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COMMENTARY THE COFFEE KLATCH ... OCTOBER 11TH 2025 with Robert Reich and Heather Lofthouse Trump’s War on America PLAY YOUTUBE VIDEO Original article: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQBhWkzzGB4&t=2303s
Trump’s War on America \| The Coffee Klatch with Robert Reich Robert Reich Premiered Oct 11, 2025 1.36M subscribers ... 272,062 views ... 13K likes The Coffee Klatch with Robert Reich Donald Trump continues to wage a war on his political enemies. How far will the courts, the media, and the American people let him go? We discuss this, and other big news of the week, on a new Coffee Klatch. Peter Burgess COMMENTARY I am now 85 years old. Trump is not much younger. I am still 'of sound mind' but it is something that many people of my age are not ... and this includes ... sadly ... the US President. Peter Burgess Transcript 0:02 And it is the Saturday coffee clutch with Heather Loft House. Who is Where are Heather? We'll find out where she is in a moment. And yours truly, Robert Rush. Heather, where are you? Where are you today? I am I'm in Santa Barbara because the film The Last Class has been showing all over the place. And I came to do a Q&A yesterday and 700 people attended the screening of the film The Last Class about your last semester of teaching. It was fabulous. That's fabulous. Thank you for doing that. But I would love to have you first of all. My pleasure. In our studio, you know, in our office here in my How about I come back next week? Next week. And maybe maybe just maybe we go to Sals. Maybe we do something different. I don't know. We'll see how we're feeling. Okay. Uh but Heather, what's what's our um first of all, how are you? Not only where are you, but how are you? Well, the seeing the film with all these people and all these young people who are just saying, 'What do we do? How do we remain active and how do we become 1:02 activists every day in different ways?' I mean, people are just so hungry for hope and hungry to do things and excited about the no kings protest. So, that gives me hope. Other than that, it's grim. My family and you all, my lovely co-workers, but it's grim out there, Bob. You know as well as I do. The list of course I know it. I know it as well, if not better. I mean, it's um but look at we're we're going to be upbeat today, right? I mean, this is this is an upbeat conversation. There might be some ups and a lot of people. Well, there ups and downs, but let me just say I think one of the themes for this week is the I'm going I'm calling it the reveal, the great reveal. Because, you know, Trump has shown himself now every week he shows more and more, but this past week he has shown himself as the authoritarian, dictator, fascist, you use whatever words are you're comfortable with, but certainly not a president of a democracy. And uh this is B I mean people are catching on Heather there I I've talked with I you know people who I know I actually know and talk with Republicans and even some Trumpers uh and a lot of people are very upset by what he is doing in terms of sending troops to you know Illinois and and and trying to get the troops into into Portland, Oregon and uh and and targeting his enemies and going after you know, any liberal organization. I mean, this is this is the stuff that is, you know, it starts with Jimmy Kimmel a couple weeks ago and it just builds and builds and builds and builds and people can't take it. But your your point is that the worse he is, the more egregious, the more horrific that people are waking up and saying this, he's gone too far. So there is a line and he's crossing it. That's right. Exactly. This is not people begin to see even if they are 3:00 Republicans and even if they are sort of uh voted for Trump. They're beginning to see this is not about Republican versus Democrat or right versus left. This fundamentally is about whether you want to live in a democracy, whether where we are safe as individuals or whether you want to live in a system uh again call it dictatorship whatever you want to call it that is not a democracy where each of us is vulnerable each of none of us is safe and that's what's happening people are beginning to get that reality uh that everybody is now vulnerable to this Trump uh machine but what is he up too cuz you and I you and I have talked about so on the one hand it's whims it's truth social there's no plan there's no policy there's no rigor and and gravity you know and intellect behind it all and then on the other hand it's what is he doing with all of these troops with the ICE agents what is is there something 4:01 around the insurrection act that's going to happen I I think I think that there is a very specific plan I think it was hatched by Steven Miller and JD Vance and even Russell vote uh you know the troa that sits around Trump uh and does the thinking for him. Uh but I think what they want to