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COMMENTARY THE COFFEE KLATCH ... AUGUST 9TH 2025 with Robert Reich and Heather Lofthouse Trump takes gold ... This is Neo-Fascism PLAY YOUTUBE VIDEO Original article: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApeoddPfpjs
This is Neo-Fascism \| The Coffee Klatch with Robert Reich Robert Reich August 9th, 2025 The Coffee Klatch with Robert Reich Trump’s assault on the truth. Texas-sized election rigging. 24-karat corruption. We break down this week’s biggest stories on a new Coffee Klatch. How this content was made Auto-dubbed Audio tracks for some languages were automatically generated. Peter Burgess COMMENTARY For some reason, I found this episode of the Reich / Lofthouse Coffee Klatch to be very depressing While there is a growing community of people who dislike what Trump has done and is doing ... it does not seem to be stopping. There is a lot of money 'slopping around' in the economy in ways that don't seem to have much legitimacy ... but seem to be mega-bribes. None of the people currently in power seem to have no interest in stopping this appalling behavior. The stock market in New York continues to stand at record highs. People I talk to at my local supermarket are also seeing record highs ... for all the prices they are now having to pay. While profits and prices are high ... cost of living is high and getting higher, but wages have stayed about the same for around 40 years. The people 'at the top' have never had it so good! Now is substantially better for them than it was in the so called 'golden age'. And America ... that is the USA ... and Americans have never been so disliked by other nationalities than they became after WWII. Other nationalities 'played nice' to Americans in order to be allowed to share (... a bit ... ) in American's prosperity. I am British by birth and background ... born in 1940. We lived in Surbiton in the subirbs of London. I was too young to remember the 'Battle of Britian' but I do rememberlater in the war being bombed by the Luftwaffe and later by the VI 'doodlebugs' (an early version of a cruise missile ... a pilotless plane full of explosives that ran out of fuel and frashed somewhere around the intended target. In 1945 when the war ended and I was 5 years old, Britain was 'spent'.Before the war, Great Britain had huge resources not to mention an Empire. At the end of the war Briain had war debt owed to the United States, not to mention huge responsibilities related to the many members of the British Empire who had made wining the war possible. I was 20 years old, fifteen years after the end of the war when I was first able to buy things without a 'ration card'. Britain amd tje Brits had very little money ... but eventually we paid back the war debts owed mainly to the USA. Lend-lease from the USA was a financial life line for Britain and others and enabled the war to be won ... but for the USA, lend-lease was a massive economic bonanza. Fast forward ... Ukraine is getting 'lend-lease' type financing from the United States in order for Ukraine to get the military equipment and supplies it needs ... but this is really not a 'gift' bu a very 'hard-nosed' commercial transaction where USA holds all the cards ... just as they did in the early post-war years after 1945. Peter Burgess Transcript 0:00 And it is the Saturday coffee clutch with Heather Loft House and yours truly, Robert Rich. And uh Heather, you know, I I ask you this every week now because I'm really genuinely I'm both concerned about you and also a lot of other people who are who are enduring as we all are this extraordinary, you know, neofascist regime. I mean, how are you doing? Seriously. But first of all, can I ask you to lift that mug up again? Yes. What? Show us that mug of yours. This is my This is my late show with Steven Colbear. Mug. So, I will tell you how I'm doing, but can I just You are just off the plane. You're just back from New York. You have been on a book tour, which you love as we all know from your subst. I can't stand I really can't stand book tours, but let me I don't I want to know about you. Don't you know what you always do? You always change the subject back to me. I don't want to talk about my feelings. 1:00 I want to talk about you. I want to talk about you. Um, well, so I can tell you that school starts for my child next week. That this feels early, but this is what we do these days. So, Oliver school starts next week and we are cleaning the house and he's I mean, first of all, the new uh season of Fortnite dropped, Bob. So it's like school schmool. So he's into these he's gaming. Um and then we're cleaning the house. So he's going into seventh grade. So I'm trying to make his room go from a elementary school room to a cool kid room. I understand. You're a wonderful mother and I appreciate all of that and I'm sure Oliver does too. But you eluded my question by talking about your son when I asked you about you. How are you doing? Psychology here. I'm decent. I'm decent today. I mean, the week is brutal. And as