that's that's a huge thing that person is about to become president of the United States that person was never held accountable of course uh and he was never accountable in part because the Democrats had an opportunity to hold him 3:04 accountable and they did not right I mean I just can't imagine having to do that but she'll be professional and incredible she just will be but not easy and then next week is the first week of a Republican Senate uh here we go well the sen here here again back to the Constitution the Republicans in the Senate have as much responsibility as the Democrat in the senate for advice and consent with regard to nominations coming from the White House as to who the president the next president wants to run the government advice and consent do you have your pocket Constitution I love when you have that darn it I should bring it every time and what does that mean advice and consent the exactly it means that the confirmation process is not a rubber stamp process uh it means that you know you've got uh people who Donald Trump has already nominated to these very important positions who are 4:06 Highly Questionable and if the Republicans in the Senate have had an ounce an ounce of Integrity they would make it very difficult for these people to be to be uh confirmed and they wouldn't be confirmed oh and it's tulsey gabard Pete hedg Seth Cash Patel and Robert F Kennedy Jr those all of those that's right I mean there are many others who are questionable but but those four four are not just questionable they are dangerous they are unqualified uh they I venture to say that in modern history that have never there have never been Nomine nominees who have who are so absolutely ill suited to running the federal government and yet you think they're going to be approved right well I think that Donald Trump is regarding the Senate Republicans right now uh and looking at them and the question hanging over everybody in government as the Republicans take control is is how is 5:06 Trump going to react is he going to hold us accountable and that's the irony here because Trump holds people accountable he remembers when people are not loyal uh he rewards loyalty and he punishes disloyalty the man who is not being held accountable by the system holds everybody else accountable now so these four people coming in obscenely not prepared for the job I mean don't have the experience don't have the knowledge don't have the cloud tsey Gabbert because director of of of National Intelligence uh who is who is basically said and agreed with Putin on on everything know and is and is regarded in Russia as a kind of uh as a as a wonderful person because and and her and every Russian newspaper uh talks about how great she is but this so these 6:01 are my Daydreams these days will they be so horrendously incapable that they will screw up and that will be a glaring error and then we will learn something and then we will pivot back we will oscillate to back to reality well that's a that's my kind of Daydream too oh good Heather and we'll get to the I think there are there are good things to keep in mind and but how much damage can they do in the meantime I mean Robert F Kennedy Jr uh God forbid we have another pandemic I mean or we have something the equivalent of a pandemic what do we do when he says no there won't be any vaccines Y how do we deal with that or when he says to the FDA you are being defanged and we have all sorts of it was already such an uphill battle too I read that in 2024 only 20% of people who could have gotten the vaccine for covid did and then again it is it is not just him exercising his authority it's 7:06 spewing and spreading distrust uh with regard to the public uh and the same thing uh with regard to the you know the others uh who are very very questionable cash Patel for example at the FBI I mean I remember I'm old enough to remember Jay Edgar Hoover at the FBI I mean that was a uh that was a good example or bad example of the FBI out of control uh but cash Patel has said already he's going after the media uh the media that are not loyal to Trump he's going after Trump's other enemies he's he's he's made it very explicit in his books and in his writings and in his uh interviews that he has there's no constraint on him in terms of being a trump loyalist so you think he has the potential to be worse than J G Hoover I will stake my reputation on saying that yes he will be the worst FBI director in history I had 8:03 a question because I mean we're talking about this as as if it's a done deal and perhaps it is but I have a lot of folks back home who live in red States who have Republican Senators who they I mean they're the constituents of Republican Senators is there any chance that people could persuade through you know some sort of a mass information or letter campaign I mean what can people at home do to try and stop this well with regards to the nominees uh right now I think there's very very little that be done I mean if uh the media do show for example there was a lot of a lot of stories about Heth Pete Heth uh for the Department of Defense I mean he has a history of alcoholism of sexual abuse uh and harassment uh he headed two veterans groups and he basically both of them uh you know I don't know whether he took the money somebody took the money because they both of them fell apart uh he has a history that is so ludicrously 9:03 awful in terms of his character how can he be Secretary of Defense uh and uh when there was one Republican senator uh Joanie