do is basically eliminate democracy. That's been the that's been the purpose all along. But what they now feel like is that they have an opportunity to do that. And it starts with the deployment of ICE uh and trying to get do it in such a way uh that people are outraged and people should be outraged. I mean what ICE is doing is going into you know apartment buildings and grabbing u men, women and children uh some of whom are here legally completely legally. This goes back to the theme of it could be you. It could be you next. Uh and it's going and and and uh and and ICE is uh is is taking people and disappearing them uh and 5:06 doing so many things that's that are so antithetical to what we in the United States believe in. But the demonstrations themselves that are a natural response to what ICE is doing are being used as a pretext for bringing in the National Guard, for bringing in federal troops. Uh, and Trump started to do that with Washington DC and then he uh tried to do it and has done it to some extent in Portland, Oregon. And that's part of it too, right? Chicago, these are Democrat cities. These are blue cities. Democratic That's right. Democratic cities. They are cities with Democratic governors. Democratic mayors uh and they are cities that are going to be very critical in the 2026 election uh which is part of the plan. You know, you intimidate people in those cities. You put troops on the street in those cities. Uh so people make uh you know, 6:02 they say, 'Well, should I actually vote? Should I actually, you know, maybe uh maybe it's a little bit too dangerous.' That's what they want. Uh but the insurrection act is part of the plant. The insurrection act goes back to 1807. I mean it's an old uh law that has been used very very rarely. Uh but it allows a president to use the national guard and uh also the army in the United States, federal troops in the United States when things are completely out of control. But what was it designed for? It wasn't designed for some Democrat cities, right? Where a president was exaggerating exaggerating about what was happening on the ground. In 1807, there were I don't think there were Democrat cities. Uh in no was designed for putting down only when governors and mayors and the the 7:00 officials that are normally in charge could not handle it. uh putting down essentially real uprisings. Uh but you see the irony here is the most recently it has been used for uh well it's been used for you know with when there were uprisings and riots in certain cities. Uh it was used I remember as a young person when during the civil rights movement it was used federal troops going into places like Alabama. Uh but there were Alabama National Guard. They were federalized, but they were Alabama National Guard. The notion of actually taking troops or federal or people from uh from the state of Texas uh National Guard from the state of Texas and putting them into Chicago when the mayor of Chicago and the governor of Illinois don't want uh those troops. This is new. I mean, this this is this this starts to resemble what we saw in 1860. uh the 8:03 beginnings of a civil war. I'm not saying we're we're we're going toward a civil war, but but you have to see this in in the large context. I mean, this is this is beyond outrageous. And a lot of people are catching on. They're saying, 'What?' And at the same time, he's doing the hyperexaggeration. He on Truth Social, the news media around him, his colleagues all over the internet making AI videos. And it reminds me, remember when we watched all the debates together, um, and he would, you know, they're eating the dogs. They're eating the dogs. And that became this meme and it was like, no, they're not eating the dogs, but this is they're eating the dogs is the name of his his PR and marketing play. I mean, everything's exaggerated, right? And the and the equivalent right now is is is Portland is burning. I mean, down to the ground. Uh, you know, Chicago is out of control. There riots all over Chicago. And of course this is these are lies. Uh he is these are propagandistic 9:01 lies. He is lying. This is not news that he is lying. I mean as you just pointed out this is Trump but the people around him are also lying. Uh his uh his troa is lying. Pam Bondi is lying about what is happening in these cities. So they're trying to get the public uh to back him. Uh but it is hard for the public to back him when average people who are in Chicago say what right I mean nothing's happening here. No but there have been court rulings right I mean so this is I feel like in the dam holding back Trump and all of what he is doing and represents in the dam are some incredible logs. This is a terrible metaphor that are these court rulings, right? A few courts are saying, um, hold on those troops, please. That's not We're not doing that yet. Well, this and and a lot of the court, I mean, the the the district court judge in