I drive here to the office and go to cough and think about what we're going to talk about on the clutch, it's pretty it's a ramp up of 2:03 depression, but then I see you and it's a little better. I mean, times are grim, but you find I mean, really truly, I think focusing with my kid, cleaning out the house. So, my dad just sent me six boxes that were in his barn since 1995. And I have something in my back back pocket I want to show you. And I want to know if you know what this is. I found this in the box. It's of course it's a video for tape. It's a cassette tape. This is It's a cassette tape. That's what I meant. But more specifically, Bob, it is a mixtape that my pal Doug made for me, who I haven't thought about in a long time. This kiddo who's now an adult man who's 48 somewhere in the world. But it was a mixtape for my 17th birthday and I found it. But this is so Gen X for all the Gen X. But there's no place to play it now. Play that. I don't know. But there's it's a mix of Beasty Boys, Nirvana, um, and Leonard Cohen, Smashing Pumpkins. You were listening You were listening to Leonard Cohen. Well, when you were 17? 3:04 Yeah. Well, Doug Doug put this on my Sorry. I'm very imp I'm very impressed. I mean, Leonard Co Leonard Cohen, you know, he becomes his stuff is so dark. In fact, his last his last album was uh what it was darker still or let it be darker. I mean, he was and that's before Trump. Okay. And that's our segue. Anticipate anticipate Trump. So anyway, no, but your your point about uh the Late Show with Steven Colbear, I did it um and uh I was in New York and doing a lot of publicity for the book and uh I I I find it mortifying to go out and trying to sell something that is as personal as a memoir. I mean, it's just it just makes me feel awkward and 4:00 yucky, I bet. But it also but it must I No, but yes. But I think also I mean you have an impetus to do it and then people say it's you must have a lovehate with it because then people say thank you I resonated with this you positive things right. Well, I no, of course I like I like it when people, you know, read my book or they see your, you know, extraordinary and Elliot Kersner's extraordinary movie and they're inspired. But what what I just the process of promotion, you know, the the process of actually flogging a book uh makes me uncomfortable. And maybe that maybe that just that's my age. Is that what it is? No, I don't think you loved it at 52 and a half, did you? No, but I think that the culture has changed. I think that this is a culture now, you know, with social media where everybody is fgging and promoting themselves and self-promotion is part of has been built into the culture in a way that it just wasn't. Yeah. Before I mean there but anyway, 5:05 and also I think you one other thing I would say is that you probably want other people to succeed too, right? So you want course I mean if the Right. So, you also don't want to let people down when you're on a book tour. But you finished it. Is no you finished phase one. I finished phase one. That was just a few days. Heather, I have this ongoing In-N-Out tour and I'm going to uh Houston and I Boston. Wait, but you for before that you and I are going to be in San Francisco on August 13. So, people can come to Broadway SF if they want to see us. And you're we're talking about the book. We're talking about the movie. Um, absolutely. Okay. So, Donald Trump. Well, I I do have to talk about Donald Trump. That's my question. Yes. I mean, I I am so disgusted. Every day I read the news and I just feel myself getting more and more outraged and yet I 6:02 know that I can't not read the news because we have to face what's happening. Uh, and we've got to be very clear about what's happening. But so drives me crazy. So what are we going to talk about? What would you like to talk about? Well, I want to I like what we do, which is we come up with themes. We pay attention to what people aren't looking at, what's under the radar, and we you make sense of so much of it. So this week was a lot of what we could call anti-truth, anti-science, anti-data, anti-fact. It's it it's it's not just lies. I think you're absolutely right. This is this you know in the 18th century uh not to be too elevated about this but in the 18th century there was something called the enlightenment uh in which uh civilization as we understood it then which was Europe and the United States and various other places around the world uh be became 7:00 aware that there were such things as facts and data and truth objective objective and object objective reality uh and that objective reality shaped public policy and what governments began to do and what people began to talk about. And that objective reality was so important uh that we are in some sense the legacy of that enlightenment that 18th century enlightenment except for Donald Trump uh and the sickopants and lap dogs around him and the Republican party uh in Congress and they really don't want facts. They want to organize themselves and America around a pre-enlightenment