Ernst who actually went and and said maybe she's not sure she wants to support him because she personally had been sexually harassed and I think raped when she was in the military uh she was she was uh she she was bullied by the Trump Republicans who threatened to put up somebody against her and primary her uh in the Republican primary I I mean and she's backed down essentially yeah so what what are what are people going to do between now and the next few weeks when these people are going to one by one go through the Senate I have no idea things could happen that we don't anticipate I I think the house in some ways may be more encouraging uh than the Senate because the Democrats have more power in the house obviously 10:04 Republicans control both both Chambers but Mike Johnson is hanging on by a small thread and that's very very rare right for those of us who don't follow Congress uh for the last perhaps several decades I mean how many times can you remember that happening that well it happened in 2023 uhhuh but you know but again this is a question the larger question is can Republicans govern and so far far we don't know but they have all three major positions that is the two houses and the presidency and some would say they also have the Supreme Court uh and if this doesn't work I mean we know who to who who to hold responsible and hopefully and hopefully the rest of the country knows who to hold responsible but that is it's important so Donald musk is going to be sworn in oh Elon Elon Trump wait Donald Trump is 11:03 going to be sworn in as the 47th president but it's I'm holding on to everything where there's infighting on things where there's I thought I assumed oh Mike Johnson will get in I doubt people will um I don't know is it disrespect go against Trump on this but they did inv vote one so I find that interesting and I'm holding on for little you know shoots of I don't want to say hope but no no no I think it's I think it's reasonable for us to look for those places where Trump's leadership and his power are limited and his influence uh and his influence is very constrained and it's not it's easy to look at this next period and say oh well he's he's going to be ruling and controlling everything we we are sliding into Fascism and authoritarianism and to some extent we are but it's very important to understand that there are limits there are constraints 12:00 U and one constraint obviously and ironically is Elon Musk I know how can they govern I mean first of all we just talked about the people that are in the running are haven't shown that they can govern huge groups of people so that's a problem but how can they govern with musk right I mean tweeting behind them and looming over their shoulder we have not had since the first Gilded Age in the United States where the age of the Robert Barons that had exerted extraordinary influence uh over you know President McKinley in the late 19th century uh we have not had individuals who have been this wealthy uh who have had political power and turned their wealth into political power uh Andrew melon would be another one that came to mind uh but Elon Musk is in this second guilded age we're living in the Exemplar the epitome of the Rober Baron who has turned his extraordinary wealth the wealthiest person in the world into political power and brags about it it's 13:06 not that they that he's trying to hide it he is enjoying it he is he is over you know he is making his political power uh evident in all kinds of ways oh it's in neon lights there's no subtlety and he he's basically uh become a guest at marago a permanent guest of marago plus his kiddo plus the just the sheer speed that he's able to Comm communicate and put pressure on Republicans you know I mean at least William Randolph Hurst he had a couple hours to print a newspaper right but Elon just has to sit on his couch and send a tweet Elon has uh again sources of of his power are not only the $270 billion he put into the Trump campaign and Trump's willingness to listen to him in maralago but also his 205 or 210 million followers on his own platform X and on top of that his ability to know what everybody is doing 14:04 because his satellites can keep track of everyone we don't even talk about that dimension of his power but it's a very important Dimension we have never and yet is unaccountable nobody has ever elected him uh I mean this is the most extraordinary examp Exemplar or example of unaccountable power we have in America today and it gets worse Michael you were talking earlier about his homies it's far right homies around the world tell us more about that yeah I mean I think it it kind of goes hand inand with that Network that he has is global right on Twitter SLX he's you know put pressure on politicians in the UK um in terms of immigration and he's urged his followers to support Nigel farage who runs reform UK which is one of the far-right parties in the UK saying he might donate upwards of $127 million in Germany you know he wrote an oped in favor of the afd alter alternative for Germany a far-right party that has many a Neo-Nazi Scandal uh that is a Neo-Nazi party is it not it 15:07 is effectively effectively and I think that I mean the list goes on right you could talk about Italy you could talk about Canada it's he is doing a full broadside in a lot of little ways and growing ways against liberal democracies and he's using his xplatform and his apparent closeness to Trump both as ways of affecting foreign policy right yeah I mean you know it's one