Portland, Oregon, uh, is a Trump 10:01 appointee and, uh, and she said, 'No, you can't do this. This is unconstitutional or it's a very high probability of being found unconstitutional. So, I'm going to stop it. I'm going to block it for now. Uh and we we saw something similar with regard to uh the troops moving into Chicago. It's now being appealed. Uh and Trump is going to appeal all of these things obviously. Uh but uh the courts are uh particularly the district courts and to some extent the courts of appeals are holding this back because it's patently unconstitutional. It goes way beyond the powers uh that the constitution grants in article two to a president. Um and uh but the Supreme Court, I mean, let's face it, Heather, you the Supreme Court is pretty open to Trump. I mean, if it ever gets to the Supreme Court, the Supreme Court may say, 'Yeah, sure. You want to use the Insurrection Act? Well, it's the presidential discretion. He's the commander-in-chief.' I don't know. I I I I I I I would like to think that the 11:04 courts, all the courts, including the Supreme Court, have enough integrity in terms of their constitutional responsibility, but I'm I can't say that about the Supreme Court. Can you? No, I can't either. But we do continue to point out these Trump appointed judges or Reagan appointed appointed judges who are saying things. Now, I know, did you see this week the National Governor's Association, which is not an association that's on the front page every week? It's just all the governors in their association trying to get their jobs done, stay, you know, in sync. So, basically, Governor Nuome and Governor Pritsker said, 'Hello, are we got to say something here as the governors of these states? I mean, what this this troops troops from one state going into another state, we need to have a position on this.' And so the um head of this group is an outgoing Republican governor um from Oklahoma and from Oklahoma and he basically said Oklahomaans would lose their mind if Illinois sent troops 12:05 into this state. So it's interesting to see a few what you said is you know is there are we at a breaking point? I mean, I don't know yet, but you are seeing people who are saying this. Yeah, this doesn't fly. This doesn't fly for me. They're this they're saying what is evident to everybody. The emperor has no clues. This is nuts. Uh this is absolutely crazy. We should never be here. We shouldn't be sending troops, National Guard troops from one state into another state when they when the governors and the and the mayors don't want them. Uh you know what? What has how have we come to this? How have we ever come to this? And of course at the base is Trump is Donald Trump. Uh and he's losing it. That that's the other sub uh theme here, Heather. There's more and more evidence that he is, you know, suffering dementia. I mean, I I I I this is not meant as a criticism of him. This 13:00 is a description of what is happening to him. JB Pritsker, the governor of Illinois, said exactly this. He says that we have a president who is suffering from dementia. He's losing becoming more unhinged. He used the word unhinged. Becoming more unhinged. And we saw that Trump sent out a truth social to the world that then the Washington Post says was meant to be a direct message, a DM to Pam Bondi, but instead he sent it to everyone. I mean, there there there are these examples of him doing these oopsies. Um, but oopsies. Well, they're doing they're bigger than oopsies. Did you see? Yeah. But did you see, by the way, I mean, he on September 30th, he talks to the troops. We've we've talked about him talking to the troops or to the I'm talking to the generals, the top brass of the military. Uh, but actually, I looked at that. I I I got a tape of of him talking to the top brass of the of the military. Well, you know, well, I mean, a clip. Uh but it's it's it's staggering how 14:03 incoherent he is. It's it's beyond any incoherence I have seen. And he's been very incoherent before, but this is way beyond where he has been before. I know. And he does he kind of covers it up with humor. He covers it up with, you know, trailing off with oneliners. It's interesting to watch the kind of deflection and the the way he's handling it because he's on camera all the time because it's his favorite thing to do is be in the spotlight. But so at the same time that we have this horrendousness happening in terms of troops being sent, ICE being sent in. It's almost too overwhelming to talk about again. Then we have him going after his political enemies. Yeah. and and and Leticia James, I just want to put this in context. Leticia James is considered by Trump as one of his political enemies because she prosecuted Trump uh and got a victory uh 15:02 in New York. She is the attorney general of New York State. He has now indicted. He's got his justice department to indict the attorney general of New York State. uh