view uh that facts are irrelevant, that their truth is irrelevant, that all that counts as what? Fieldy, obedience, loyalty to this fearless leader called Donald Trump. I mean, this is am I overstating it? No. And it is it's a feudal court. But so why is that? I mean, I get wanting to 8:05 control everything and then I get but really there's so many examples and we should go through them. It's he's trying to they are trying to obliterate universities in terms of their ability to move forward. We have um Robert F. Kennedy who has Junior Junior Junior who has come out and said we are doing away with mRNA vaccines. Forget $500 million. I mean that scientific progress was so American. We were known for it. It was our ingenuity. We were now it's scientific regress. I don't even know what to call it. I mean scientific regress. I like that. That's a react scientific reactionary scient. It's it's pre-science. It reminds me of the of of the of the of the trial. Do you remember the trial uh having to do with evolution? Scopes. Yeah. Uh the Yes. The monkey trial. I mean, 9:01 the the notion that somehow science was opposed to religion and therefore you had to choose between the two and religion was truth and science was halftruth. I mean, we're we're we're back to that kind of stuff. But also, just look what happened last Friday. The Bureau of Labor Statistics comes out with the report on jobs. Now, Heather, the reality is that the entire economy is slowing down. uh and Trump doesn't want to face this and his his his stupid uh tariffs which you and I know are import taxes. Uh those are actually contributing in a big time big way to the slowdown. He doesn't want to acknowledge that. So what does he do? He shoots the messenger. The Bureau of Labor Statistics uh had a bad jobs report. It revised downward the previous months. It always revises when it has more information. What do you do when you have more information? and it's contrary to what you had before, you revise. You do what you should do. 10:02 That's science. But what does he do? He says, 'No, he's going to shoot the messenger. He's going to he's going to get rid of the current Bureau of Labor Statist Statistics uh head uh the commissioner.' uh and and what the the effect of that is to undermine confidence in the facts, the truth coming out of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which means it undermines confidence in all of the government data that we rely on to determine how the economy is doing. Did you see he brought out new graphs and he's like, 'These are great. These are real n these are these are really great. Can you get in on this these numbers?' And it's just you can't even read what the graph is. It's just a line. I mean, wait. I'm like, is it jobs? Is it your ego? What are we What's What are we doing? It's his It's his ego. His ego keeps on going up. It's like that. It's like that hurricane. Remember when he Oh my with the Sharpie and the shenan Sharpie where he thought, you know, the hurricane was going in one direction and it turned out it was, you know, he he didn't know what he was talking about. So, 11:03 but you say he doesn't have to acknowledge, but he I mean, he doesn't want to acknowledge, but this is not going to affect him. I mean, the stuff that's going around him, he is getting richer and richer. I mean, maybe that was his personal, you know, bank account. Well, it's both his ego and his bank account, and they go together. Uh because this administration so far, this it's not even administration. This this regime uh is noted for number one, it's its disregard of facts and actually disregard of truth, and number two, its corruption. Uh I mean, those I mean, and cruelty. Let's add cruelty as the number third major feature of this administration. Uh so you have the disregard of the facts and you have the cor the corruption in plain sight. It's I mean it's it's it's it's beyond anything we have ever seen and certainly tolerated in this country. So two things that we've seen in the past I don't know 48 hours alone. I saw the there's this person that's now 12:05 working at the DOJ. You must have seen this Jared Weise I think his name is and he was at January 6 out there at the Capitol telling people there are videotapes of him saying kill the police. Um, and NPR found this, right? You have to watch hours and hundreds of hours of tapes. And so, of course, NBR, NPR, they're trying to obliterate. It's getting rid of any place where we can. So, getting rid of the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics getting So, wait a minute. But this person, this is very important because this person who they NPR found on videotape who is saying burn everything down. He is now at the Justice Department. Mhm. He is appointed by Donald Trump to be one of the Justice Department. Yeah. And specifically is he a lawyer or what is he kind of he Well, I don't know actually his background flamer the official flamer at 13:02 the Justice Department. Yeah. He's just lighting everything on fire. But he Yeah. So he um is working on the