thing if you have a powerful American sitting beside you know the United States president but he is essentially making many uh moves in terms of foreign policy toward the extreme right yeah I have a couple other things on my musk my muskrat list musk list muskrat list as you said called him on on substack which I loved one is um this horrible thing that happened in Vegas where someone blew up a cyber truck um killed himself and injured others in front of a Trump Hotel um but 16:07 what was so interesting is the head of the Las Vegas Police Department came out and said we have to thank Elon Musk who has been so incredibly helpful and got us all the data from all the charging stations and all the Teslas and all the things and so with his ability to survey um we have gotten data immediately about so much do if I want to know if people who who have Teslas know that when they use a charging station that e Elon Musk has data about where they are and where they're moving to oh yeah there are cameras in the car that you I think you have the option to turn it off but you can have 24 hour the camera will just be looking at you singing your tunes shouting to your kid in the back seat about the Cheerios going everywhere all of it because add that to the satellites I mean he's got three4 of all of the global satellites that are actually running the internet internationally and all the information is that surveillance capitalism that's surveillance 17:02 capitalism with a capital S with a capitalism and a Capital C yeah so you put out on your subse SEC this week it was so interesting to watch this on Twitter come up where all of a sudden the news of the day during the news hole that was the holidays where we were all kind of trying to disengage was Trump talking about excuse me whoops musk talking about H1B visas and lots of insighting infighting amongst the Maga you know who's who um and but it was interesting to read your substack where you talked about this and you've talked about H1B visas including when you were Secretary of Labor and on news shows like Dan Rather a 100 years ago tell us you know some people say what do they say they say well I mean this is a question of high skilled immigration largely in the tech sector but not limited to right yes and and musk has been trying to widen the H1B visas to get more uh highly skilled Tech workers uh for years but the irony is that he has fired many of every time 18:05 he Slims down every time he goes through Tesla for example he laid off a huge number of Tesla's workers including many H1B visas that he applied for uh so there there is there's hypocrisy in this as well I mean one of the problems with H1B is that you uh a lot of companies big American companies high-tech companies use it as a vehic for getting cheaper high-skilled workers than they could have in the United States if they went simply to their let's say computer programmers uh computer programmers uh would cost them more if they were limited to American Computer programs so they like bus they say come on come on come on over uh it's a way of circumventing uh you know investments in the American Workforce right and I think in today's world it's so black or white it's so binary and it's immigration is 19:01 bad or immigration is good now we have put out many videos of why immigration is good for the economy and for society but it's interesting to think about who benefits from when Elon pulls in all these H1B VZ employees before he fires them how where does that go in the economic system right I think that's that's a critical question to ask immigration generally is good but h 1B Visa immigration where you're bringing in skilled workers from abroad it's not particularly good in fact the only people that are benefiting are the big investors the CEOs and Wall Street because it means more profits uh it means less investment in American workers why invest in American workers and their training and education if you can get the foreign workers it means less investment by foreign countries and their own workers because why should they if they're going to Simply go and it's a continuous brain drain uh and uh 20:05 it just means that inequality W and this was something that seemed like it was creating cracks in the magga Coalition over the holiday this is kind of why we're talking about this is that you know evidence of more cracks to come do you think on this issue between sort of the tech oligarch wing and the magga populist Wing I think there are going to be more and more issues that these two wings you call them the tech oligarch wing and the Maga populist Wing I think a good good way of of describing they are they are clashing uh Steve Bannon was furious with Elon Musk over this H1B issue but it's just it's much more than that uh it's really we class matters and this is the same thing that Democrats are struggling with in fact Democrats uh really have turned their backs on the working class I think the the Mago Wing is trying to strain uh Elon Musk and all 21:01 of the Silicon Valley people that musk is bringing into the administration keep your eye on this it's a very important uh point of contention inside the Trump Administration by the way did you all see in the news that Elon had his own burner account he had his fake Twitter account with this is the rumor with his fake the rumor you're alleged um and so his name was Adrien ditman allegedly ditman or yes ditman okay and allegedly he was running this account to counter things that you know tweets that would make him look