he couldn't get the US attorney in the east eastern district of of Virginia to do it. Uh that US attorney uh just resigned, said there wasn't enough evidence. Uh so he put in somebody else. He found somebody who would finally do his bidding. No other prosecutors in that office are are helping her. She did the grand jury completely alone. Uh because there's no because some people have integrity. You know, he finally found she has no prosecutorial experience. Lindseay Haligan, I mean, no prosecutorial experience. Well, she Let me Let me just say like Rudy Giuliani when he had his bar membership revoked. You know, I I hope that's in her future, too. Because if you're just basically saying, 'I will do 16:01 anything because I'm loyal to Donald Trump. I'm loyal to the president of the United States. The president of the United States wants to me to rip up the Constitution, and I will do that for him.' Well, I don't deserve to be certainly have my law license, my my my own. I have a loyalty. I should have a loyalty to the United States. Uh that should transcend my loyalty to Donald Trump. But here she is. She's she's she's going after uh Leticia James. She had gone gone after James Comey, another so-called Trump, you know, enemy. Uh and and who's in who's in line? Adam Schiff, uh, you know, the, uh, the the California senator is also in line. I mean, Trump says that he wants to go after Schiff as well. So, you've got all of these Trump enemies, but it's important to know that the cases that are being built are very thin, right? Very shallow is what I'm I mean, I'm not shallow, thin. They're not even, in 17:02 fact, they're not even there. You put them up to the light, you can see through them. there the there is there is almost nothing there. Leticia James what was something on a on a housing loan application uh and and the allegation is that she uh she didn't sign it correctly and she was making she was fraudulent uh and that some total of of her benefit that she got was $18,000. $18,000. You're suing the attorney general of the state of New York. Uh and you're using your own handpicked person in the Justice Department to do that. Uh and you're you're you're trumping up trumping up, excuse me, a charge. Uh well, I I I think again the larger theme here is people in the United States see this and even some Republicans and even some Trumpers are going, 'Wait a minute. This is this is crazy. This is crazy. This is not the kind of country I want to live in.' And by the way, it could be me next, 18:03 right? And I think I mean, we've talked about this, but part of the playbook and part of the game is stoking fear so that everyone is just on eggshells and worried. So, we're in this defensive mode and we don't look up and see what's happening right at the top in terms of the wealthy. And I think this is a very important scary this is a very important very important point because the way the the press has been treating uh you know laticia James and Comey is that that Trump is looking in the rearview mirror and he's it's just vengeance about what happened before. No, this is his future. What he's doing is he's trying to intimidate people right now. He's trying to set the example. He's setting he's saying to people look if you cross me I am going to go after you just like I went after Leticia James and I and Comey and and others of my enemies so don't even risk it. That's that's this is this 19:01 is part of the same playbook. It's part of the same plot. This is the authoritarian playbook. And then we have Attorney General Pam Bondi who comes out and says the administration will take the same approach to Antifa, which by the way we're not defining as drug cartels. Well, and the and the approach the administration has taken to drug cartels is what? To bomb them. Uh right. Yeah. One's in the water. To to treat them as as if they are uh enemy combatants. Uh and and is that what Pam Bondi is really thinking that anti first of all I who is Antifa? Do you do you know any members of Antifa? Have you ever seen any members of Antifa? No. But this is what they do, right? It's woke. It's they they use these phrases and then they create these these mountains of fear and hatred around them. These illdefined context. It's fear and hate. Exactly. It's fear and hate. And you you just say it over and over and over and you have all of your lackeyis and uh and and and and 20:06 enablers around you in the White House and in the cabinet say the same thing over and over and over again. Uh we have this enemy within. We have an enemy within. And who is the enemy within? It turns out the enemy within cannot even be defined. Uh it's it's Trump's it's Trump's personal enemies or it's what? It's liberal groups like uh the uh George Soros's foundation. Is that part of the enemy? And the grantees associated with them, you know, and he's saying violence, anyone stoking violence, you know, or kind of the terminology. And