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Date: 2025-08-20 Page is: DBtxt003.php txt00027988

COMMENTARY THE COFFEE KLATCH ... FEBRUARY 8TH 2025 with Robert Reich and Heather Lofthouse Elon’s Wrecking Ball PLAY YOUTUBE VIDEO Original article: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BML3nZ9hIxc&list=PLOLArO56vjuoDxbdMWMFEdWfVCsHc2X7W Peter Burgess COMMENTARY Peter Burgess
Elon’s Wrecking Ball \| The Coffee Klatch with Robert Reich Robert Reich Premiered February 8th 2025 1.09M subscribers ... 189,936 views ... 12K likes The Coffee Klatch with Robert Reich The billionaire's boys club is ransacking our government. Are Democrats doing enough to fight back and stand up for our courageous civil servants? Heather and I discuss on this week's Coffee Klatch. Transcript 0:00 and it is the Saturday coffeee clutch with Heather loft house and your really Robert R uh Heather we are reaching the third week of the Trump regime I'm going to continue to call it the regime instead of the administration uh and uh 205 205 weeks to go no it can't be 205 weeks to go please I mean it's each week under Trump is like a month in real time I mean it's just it it's like dog ears it's really I it it's it's taking a lot out of everybody and I mean that I mean I think uh last night uh I I had another set of dreams about Trump I I can't well anyway what are we what what are we going to talk about let's get into it I mean I think we got to talk about all of the insane things from the past week wait a minute there's so many insane things how do we how do we select the insane the motion can't make a list 1:01 can't make a list anymore okay so let's review do you remember at the start of the week we were talking about trade Wars I I it seems like a hundred years ago I mean the start of this week we there was a a Mexico and Canada both uh basically agreed to do what they have already been doing and Trump claimed Victory and and and and and then put them on a a kind of a 30day leash uh and there's going to be supposed to be negotiations and it's all about Trump claiming Victory looking like he's tough and then I think he also made some other remark about Canada and the 51st state and meanwhile he's still fulminating about the Panama Canal and about uh about Greenland but the big story of course was he wants to make a resort out of Gaza a a kind of Riviera a I mean it is hard to know whether this person 2:04 named Donald Trump is serious or whether it's a big joke I mean how do you if I'm if I were a journalist trying to report I I wouldn't know how to begin I mean these this it's not even foreign policy I mean it's all deflection what happened to Ukraine remember he was going to solve the UK the war in one day I mean what happened to is is is the ceasefire still operating is he doing anything about the ceasefire in Gaza I mean this this is all wild wild deflection and the Press is falling plan and that's the plan right it's what Steve Bannon talked about it's what we just they o they aim to overwhelm us so we don't see what's actually happening right I mean also we can't forget I have a concept of a plan I mean there are no plans here this is all impulse and Mayhem it's not even impulse control it's just Mayhem I I mean this is flooding bannon's 3:03 phrase I remember is flooding The Zone uh and but what but there's an entertainment quality to this too I mean I I people come up to me did you hear I mean what he's going to do with Gaza and they laugh but they also are horrified at the same time it's this combination of laughter and horror that I see and hear all around me uh and uh and I think that's a survival tactic by the way I think it is too it's so atrocious but it is it is an entertainment in a way uh but it deflects attention from all of the most important things whether we're talking about foreign policy uh or we're talking about a coup I mean what's happening this week is the the the kind of the final infrastructure of what is essentially a coup taking power away from the rest of government and putting it in the hands of Donald Trump aided and eded by none other than Elon Musk 4:01 and what you're calling the muskrats yeah and the muskrats uh are people who they have not been in any way vetted by anybody in the FBI or anybody else I mean they have access and they've wormed their way I think what is it rats do they burrow they tunnel into the data of the United States and we know that they are now in right there in control of of the payment systems uh in the treasury and the new treasury secretary allowed them to but even before he allowed them to they were already into that payment system they're burrowing into the uh General uh Services Administration they're burrowing into all of these data sets and payment systems all around government one of them uh one of the muskrats I'm going to call them muskrats is that rude probably but that's okay I support it just to be clear about six or seven of these very young between the ages of 19 and 5:05 25 men boys men who are going in with um computer science skills right go ahead they they have the no other skills as far as I can say they can code they know how to code uh one of them was just uh basically essentially had to resign because they found that he had quite racist ugly stuff that he had been uh he had been promoting or or talking about a few years on ago on Twitter uh and another one is 19 years old and uh he has a business on the side in which he is actually he's promoting uh some uh some methods to set up your own websites and do other things in Russia he's working with I mean this is wild Heather I mean it it it is really bizarre again these 6:01 people have not been authorized by Congress they've not been vetted there is no process or