weaponization working group, right, which is doing Trump's bidding at the Department of Justice. Bob, the Department of Justice. That's right. The Department of Justice. This is, you know, this this is what reminds me of George Orwell. Everything is upside down. Truth is lie. Lies are truth. Justice, the Department of Justice is actually the actually the department of injustice. The Department of Education is the department of lack of education. But it reminds you of Orwell. Or it is or it is Orwell. I mean that's I feel like we used to talk about oh it's Orwellian and it seemed so far in the distance and you know like a I don't know a a dream or a potential and it feels like it really is we're living in it. Well this is this is dystopian George Orwell 1984 that was the title of his novel. And you're right when when we read when we I read it a hundred years ago in school uh it was it was kind of a 14:04 curiosity. It was nothing like that would ever happen. I mean, it did happen. It was kind of a commentary on the Nazi Germany and the authoritarians of, you know, of the 1930s, but it was not going to happen in the United States. Obviously not. And here we are, Heather. And then we have Tim Cook who goes to, you know, make an appearance and offers of Apple and offers a plaque to Donald Trump. A gold bar a a gold bar gold with a there was a plaque attached to it. Yes. But you have I mean can you imagine the head of one of the biggest companies in America goes and gives the president of the United States a gold bar 24 karat 24 I mean who knows that could be worth tens of thousands or more of perhaps unrelatedly you know the tariffs will exempt you know your semiconductors 15:02 we don't have to do the whole tariff thing for you. That's right. Tim Cook gets a he gets for for Apple an exemption for semiconductor imports. I mean, Heather, plain sight, you said. This is this is this is corruption beyond corruption. This is corruption on steroids. How can how can we just sit there and just allow this to happen in front of our very noses or you know this is like Qatar and the jumbo jet airplane that is a palace in the sky that goes to Trump. It's not going to the United States. It's going to Trump. These are personal. Trump Trump has invested in crypto big time and his family. They are major crypto investors. Trump has already made the estimate is over a billion dollars since he has been president off of his crypto investments and at the same time he is managing the crypto policies of 16:03 the government which essentially say go for it you know just do whatever you want. We're not going to we're not going to really regulate crypto. And what did the there was that executive action two days ago about crypto and the 401k plan. Oh yes, actually that's very very important because um the labor department is supposed to administer the rules as to how and what can be put into your 401k plans. Uh, and that's very, very important because you don't want a lot of stuff in there that could just blow up in your face. You want to make sure that those plans are are are solid, are are reputable. Uh what what the what the Trump administration, the Trump regime just did is allow crypto and and Bitcoin and all of that junk that is when I say junk, I mean it's it's it's a giant Ponzi scheme. It's a it's a 17:05 pyramid scheme. I mean, we know that crypto has no intrinsic worth. I mean, its worth is based on people buying into it. Uh it's like uh you know any other pyramid scheme. Uh but you can use it according to the administration now you can use Bitcoin you can throw it into your 401k. Well what happens when the those 401ks exp I know I mean it helps it helps Trump. Yes. Because he's going to make a lot of money right now on Bitcoin and he can get out before it it all explodes. Uh, but how about the hundreds of thousands if not millions of people who are tempted to put Bitcoin or crypto into their 401ks? I know it's so scary. So, I think that's under the Department of Labor has been asked to review all of that. I think that's where it stands. I don't know. It's been asked to review, but you know as well as I do that when when in this 18:02 in Trump's administration in his regime, when Trump says to the Department of Labor, uh, I want you to do something or I'd like you to to review it. Well, of course, it's going to because these cabinet officers have no separate critical intelligence or voice. They are just there for their loyalty. I mean, the the the Secretary of Labor, uh, when when Trump says that he's going to fire the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which is inside the Labor Department, uh, what does the Secretary of Labor do? Uh, she says, 'Oh, yes. Well, that's that's reasonable because u because there was there's been huge mistakes and problems at the Bureau of Labor Statistics.' Heather, you know, if you're a responsible secretary of labor, you're not going to you're not going to you're not going to allow a president to attack the Bureau of Labor Statistics. So, this is all part of the same