he's saying indivisible. Indivisible. How is indivisible stoking violence? By the way, you know, there is going to be a No Kings Day, too, on October 18th, which is next week, next Saturday. And Heather, I hope you are out there. I'm going to be out there. I, you know, this is not stoking violence. Uh, in fact, it's just the opposite because what I say and what everybody 21:05 says and what Indivisible keeps saying is no, this is not violence. These are peaceful protests. These are and peaceful protest is the key to it. We're not going to play Trump's game. We're not going to fall into his trap. We are going to be utterly peaceful, but we are not going to be intimidated. We're not going to stop our free expression of our views and and what we believe. Uh and this is very important that we are actually out there next Saturday. I agree. And in the meantime, the shutdown continues. What is the latest that you know? Where's the is the house ever coming back? What's happening? Well, the House will come back. It's going to be it it the shutdown will continue. And the Republicans uh you know, they think that somehow they are going to be able to blame the Democrats for the shutdown. I mean, they already are online and in videos at the airport, but they'll successfully successfully blame the the Democrats. But actually, 22:03 most people in this country, this goes back again to common sense. They say, 'Wait a minute, the Republicans run the White House. They run both chambers of Congress, the House and the Senate. Uh, and for all intents and purposes, they own the Supreme Court. This is the Republican party's government. This is the Republican party's example of how they can govern. Uh and and and most most people are not thinking about well well the Democrats have got to get to give seven votes to overcome a filibuster in the Senate and blah blah blah. No, the common sense approach is you you guys can't you you are incapable of governing and that's exactly the truth. This is this is going to hurt it already is all of all of the polls show this is the shutdown is hurting Republicans far more than it's hurting Democrats. And you saw that Speaker Johnson had to backtrack in terms of backay, that they were not going to give federal workers back and there was too much heat on that. It was 23:02 politically untenable. Well, interesting. Trump was the one who first said we're not going to give back pay. Now, I I want to make sure that everybody understands how this works because I've been through a lot of shutdowns. Uh people are divided, government workers, into essential and non-essential. Now, that's just for the the bare bones, keeping the government going. Uh that's not for delivering all of the services that everybody needs. It's just bare bones, essential and non-essential. What the Republicans are saying is, well, if you're essential, uh that's nice, but if you're non-essential, why should you even be paid at all ever? I mean, why shouldn't you why should you even have a government job if you're non-essential? Uh well, they obviously don't understand it, but nobody, even essential workers, nobody is getting paid. Nobody. So, all of these government workers uh and 24:00 believe me, I've been through shutdowns. I've seen the hardship because 70% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck, uh and they're not being paid. Yep. Yep. And if you're an air traffic controller, for example, to take a just, you know, one example, uh, and you're under huge stress, the the the skies are crowd more crowded than ever before. Uh, the we're we're coming up to holiday season, holiday travel. You don't have in reinforcements. In fact, you're you're understaffed already, even before the shutdown. uh and you're not being paid and and you're you're you're you haven't had a raise in years. I mean, your your pay has been absolutely stagnant for years. Uh well, how how many air traffic controllers do you need to just say the hell with this? You know, I'm just I'm going to call in sick. How many do you need to to create delays? And I mean, it's it's already right. It's not fair for them to take on the burden. And then you have at the same time, oh bless you. I sneezed last 25:06 week on the clutch. This is incredible. Well, I I did. Thank you. Wow. Now we're twinsies. Okay. So, at the same time as this is happening and we're fighting about health care, I mean, allegedly, right? Let's talk about the different the different strata of what's actually happening with this shutdown and why it's happening and why it's being delayed while Democrats are being blamed for it entirely. But so this 20 billion dollars, right, goes to Argentina to bail them out. 20 billion. At the same time, not to mention that, you know, Secretary Bessant's friends who are running private equity firms and hedge funds are kind of really in favor of this move, by the way. Well, then why do you think we're bailing out