oversight of what they are doing nobody knows what they are doing this is supposed to be let me remind everybody a government by and for and of the people the people we are supposed to know what is happening in Washington and people who are now from musk's Circle in Silicon Valley Young 19 20 21 year olds uh coders are getting getting control of the codes of payments made by the United States and and and and and musk is now saying well I could stop these payments and maybe I will I know and this is the thing we need these this data and these people to this needs to be secure they they haven't passed security clearance tests the most number one that's right this is these are among the most sensitive 7:05 places and and data you can be in the federal government and there is no security no security there's personal information there is your social security number Heather uh and your unemployment insurance and your your your your data about about you know where and where you were born I didn't even know where you were born well now you do and now I'm thinking I'm thinking back to my ballot November I don't remember seeing Elon Musk on there was he you know he's the the new the new magazine cover of Time Magazine has has Elon Musk sitting there behind the desk in the White House in the Oval Office uh we have somebody who he could not even be elected he's not even born in the United States I mean I mean so so if you're talking about a takeover a number one you burrow in with your 8:03 muskrats through these little trap doors and back rooms and know tunnel rats always leave their their little hairs and their oil behind them my exterminator showed me this yeah no you can tell where they've been you can tell they great than that's very that's that makes me feel better about them and then you've got besides these muskrats who are burrowing and tunneling uh and and getting control of everything you've got from the top down you've got this uh this process of taking over agencies like us Aid uh last week I mean closing the agency firing essentially almost all of the 10,000 workers in the agency uh these are people you know who have been working and they're contractors it's not just the agency 10,000 they have about about 60 to 70,000 contractors around the world who are working on health issues on on helping stop communicable diseases on on providing schools 9:04 agriculture education energy I mean these are essential needs I know and keep in mind too so we're talking they we're doing this for the sake of efficiency gains let's remember usaid's budget 38 billion what musk has made in terms of his personal net worth since the election it has grown 156 billion so we ought to actually think about those numbers musk or we ought to tax musk and to pay for the US Aid that he's just destroyed uh and all of the people the the millions of people around the world who are dependent the richest person in the world has just destroyed America's Agency for helping the poorest people in the world and he has made $170 billion in the process and he's doing it so that there is more room in the federal budget for what for a big tax 10:03 cut for people like him and this whole thing about Dei I mean the one the minority person we need to be worried about is a billionaire taking over I mean talk about a minority it's everything is upside down I mean it's truly upside down I thought it was weird and and bizarre and upside down in the first Trump Administration but at least there you had some people who were guard rails I mean there you know who who told him no now there is no restraint at all there's no I know boundary and all the people who are being uh kind of uh joining his administration not just the musks and the muskrats but even people who are getting through Congress uh like like vote I mean Office of Management budget he was office management budget in the first term but he was the brains behind project 20 25 that Trump's kept on saying during the campaign he never heard of he has 11:04 nothing to do with but he is implementing everything that was in Project 2025 and now vote is there at om and at the Office of Management but he's going to be able to do even more of this can we can we get we do have some positives from the week I just want can I just s i I just I just want to say that the the the next step with regard to vote is something called impoundment yes and we talked about this a little last week but let's talk about it again okay tell us the history and I know um there was an act when Nixon was President remind us well I mean very very quickly Richard Nixon uh did not want to spend money that Congress had appropriated the appropriation process is quite big it's a big deal it's one of the most important aspects of what Congress does under under article one Section 8 of The Constitution of the United States Congress has the power of 12:03 the purse uh Nixon did not want to spend or did not want to spend on the things that Congress wanted and he therefore impounded the money Congress the next year in 1974 passed What's called the impoundment Control Act uh which said no a president cannot simply impound decide what he's going to spend money on no this is congress's prerogative uh and then the Supreme Court in 1975 the next year there was a test case and the Supreme Court unanimously said yes the impowerment Control Act is constitutional and a president cannot make up his decision his mind about what is going to be spent and how it's going to be spent but what's happening now this is you know vote at om and and TR let be clear that's a person vou ghg is it is pronounced it's confusing it is I know but it's confusing I mean it's it's kind of a dezian notion I mean 13:07 you would you somebody who is who is who is