weave. I mean, Trump says, you know, I'm really I'm interested in changing the 401k 19:03 rules. So, you bet the Department of Labor is going to change the 40 rule, 401k rules. But you saw the FEC data this week that showed January through June what money was going to MAGA super PACs and then I think it was public citizen that good some great connecting the dots where it was well it's 50 million put in by billionaires just under 50 million and corporations and you can just connect it all oil and gas donations here you know adjustments over here in terms of loss I have I have the sheet right in front of me tell corporations. Uh, this is since the beginning of the Trump regime. So, corporations gave $73.2 million to Trump's MAGA, whatever it's called. This is the election super PAC. Billionaires uh gave 49.2 million. Cryptocurrency corporations, executives, and investors gave 41.7 20:05 million. fossil fuel corporations executives gave 26 26.8 million. I mean, this is all money raised by MAGA, Inc. during the first six months of the year. It's it's almost twice the amount that was collected by the Republican National Committee, which is subject to contribution limits. This stuff is, you know, this this again is is corruption. Absolute. There's corruption in plain sight. Then there's corruption that's easily findable like this which isn't on the front page but you know it's out there. And then there's the corruption that we can't we don't even know is happening. Right. Is it three levels? That's right. Who knows? That's right. Who knows how much I mean every one of these countries that is negotiating with Trump over tariffs or import taxes. Every one of them could be making side deals and payments to MAGA to Trump to you know co gold bars. How many gold 21:03 bars is Trump getting? We don't know. We don't know, Heather. There's no There's no accounting. And And by the way, the data I just gave you was from the Federal Election Commission data. How much longer are we going to get the Federal Election Commission data when this administration doesn't want us to get this information? Don't even say it. Well, I'm I'm obviously said it concerned. It's so scary. And then the tariffs are all hitting, right? And I saw that the Wait a minute. Import taxes. Hello. Oh, sorry. I keep forgetting. Import taxes. A couple people last week said say import sales taxes, which I appreciate, but it's just it's quicker for us to say import taxes. Import sales taxes. Import taxes. Let's everybody needs to be using the same language because this these are import taxes. They are taxes that we pay. And that's it. The Yale Budget Lab has said it's going to be 18.3% on average that 22:00 we're all hit. And I think it was $2500 this year that households will be um having to pay out. I saw a lot of it has to do with textiles. So we're talking clothes and shoes. I mean, it's all over the place. But in terms of, you know, the working class and where it's hitting, this is serious numbers. That's right. Average cost for households. You were almost right. I'm have it right here. The report says 400 $2,400. Well, you know, if you are a billionaire or even a multi-millionaire, $2,400 is not that that great a sacrifice. But if you are a typical American and you're earning what 75 $80,000 a year after taxes, maybe 40,000 household household uh well 2500 uh is 2400. That's a lot of money. Is a lot of money. And you got 70% of American households who are living paycheck to paycheck. Uh Heather, this this has to be I mean the media have got 23:02 to get this information out to people. They're going to be paying through the nose. They're already you know prices are already rising. Uh and most of the tariffs, these import taxes have not even gone into effect yet. I don't think we're low enough. Can we talk about Epstein? You want to go really low. Really low. But that was another deal that is I mean it is so obviously happening, right? I mean how is there there are deals happening right in front of our face. I mean in terms of Maxwell. Yes. Tell us and testimony Maxwell because everybody wants everybody wants to know now what she knows. They want the grand jury testimony. They want the records of Maxwell M. Maxwell and And so if she is she going to rat on Trump? I think she Well, not if she's transferred to a minimum security prison and if the 24:00 Justice Department is quietly making a deal with her. I mean, and Trump is, you know, Sato Voce, he's saying, 'Well, I I could I could of course pardon her. I won't, but I could. Right. And so she says, 'I mean, I didn't see him do I didn't see any I didn't see anything.' And yeah, go ahead and you know, like the the testimony, that's fine. Grand jury testimony. Or no, did she say don't? She said don't release it. She said don't release. Her lawyer said don't release it. Uh and I think that that is part of the plan, right? Cuz then I mean I don't you don't have to be a conspiracy theorist here because she says, you know, I don't want it released. I don't want uh the public to know. And then Trump's justice department can, you know, play the as if it's on the high road can say, 'Oh, but we want everybody to know.' But we have quietly, secretly made a deal with her so that she and her lawyers say, 'No, we don't want anybody to know.' Right. And that Trump's not in it, so 25:01 what's the big deal? I mean, the Trump It's fine. It's fine. It's everything's fine. I mean, the It's grim, Bob. Well, it's it it is grim. And I'm I mean every week we talk about the things in the week that are making everything grimmer. Uh but uh let's keep going. I have more. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. It's important that we talk about this stuff. Of course. Uh it's important that we get the word out. People need to have the truth. They're not getting the truth. The major media uh are doing a pretty good job, but uh you know, they're not they're not connecting the dots as we try to do. and and it's important to see how everything fits together in this kind of neoascist way and it is neofascism. Now yesterday on your Substack you were talking about all the redistricting that is likely to happen and I think your point is so well taken. The one thing I was excited about is I realized that Trump is not on the ballot for these midterms. 26:05 That is going to be great. What is going to happen in Texas? What are other states going to do? Can you give us your two I like this this concept you were saying about Well, uh Trump obviously is concerned about the midterms. I mean, his popularity, his favorabilities are dropping like a stone. Uh and he knows that typically in a midterm election, uh the House or the Senate reverts back to the non party, the presidential the the opponents of the president. And so, uh, he is he's nervous and he's instructing Texas and he's instructing other Republican governors, uh, to redistrict radically. Five more seats. Five more seats he wants, right? Uh, well, he wants at least five more seats out of Texas. Uh, but he also uh, you know, there he's been in communication, it's pretty clear, with Ohio and with a number of other states 27:00 that are Republican states. Um, so he would like radical redistricting. I mean, we're talking about radical gerrymandering. Uh, the Supreme Court has said that you can gerrymander all you want as long as it's partisan gerrymandering, not racial gerrymandering. Okay. Well, that basically takes the gloves off. The these these governors can do literally whatever they want to repress uh votes of the other side. And that's exactly Was that Mor Harper? Yeah. Uh and that is uh exactly what's happening in or it seems to be what's happening in Texas. Now California uh Governor Nuome uh is counterbalancing that. He's saying if you do that Texas I am going to do uh just exactly the opposite in California. Now I this is some people are saying this is a race to the bottom. You know this is going to have uh terrible repercussions. I think, 28:00 Heather, this is actually a good idea because as long as the California Newsome and and other governors of other blue states uh counterbalance and and make it clear that they're doing it in response to red state governors uh who are doing a kind of a this kind of super uh ultra gerrymandering. uh then it may actually have the effect of uh reducing the incentive of red states to do this kind of gerrymandering. Again, it if you wait, this is the way California is doing it. Uh we're waiting we California, we're waiting for Texas uh and we will only do as much as Texas does that that kind of neutralizes the effect of Texas's gerrymandering, right? And it's not a race to the bottom. In fact, it avoids a race to the bottom. But couldn't so am I naively hopeful here? Couldn't it backfire? I mean the Trump is so impulsive and so destructive. It's not a thoughtout huge 29:05 I mean hugely wise policy that he's thinking through or right. Uh how's my sentence here? Great. Trump is not strategic. He is impulsive. He is destructive. And everyone's saluting him and moving quickly. this could backfire, right? I mean, the reason this is happening is Republicans are worried, which is what you were kind of saying. So, isn't there a world where even if they do the gerrymandering, it backfires? Uh, yes. I mean, obviously you you're you're totally right. Trump and the most most of the Republican party right now, uh, they will do anything to win. I mean winning at all cost even if they are sacrificing our democracy even if they're sacrificing institutions of our democracy even if they are sacrificing public trust which which again is what they are doing uh but I think that Democrats could without 30:04 joining the Republicans in essentially destroying public trust. that Democrats could maintain these institutions by saying repeatedly whether we're talking about gerrymandering or anything else uh we are going to do only as much as you are doing. It's kind of you know it's it's analogous to the mutually assured destruction uh concept with regard to nuclear weapons, nuclear war. We are not going to start a war. We're not going to do uh more