Argentina? Uh, exactly. Because Wall Street wants Argentina bailed out. Bessant is the uh, you know, the agent from Wall Street, the ambassador from Wall Street in Washington in the Trump administration. Uh but uh at the same time our government is shut down. At the same 26:06 time we are not doing things for our people that need to be done. We're bailing out Argentina. I mean this is this is part of a broader theme. Heather, you you get a the Trump administration came in saying, 'Well, we're going to take care of America. We're not going to look abroad. We're not going to be America first. We're gonna we're gonna take care of Americans.' What do we have now? Well, uh, Trump is, you know, he's he's putting a lot of effort into into Israel and Hamas, and he's trying to work on, uh, bailing out, uh, Argentina and everywhere else in the world. But inside the United States, uh, no, inside the United States, it's not a peace plan. It's a war plan. We're we're going to war because it's the enemies within the United States that he keeps talking about. It's the enemies within that Pam Bondi is is focusing on and and all of the US attorneys are going after. And I 27:05 mean it it's it's it's such an irony. Uh you've got a a wartime president in terms of the United States inside the United States. Uh and uh and I think that that's part of the absurdity people are are now focusing on. Now, I do want to talk about the ceasefire, but can we talk about the elephant in the room? I don't know what we call it. Jeffrey Epstein. I mean, as long as the government is shut down, then we're delaying the vote on the Epstein file. I mean, let's just That's We can't, you know, there's too much going on over here. Don't look. Don't look. Deflect. Deflect. That is significant, isn't it? It's it's a it's hugely significant because Trump voters really care about EP this Epstein business and if Trump is involved, they want to know. There's a discharge petition uh in Congress right now in the House. Uh it needs one more 28:02 vote and that starts a process that forces the House to vote on getting the Epstein files. Uh and that one vote is coming from it is already committed from the new house member from the seventh district in Arizona. Yes. Uh but she hasn't been sworn in. Ghalva. Grihalva. I Well, she can't be sworn in. You know, they're on recess. There's a shutdown. It's like Well, I mean, Michael Johnson said we can't possibly swear in. He says, uh, but he did say to the two Arizona senators, uh, I'll swear her in when you end the shutdown. Uh, now these two Arizona senators are are obviously Democrats. So, is he using her as a a bargaining uh to get the Is it bargaining or is it bargaining chip? Uh, I think it's bargaining No, someone can put it in. 29:06 But uh but but what's really happening here is that you know we have you have this discharge petition and ultimately ultimately what Michael Johnson and Trump are scared of is that they're going to have to reveal everything in the Epstein files uh all the client lists. And uh this is this is hanging over the administration. This is hanging over Trump uh and Michael Johnson, right? Uh and uh you can bet that a lot of what we're seeing is a deflection. So Bob, ceasefire, I mean it has been years. It has been horrific. And I'm picturing all of these civilians walking north, you know, trying to find is your home still in existence? Probably not. I mean, this time we're living in and Trump, of course, is talking about going to a press event where hostages are returned. I mean, he's making it about himself now. This should have 30:05 he's make Are you surprised that he's making No, but I'm I mean, it's just it's so typical. It's shockingly typical. Look at if he does bring this off, I mean, remember this is this is a huge issue. And if he does bring this off and we get a ceasefire and we get a new kind of coalition government of of Arab countries that are going to be a new uh government for basically Gaza. Uh that's a big deal. I mean let's let's give him some credit. Uh but will he pull it off? uh and and and and Netanyahu doesn't have an interest in ending this war because that means he is going to probably be deposed. He's probably going to be uh you know his his right-wing cabinet and his right-wing people are he's going to he's going to lose. Uh so he doesn't want this war to end. Uh I 31:06 think it's it's it's an interesting time in the Middle East right now. Uh but guess what? Uh Donald Trump did not get the Nobel Peace Prize. What that he's been coveting. He's I mean what is the Forget it. Why are we even meeting this is that I mean he he re he renames the Defense Department the Department of War and he wonders why he didn't get the peace. Wonderful guy. and and wait till I mean, you know, people in Norway are are wondering what's what's the revenge? What's the what's going to happen? How is he going to get back at us now? Oh gosh, I know. I can't