really part of the coup of the United States named vote I mean there's C certain irony there uh but he and Trump are going to take this I believe as a test case to the Supreme Court once again and see if the court will reverse itself in in terms of its 1974 decision a big deal I mean because if the court reverses itself and says okay we were wrong uh Trump you want to you want to spend money as you want to spend it that's fine Congress is out of the picture I mean it's easy from that point on for Trump or any president assuming that there is a future president to say to Congress well if you want to spend x uh I have to approve that and maybe I'll 14:02 approve it if you give me why uh you know or you let me do this which maybe is illegal right now but I want it to be legal so you make it legal and we're we're Square so this is a power grab I mean on steroids but I have I have a hard time remedying because I do this is not going to go well this is not going to go well this is this is not a strategic smart thinking contemplative leader right we've discussed that I think you you understated the situation but let me just just remind you Heather this is we're not even to the end of week three and this is we we are now seeing this coup and when I say coup I mean it is a coup because it is it is illegal it is illegal in terms of the laws of Congress the Privacy Act uh impoundment it's it's illegal in terms of the Constitution I mean so much of what's Happening Now is 15:03 just flouting the law entirely know but so what does legal even mean anymore I have some friends who former colleagues who work for usaid abroad and they their emails were turned off and they were fired and they were staying in an apartment that was um you know part of the job and funded and then they they got a note that said Security is coming on Monday and so then they thought well do we fight do we fight this I mean this doesn't seem legal but I guess we don't have what does legal mean these days we're just going to have to leave we're not going to risk that security is going to come take the kids and kick us out I mean this is you're asking exactly the right question because what you know before we had this kind of takeover this coup what was legal was pretty clear that is Congress would enact a law the president would either sign it or veto it and then Congress would have an opportunity to to override The veto uh and then if necessary there could be 16:03 appeals to the federal court system to test the legality uh in terms of whether process was correct or whether it was consistent with the Constitution that was a system it's called the system of government a system of self-government democracy uh well what what do we have now we have a a person in the Oval Office with a sidekick named Elon Musk or maybe it's Elon Musk with a side kick named Donald Trump that are who in the side car and who's driving and I don't know but but but but the law is what they are saying it is they are basically saying we don't care about the law did you by the way did you hear or see Tom Senator Tom Tillis one of the you know one of the lackes one of Trump's lackes said it may be unconstitutional but but don't make a big deal about it don't Bell EG I think he used I think he used the Bell EG don't belly maybe unconstitutional don't belly AE but so I 17:02 feel better when I see I I know I see I feel better when I see these federal judges blocking things or Banning things I mean I'm seeing these words and I'm feeling better but if we're not following that right then I mean if the federal judge says okay we the buyouts that is not this is not Kosher not okay but they're still happening is that that's a federal term not Kosher I mean that's that's a it's a particular yes a federal federal judges are stepping in now and and and there are a lot of appeals my count is about 45 separate appeals to the federal court system from what Trump has done in the first three weeks already and many judges are putting stays or injunctions that is actually stopping it saying until we have a full trial until we know more about this nothing can go forward forward but there are indications that 18:01 Trump and and musk are doing it anyway I mean the freeze the freeze on all federal spending was found to be unconstitutional or at least a stay was put on it the federal court said no you can't do that but the freeze continues and in the meantime they're moving people in and I feel like you saw that Elon was tweeting about um how weekends are where it's at because it's like the opposing team isn't even on the field you have two two days to do whatever you want democracy dies in darkness or democracy dies on the weekend and who is musk's opposing team is it is it the people of the United States uh is it is it Democrats is it who who who is the opposing team I thought the people of of America were actually behind supporting supposedly it was a government of the People by the people for the people but it's not but musk sees it as we are the opponents somehow yeah but there were some federal court wins right so there wasn't just that there was there was one 19:05 on Doge right and that they can't have access to the treasury Department systems and then wait but even even on even on the issue of the buyouts I mean right until the the I think Thursday night was the time where people federal employees could accept or not accept the buyout that was being offered by so so-called being offered by Trump but actually being offered by musk musk was was was tweeting was was saying you have to accept this this is a great deal even after the court said no you can't do that he continued to do it he doesn't he there is nothing in his history or in Trump's history that suggests that they