than you're doing, but we will make sure that there is a counterbalance so that you have no incentive to do worse. Uh and that's what I think is a is a completely respon it is a responsible position for the Democrats. I I appreciated your substack where you wrote that, but I still don't like that so much of our present day reality is based on this man's whims. I mean, also the evilness, also all of it. But this 31:04 is I can't I can't believe this is where we are and we're only six months in. We're only six months in and it is his whims. I think this is a very important point. Uh it's not law. Uh he this is he nothing that he's doing is based upon Congress's permission. Congress has not passed any law about you know raising uh import taxes across the board. Uh, Congress is not allowing has not said anything about the power of the purse. It keeps the power of the purse, but he's doing whatever he wants in terms of essentially not spending or reverting the money or or destroying agencies as Doge has done. I mean, he basically is a loose cannon. But the most important point and your point, it's whim. It's his whim. It's whatever he wants. Nobody is checking or balancing him. Uh there's we don't know what the deals are. This is all about personal deal making. 32:06 Whatever topic we're talking about, it's personal deal making. Tim Cook comes in and gives him a a a solid gold bar. And what does and and and Apple gets an exemption from the import taxes for semiconductors. I mean, it is disgusting. It is absolutely Maxwell Jane Maxwell personal deal making and you know settlements that are happening personal deal making with corporations I mean it's not even the art of the deal uh it is the destruction of democracy uh through personal personal deal making that is completely hidden from the public. Okay. Now, did I did I cheer you up? You cheered me up big time. Um, but at least we are together. At least we are 33:01 having the midterms coming, right? I mean, this is what we focus on. At least there is solidarity in numbers and people getting together for things like no kings marches. I know Indivisible is planning um future actions, right? Can you give me some seeds of hope? I need a seed of hope. I think there is a lot of push back and and I keep uh reassuring myself that uh there will be and there's already coming to be a backlash. Um I mean Trump's numbers are dropping. uh Republicans uh in town halls uh across the country are being booed and uh are they're facing constituents who are angry with them because I think of all the things we're talking about today uh and uh hopefully hopefully democracy will prevail. The other thing, Heather, I think more people today understand the meaning of democracy, the meaning of the rule of law, you know, the meaning of 34:06 even due process uh than ever before because of what we're all going through. All of these concepts, all these ideas are being tested uh and stress tested. And so people actually are beginning, I think I'd like to think, are beginning to appreciate uh what this country really was built upon. Right. And I think that's the tarnish silver lining that you've mentioned. You've mentioned the silver lining, but I think we're trying to clean it. Get the tarnish off. Yes, that's absolutely the silver lining. I don't know. Um the other thing is, of course, shameless plug, you can go see The Last Class film, which is now in 29 states. It's playing at three. It's about to open in three theaters across Alaska. I love this. Wait a minute. Alaska. The Last Class. The last class film.com. Heather. Heather. I'm I'm This is amazing. This is your work. And it's also the work of Elliot Kushner, the director. But I don't know how you're 35:06 getting into you're getting into red states. I'll tell you how. The people want to see it. Audiences are going and saying, 'This gives me hope.' And that's right. We need to fight for public education as it relates to democracy. Well, I believe that you believe that, but I'm I'm interested that it's that it's being it's being seen in so many places where, you know, most people, at least in terms of voting, are voting MAGA. I know. Well, thank you to everyone who's going to the theater and telling their friends and their loved ones and their frenemies. We get great reports of people going and saying, 'I dragged someone. None of my friends could go, so I dragged someone who I don't quite agree with to the theater.' And we on the way there and on the way back we realized we agree on more than we thought we did. Basically all this cool feedback. So anyway, so that's a seed of hope. Really great credit to you. But I am going to thank you. But I am going to put you 36:01 in an uncomfortable position which is this is so fun. When you were on Steven Coar this week Yeah. Um, the producer had said to you, 'I love that part in your book where you talk about when you were interning for Bobby Kennedy Senior and you were in charge of the autopen of the signature machine and you claimed you wrote a letter to your friends.' That's so funny. I