bad and then Adrien would come in and say he's a phenomenal father I don't know what you're talking about no one is a better in terms ofal would he retweet adrianne's tweet oh I'm sure well no he probably you say well they've they've interacted supposedly this is I mean this is inside baseball for those of us who are trying to stay off of Twitter as I'm sure many of our audience members are but yeah I mean not and this is not unlike what Donald Trump allegedly Donald Trump for years before he became president in 2016 in fact I think even after that he was calling 22:07 newspapers uh in a different voice he tried to disguise his voice to say Donald Trump is right did you get this particular story about him he it's a terrific story and he would he would disguise his voice but a lot of the reporters would eventually catch on that was Donald Trump promoting himself through ostensibly a third party this is influencing The Narrative it seems so much easier to just do a tweet than to actually have to dial on a rotary phone the news do you know what a rotary phone is I do I do but I mean it kind of makes me wonder you like I mean the theme of power is so important in all of the work that you put out and these are extraordinarily powerful men why are they so insecure well I think insec far back in their families are you going to go I could go back maybe 2,000 years maybe 3,000 years insecurity and the lust for power go hand inand but what we 23:00 are seeing now is that wealth huge amounts of wealth and power are basically Inseparable and the real definition of power the one that I think is is particularly relevant today is the ability unfortunately to gain even more power and wealth uh and impose harms on other people while you're doing it but never be held accountable for doing so I mean Donald Trump and Elon Musk both are are walking examples but they're also harnessing the information age I mean truth when it comes or falsehoods they move so quickly and it's across the globe and they it feels like they just have you know a saddle on and they are just riding this wave and they are fighting any effort to force truth to force the platforms particularly x uh to moderate uh to you know and this is one of the big issues that separates Europe from the United States right now because 24:02 the Europeans say no you you can't just put anything on the internet I mean you you know if you it's the equivalent of of shouting fire in a crowded theater uh we in Europe we have a different standard uh if you're going to try if you're going to create riots uh because you're you're you're filling the Internet with with lies that are dangerous lies we're going to stop you uh but musk and the purists quote unquote the First Amendment Pur they like to they like to use the First Amendment it's not first amendment I mean if it were First Amendment uh we'd have a much more even playing field no they like to use their money and their platforms and their access uh and say no we can put anything we want on the internet which is especially ironic given that musk is using his administrator powers to ban people he doesn't like from X and even in this argument over H1B allegedly demon izing right-wing influencers for disagreeing with them which is you know again the 25:02 whole thing is so fundamentally hypocritical I mean look what happened in the fight over the bipartisan uh continuing resolution um you know musk came out against it uh he said uh he blew it up he essentially blew it up uh and so there was we almost the United States government also almost ran out of money uh at the last minute there was a continuing resolution but what was musk's interest well it turns out that in the bipartisan continuing resolution was a restriction on what musk and other big Hightech entrepreneurs could have done with regard to investments in China musk wanted to maintain his investments in terms of SpaceX at Tesla in China and so he blew up that particular continu continuing able to do that I mean he had that much power and that much self-interest together to make it that provision sorry just for our audience that was with a particular focus on uh 26:03 Technologies including AI semiconductors and Quantum Computing and faor he wants those technology he wants to be able to sell the Chinese those Technologies to work with the Chinese on those Technologies now put aside the question of whether that's appropriate or not uh but the official policy of the United States is no we don't want China get to get access to those Technologies but what is musk doing he is using his power his influence his platform his money and his closeness to Trump to basically blow up any Congressional approach that might might cost him some money okay Michael and Bob can we please yes think about something a little more upbeat I mean it I don't we don't no I'm just I I want to express to you a a kind of outrage and fury you're doing it beautifully well but it is outrageous I mean why aren why aren't we I mean to have have this person musk Trump is bad enough to have musk who was not even elected uh having 27:04 this much power is an is an utter outrage and I know everyone's hoping that they'll have they'll break up well I think I think that they won't they both get something from the other and still too much to have there hasn't been a big enough Rift to justify it may Happ some people say to me oh there's no way that Trump is going to tolerate another big ego next to him but remember this other big ego is the richest person in the world this