are bound or feel Bound by the law now the federal courts are are going to be doing even more and it's going to go up to the courts of appeals that's the n that's going to happen over the 20:00 next couple of weeks and some of this is going to go to the Supreme Court you know who is acting bound bound by the law the Democrats it feels like they are just doing business as usual now there I did see some Proof of Life this week that I was pleased to see we saw people protesting we saw people showing up at rallies um and I do think that the this upswell this bottom up energy that we're seeing from people I mean there were more calls than they've ever seen you only have they have a thousand um voicemail limit and all of these inboxes have been full from Democrats that's what they were saying so well even some Republicans I mean a lot of a lot of Republicans believe it or not are very upset by what is going on not just the never trumpers but other other Republicans they everybody's calling in and I think making a fuss and some are demonstrating and Democrats appear to be getting a little bit of life in them and 21:03 that's fabulous I mean they were up all night uh trying to stop the the vote on vote the vote on vote yeah they were doing speeches all night to delay it which wasn't actually a talking filibuster I understand it was just staying up all night with a barrage of speeches but but but Heather even if this doesn't really do much legally or to change the direction of the coup at least it shows people shows Americans that there is life there is an opposition uh there is resistance we we're not just all playing dead we are actually we the people are having some voice and so I think it's important that Democrats continue even louder even in a bigger way I mean I mean stop everything stop it I mean don't don't let the Republicans get anything done and it's also it'll be very telling who is I 22:01 actually took a leadership and social change class with you in Fall of 2006 I think it was and you talk and you were very good you were very very good I'm not going to give your grade away because but Elon Musk has your grade by the way yeah exactly he knows what I got on the midterm that's depressing um but it's interesting who is rising up I mean AOC did an Instagram live and 5 million people viewed it channeling so encouraging leaders encourage this bottomup energy and then specific leaders Channel it right and use it for good it'll be interesting to see in the next two years in the next four years who is coming up who are the if we make it can't say that minute wait no wait wait a minute well here's what I want to say because when ultimately the Supreme Court says if it says if it has the backbone to say no to Trump on one of these basic issues and what happens then well JD Vance I don't know if you 23:03 remember a year and a half two years ago J Vance JD Vance said quote he said yes let the Supreme Court and he was quoting Andrew Jackson uh when when Andrew Jackson said this about the Marshall Supreme Court he said let them let them make their decision and we will just not follow it we will ignore it yeah well when that happens we are really that's the final end game that is the end game we can protest all we want uh but unless there is a an upsurge a revolutionary upsurge uh it doesn't matter there would have to be I mean I I we can't go down these I mean this is I don't have enough coffee in this mug to be going here this this was not the plan in my head but but it wasn't I mean it's so wor for America it is so much worse than it I thought it would be but you know what Heather I I'm so impressed by a lot of the uh public 24:01 servants the civil servants uh who have stood up this past week and said no we work for the people uh you know we're either we're in an independent agency or we're not going to give you the keys to the kingdom uh we are going to we we're not going to G give in uh and I think we've SE it's been a we've seen it at a lot of levels this week so I mean the general Services Administration staffers they're doing interesting things on their internal communication systems like slack and otherwise because Elon wrote that email which was taken from his Twitter email that says fork in the road you know please everyone leave um and they're all putting spoon emojis everywhere right so people there is an energy and they're setting up um private communication channels to be talking about things and a lot of federal workers are going on redit and on subreddits and saying let's stand up and you saw the numbers in terms of the number number of people who have taken the buyout is reported at 40,000 which is about 2% of the workforce and we know 25:05 that Trump was hoping it would be 5 to 10% who would leave um so I mean there have been and then you saw of course that um the largest Union of federal workers has had more signups and it's in 4,000 came in in the past week or so and they're at the highest rate of paying members that they've ever been in 92 years so there's there's there's stuff happening and then so that's kind of at this level and then at other level people are are coming in and they're saying we're not going to do the things that you want us to do um agent Driscoll who was running the FBI he said no we are not I'm not going to f give you the information of the people who were doing stuff around the January 6 Riot I'm not going to reveal this to you so certain people are standing up and saying I'm not going to go period or I'm not going to go without a fight or I'm going that's right or I'm fighting I mean the 26:01 the chair of the National Labor Relations Board who was illegally fired by by Trump uh she is appealing that uh the the FC the member of the federal elections