did. Did you actually write the letter? Right. You said, 'Yeah, I wrote the letter.' So then I wrote letters to my friends. I was Look at I I was so excited to be in Bobby Kennedy senior's office. Um, and he was such a great Yes, that's the letter. This is the letter. We tracked it down. Okay. So, you're in the office. How old are you? And Oh, I was 21. Uh, and I was But but by by about a month and a half through the through the summer, I was so tired running the signature machine that I thought, well, maybe maybe I'll do something that a little exciting. So, I I snuck in probably illegally. I'm sure I'm sure you feisty. And I wrote I wrote 37:03 um uh to my friends using the stationary Bobby Kennedy Senior Stationary. Uh and uh I wrote Well, here actually please read it. Please let me show I'll read you. Yes. This is this was July 5th, 1967 uh to my friend Douglas Dwarkin. Uh dear Mr. Dwarkin, and this is from Robert F. Kennedy, New York. Dear Mr. Doran, it has recently come to my attention that you have been designated an outstanding bullshitter in New York State. So good. This in itself is a great honor and you are to be congratulated. However, I've also learned of your exceptionally large nose, one of the largest in Westchester County. You can be assured that these two distinctions place you among the very rare and most distinguished among my constituents. Once again, my congratulations, best wishes, Robert F. Kennedy. It's so 38:03 It's so great. And I love that, Doug. So, we call Doug and we say, 'Doug, do you still have the letter?' He said, 'Still have the letter? It's in a frame in my kitchen. So, maybe I mean these these letters by Robert F. Kennedy, Senior, uh, you know, could be worth on eBay or what, wherever you you know, they could be worth at least 50 cents. I know, maybe 40 cents.' H but I love that Steven Colbear they found this out put it up on the internet and you know I was thinking one other thing Heather as we were talking about lies um and this this horrible regime when I was when I went to Colar and I I I talked to him beforehand uh I was I had this feel I mean he's in the comedy business and he's ob obviously it The show was very funny and and my interview I I think was funny but there was I was also heartbroken um because 39:04 this show has been cancelled. Why has it been cancelled? Because of Trump because Paramount re remember Paramount that owns CBS wanted to sell CBS. Uh, and the only way it felt that it could get the sale done was if the Federal Communications Commission run by a Trump stoogge would allow the sale. And that meant uh, Paramount did everything it could to make the FCC and Trump comfortable and happy with CBS, including announcing that it was getting rid of the Colbe Bear Late Show. I mean th this again what I want to stress to you is that every corner of our society is now being affected yeah by this horrendous regime this despotic neofascist regime right and so I felt as I was there I I felt obviously I was I was delighted and 40:05 excited to be there but I was heartbroken heartbroken by this reality. It was sort of there hanging over. I'm so sorry. I mean, it's so tragic. And it is. It's We talked at the beginning of our clutch today about anti-science, anti-fact, and and it's anti-satire. It's anti-humor. It's anti It's anti- anything that takes on Trump. anything that insults him, anything that he doesn't like, any fact that violates or contradicts what he wants people to believe. Um, you know, getting rid of big chunks of the Environmental Protection Agency uh designed to let us know about uh the effects of climate change. I I mean I 41:00 I I just well I'm I'm almost speechless because I I don't want to end this clutch on such a down note. But let me just say, Heather, uh, that I appreciate you and I appreciate Michael Lahanes Calderon, uh, and Jordan Alport who's helping us today, uh, and our wonderful team, uh, and everybody else, uh, around the country who is fighting the good fight to preserve oberve or at least to minimize the damage being done by this regime. Uh and let me say to all of you out there, I I mean I I can understand how desparing and pessimistic you feel. Uh I came across on this book tour, I come across a lot of people who say to me, uh you know, I just I feel so 42:04 depressed. I feel so terrible about what's happening. And I get it. I I feel the same thing. Heather, you feel the same thing. Uh but we have no choice but to keep on fighting. And I want to I want to stress this because it's one thing to despair. It's a completely different thing to give up, to become cynical, to become hopeless. It is very, very important that we continue to fight. We continue to be hopeful. Even if we're pessimistic, even if we despair, we have to continue to fight and we have to continue to believe that it's possible and it is possible that we will get through this and be stronger for it. So on that note, thank you all for joining us. Heather, thank you. We'll see you next Saturday. [Music]

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