other big ego has a platform that is gigantic and has uh 205 million followers this other big ego is supportive of trump and put a half a quarter of a billion dollars into the Trump campaign so it's not exactly I know as if Trump can just I think it works for Trump too that elon's kind of you know dorky and he's got his kid on his shoulders he's not like a Sleek guy who's G who he's actually worried about 28:00 it feels like he could control him I he doesn't feel threatened I think in some regards he doesn't and I think he wants his money so I think he's kind of enamored of him at the same time that he doesn't feel threatened with him sitting next to him at and I think the other point is that Trump is actually sitting pretty right now he's not facing any consequences he's not facing jail he's not facing trial uh everything has evaporated uh he's now he's making money once again off his pretending he hasn't even become president yet he's already making money off his presidency uh everybody in the world is coming bowing to him and and kissing his ring CEOs All Over America are coming and saying to him and and oh can we can we possibly support your your your inauguration with another million dollars from from our company I mean this is this is what's happening and Trump is getting everything he wants everything he wants but back to so one thing I think that you do on the coffee clutch and we look to you for and in your substacks is you remind us of the long game of the big 29:06 picture so I just want a little silver lining so you wrote in a substack that are there are some constraints out there around Trump and then you know his shadow Elon Musk the big constraints I'm looking at are number one we've talked about the Democrats in the house have more power than they've had in in the minority right in in in in living memory it's so close and this is a reminder that elections matter hello mid yes and those those down ballot elections really did help the Democrats and I think that they're looking at 2026 as a way of coming back frankly both in the house and the Senate uh the second thing I want to point out is that Trump cares Mo mostly about uh the stock market uh and it so people when people say to me oh but he's his tariffs uh are going to wreck the economy uh he will not allow 30:04 that to happen uh I don't think he's actually serious about the tariffs or that his uh efforts to eliminate or Deport 11 to 20 million people here who don't have their papers uh is going to wreck the economy I don't think it's going to do that if it starts affecting the stock market uh and that's a second reason for not rejoicing but at least understanding that there is a limit a constraint on him uh the third that I keep going back to is historically uh I've mentioned already the Gilded Age and the robber barons of the first Gilded Age starting in 1885 1890 extending through 1920 uh that Gilded Age ended and it ended with a huge backlash uh a reform period uh Teddy Roosevelt antitrust Food and Drug Administration new taxes taxes on the wealthy progressive income taxes estate 31:02 taxes uh and then with Franklin D Roosevelt Teddy's fifth cousin uh we had huge amounts of social well really really pathbreaking important uh social regulation I mean everything from Social Security to unemployment insurance to a 40-hour work week um well that was all backlash against the first guilded age and we are now in a second guilded age there will be a backlash because these people are going to overreach we haven't even started the Trump Administration they're already overreaching yeah so and your fourth one that I think if I may add to your list yes please is from the federal courts because I liked that substack you did the federal courts are uh people what they talk about the courts they're only thinking about the Supreme Court the Supreme Court actually takes one fewer than 1% of the cases that are given up 32:02 to it that are appealed to the Supreme Court uh the real power is in the federal district courts and the courts of appeals and most of those federal district courts are uh in under the control of uh people who are appointed by democrats judges not I'm not suggesting that judges are political necessarily their values may be influenced by whether Democrats or Republicans appointed them but remember most of those district court judges have been appointed by democrats and half of the appell judges have been appointed by democrats so that's going to be a big constraint because you can imagine so much of what Trump wants to do and is planning to do and the people around him are planning to do the crazies around him are planning to do are going to that's going to be appealed to the federal court system that's where the action is going to be four big reasons not to breathe a sigh of relief but to 33:00 at least not panic y well I'm taking a deep breath but I mean I have to ask as somebody who has lived through fewer presidential administrations when was your first president what when were you born in well my first President I guess when I was born it would be it'd be Bill Clinton but I don't really remember anything about Bill Clinton of course you don't was the first oh my God I know no I remember the first President I can remember is George Bush and that's only because somebody put a little George Bush pin on their kid and sent him to to school on the playground uh back in 2004 but you're like my students they don't remember a damn thing you know you can historically but I ask you know is this