commission who was just fired illegally by Trump again there's going to be a fight there uh I think fighting is absolutely critical at this stage um and you know something else Heather I you know I have a a lot of people have been brutal toward the federal Workforce but they call it you know for years I mean starting with the Reagan Administration calling them uh bureaucrats you know and and and and and and just uh this this bolognia about the Deep State the so-called deep State these are people who dedicate their lives so that we are safe so that our jobs are safe so that the environment is better than it otherwise would be so that corporations don't ride rub shod over us uh these are people who in my 27:06 experience and I worked with many of them care deeply about the United States they would not be doing what they are doing would they if they didn't care deeply about the United States they could be they could get better jobs they could get safer I mean you know more more stable and higher paying I know and higher paying and they wouldn't have to every you know worry constantly about shutdowns and about uh you know failures to raise the debt limit and all this I mean they go through shite constantly uh we owe them a huge debt of gratitude it's a vocation it is a vocation and there and the civil service was set up to be nonpartisan um yes in fact there's something called a Pendleton Act uh this is one of the great reforms you know get rid of the spoil system don't allow a president to just put into his loyalists this is a professional civil service that's what Congress enacted that's 28:02 another act that he's supp B basically thumbing his nose at right and I go digging into the archives and force yeah and force you and everyone else to watch but sometimes they're funny and sometimes they're preent and scary and ominous and interesting and this one is incredibly poignant it is from you it is a video of you saying goodbye um as you were leaving leaving the Department of Labor and saying how much you appreciated uh federal workers and how much they need to be appreciated and are underappreciated you know public servants have taken a lot of bum wraps over recent years there is some frustration out in the land obviously and government is is an easy target and I remember when several of us gathered together after the disaster in Oklahoma 29:03 City I remember calling some Department of Labor employees who were injured I remember calling one Department of Labor family who had lost a member in that Oklahoma bombing and I remember the shutdowns and I remember all the things that you have been through and all of the work that you are doing and I I think that the public is beginning and I hope it is beginning to understand that its public servants are working for the public that you are engaged in one of the most noble callings there is and that is every day every day trying to make people's lives better in an environment that is often not very 30:01 much of an appreciative environment I have often said that a large institution like this with 16,000 people is subjected to Chronic under appreciation every one of you here every one of you in the Regional Offices everybody you're working hard and there is no way that you can fully be appreciated there's no way that I or anybody can fully show appreciation for what you are doing you are chronically underappreciated and yet you are doing such important work and I do appreciate it and the public does appreciate what you are doing I am not going right away we will have many opportunities to talk but I want to tell you that I am honored to have been a part of the Department of Labor and to have all of you as colleagues over the past four years thank 31:04 you heather that makes me that really does make me want to cry I mean I I mean it it's just uh 30 years almost 30 years ago how far we have come how how well I feel for those those people I mean they are being treated in ways that they should not be treated and this also goes for all of those those us Aid workers and the people the contractors I mean it's it's a it's a really it's it's shameful it is utterly shameful anyway thank you though for letting us share that and for fighting for them and as one of them for all that you've done and people are going to continue to fight and you're an example of that so thanks for letting me torture you with archival Clips well thank you for torturing me and keep on um Heather thank you and thank you for doing this every week and for all 32:06 your other work with inequality media and you are on the front line as well and let me just say one final word to all of you out there end of week three of this regime which is turning into a dictatorship what I tell myself when I get discouraged and I do get discouraged I mean this has been the longest three weeks that I can remember is maybe we needed something like this to wake us up maybe we needed this reminder of how important democracy is maybe we needed to be reminded of the work that the government does that is so important to all of us maybe this shock over the long term will be just exactly 33:05 necessary in terms of the long in terms of the reforms that must be done must be made you know Heather I've watched for 40 years as big money has taken over our politics as the oligarchy has become more and more powerful as a working people have felt ignored Donald Trump is the consequence not the cause of what we're now experiencing and so with with luck these institutions that have been built over aund and in some cases 200 more years these institutions will succeed and pass one of the worst stress tests they have endured thank you all see you next week [Music]

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