really the framing that this is not normal framing for how we talk about presidents right constraints and hopes and prayers that the Judiciary and all of these other elements of government will stop their worst instincts necessarily I mean even if that's you know big picture maybe the structure of the Constitution You could argue that but this is something else like Ian you've worked for other presidents you didn't hear people talking about Jimmy 34:01 Carter like this no I worked for Jimmy Carter U and uh may he rest in peace uh he was a better president than I think most people gave him credit for at the time um and uh his character and his uh his temperament are in such sharp contrast uh to the character and temperament of the person who was about to take over the white house uh I mean Jimmy Carter was a deeply decent man and uh he uh I mean I didn't come I didn't know him very well I mean I did work for him uh and that meant that I was in meetings where he was there but he was uh and he he did have an instinct for the capillary I mean he he was not tending to look at the large picture all the time he was an engineer uh but he was a good person he was a good person and the president is not just just uh a manager a president is a moral Exemplar 35:02 for the nation uh which is one of the reasons why Trump is such a tragedy and he genuinely saw himself that way you told me a story of him that I he was the first he was president when I was born in Atlanta I was born in Atlanta but you don't remember Administration no but I remember um Ronald Reagan big time that's who I remember Jen Z Gen X no yes Gen X I thought you were going to call me a millennial again and I couldn't take it Gen X and gen z i this is I you know you guys are so young oh tell us again about this young Michael you probably don't like it as much as I do um but I just thinking about how he the day he didn't drive up to the White House right what did he do you told me that the other day no he was he he after he was inaugurated after he gave his inauguration speech um he usually presidents are escorted you know Secret Service and drive up the W no he got out of his car and he put his his jacket 36:04 over his shoulder and he walked uh he sent his child Amy to a public school uh which again was was at that time I mean presidents don't do that in Washington only three ever have in the only three have done it uh but that was historically a really quite a quite an event he allowed people into the White House I mean he he he was the most populist uh in the sense of in the best sense of the term populist president we've had in a very long time right he wasn't perfect I mean he was no of course not I mean he but you know he was he was he was kicked out of office primarily because of Paul voker do you remember Paul voker remember of Paul voker pauler telling me about pauler exactly Paul voker was was the um head of the Federal Reserve board and uh inflation was double digit it was double- digit inflation because of the 37:03 uh OPEC oil embargo uh that had driven Price's way up uh Carter couldn't do anything about that uh and Paul voker said well I'm going to break the back of inflation and he put interest rates up so high that he did break the back of inflation he also plunged the United States into a deep recession and he broke uh the presidency of Jimmy Carter I mean it's it's the same thing that Allen Greenspan essentially did to George HW Bush uh when the Federal Reserve had raised interest rates so high uh that the economy is plunged into recession the incumbent president doesn't have a chance if the incumber president happens to be running for re-election it's the economy stupid it is the economy uh and this is what happened in a way to Joe to Joe Joe Biden yeah so I mean you keep saying how young Michael and I are and I appreciate 38:00 that so much um did you know that so as of January 1 right couple days ago the newest generation has started so anyone born is called generation beta gen beta for the next alas are over I want to know who makes these decisions I mean Elon Musk is it no I'm sure some social scientist carefully carefully looking at the Greek alphabet demographers and some such yeah one wondering what should I do after how long is a generation it's I think they're trying to standardize them is around 14 or 15 years now roughly yeah my 12-year-old son is Jen Alpha and now here comes Jen beta I mean I think we should really come on Jen beta we're going to need you I mean there not that many left right of gen beta they not that many yet I mean how many Greek letters do we have oh well I mean are there 20 26 but this is going to be a whole generation to some extent part of gen Alpha as well that's only known Politics as defined by Donald Trump right which is very unusual I know um it's uh well 39:06 again in terms of the moral uh effect that president has on a generation or more uh it is a quite apart from all the awful things he's going to try to do uh it is already a blight a severe blight on America and on that upbeat note I think I want to I want to thank both of you Jen X and Jen Z and from a boomer from the Boomers from the Boomers Corner let me just say uh thank you all for joining us this is not going to be an easy time uh you know it and We Know It uh it's going to be a frightening time we're sliding into uh but I hope we've given you a cause for a little bit of more comfort that you may be feeling we'll see you next Saturday [Music]

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