And you know, he he won the peace prize because Barack Obama got the peace prize. Bob, this is middle school. That is that sent I mean all the sentences during By the way, I love having coffee with you. Thank God for this because I don't know. And thank you everyone else for joining us because if you weren't here to help 32:04 break it down and think about the bigger context and and you and you you I mean I I think that you are in Santa Barbara. I wish you were here but uh thank you for thank you for for showing the film and uh kind of getting people upbeat because the film is very upbeat. It's upbeat but it's not you know sanguin and it's not everything's fine. It's really not. It's somber, but it's ultimately hopeful. And so this week, we went to UC Berkeley. We had the Cowl premiere of this film about Professor Rich's final semester, which took place at UC Berkeley, and we showed at UC Berkeley, and this phenomenal undergraduate division of education said, 'We want this film.' And we brought it in, and 2,000 people showed up. And we had so many I don't know if we can find any clips, Michael, but we had so many students say afterwards, I 33:00 am reinvigorated. I care about public education. Coming and seeing this film um was really inspirational, especially as undergrads who go here. I think seeing the possibility and the inspiration that education, especially public education can have on the future generations like us, um was amazing to watch. So I really appreciated coming to this film. Yeah. So, uh, we were in his last class. Um, he took it and it was the most impactful class I've ever experienced in my life. Um, we're seniors now at UC Berkeley. Um, and this community has changed us forever. Um, and Robert Rich is really the symbol of that. Yeah, I was going to say I think it's just refreshing to kind of like be reminded that you're not like even though within Berkeley I think sometimes you can get kind of bogged down within things because you're constantly fighting against things. So I think it's it was kind of refreshing to see that that is still like not just with the students but then also with like older generations as well. So 34:02 I feel the exact same feeling as the very last moments of his last lecture where I felt empowered and I felt so capable. I felt so inspired. I'm so blessed to have a community and I think that through uh Robert's teaching and honestly what I think he stood for was teaching people. I think collectivity and the collectivity I have here today uh is what we need in the future and I think this film really brings hope into that especially as we are all undergraduates. I think it's a great it's a great thing for our time right now. Thank you Robert Rice. Thank you Robert Rice and you had a conversation with W. Camal Bell. Camal is Bell is he's fabulous. I mean he's he's a he's a good friend and he just you know he's he's just uh he he doesn't have much uh what can I how can I say this he is so clever he's so smart he's he's able to think so fast about 35:05 fundamental issues u and yet he doesn't have such a big ego I mean so he uh is is able to have a conversation in front of 2,000 people uh and which is also hilarious and And then he says to you, 'What is what's the homework? What's the homework, professor? What do you what homework are you giving these 2,000 people?' And you said, 'Be an activist.' Basically, right? Yeah. I said, 'Yes, that's what I what I say to everybody. I mean what I say to all of you watching us uh at home, I mean these are days where if you are feeling uh stressed and desparing and and just uh unhappy and and worried and who isn't um the best antidote to that is to be an activist to get out there to even in in small ways. You don't you don't have to u spend every day as an 36:01 activist, but even in small ways, you know, writing uh letters to the editor and calling your members of Congress and and and causing good trouble and and on October 18th getting out there and holding signs in your local community uh and uh and and and protecting the vulnerable uh you know, having a uh a sanctuary community. I I mean there are all sorts of things that people can do, you can do. Uh but it makes you feel good, too. It's not just that it's good for the your community and good for the country, it's also good for you. And it's uh it it's a it's just a reminder that as we say over and over again, democracy is not a spectator sport. Democracy needs you. Uh, and now that we're at a phase of the Trump what the Trump regime, it's only been nine months. I can't get over that. 37:02 I mean, this is we have another 39 to go. I mean, I I laugh, but I laugh out of really sadness uh and irony. Uh but if we if this has happened in nine months and so many people are beginning to see that they and their families could be directly affected uh because not because they just because they're Latino or because they are LGBTQ plus or or anything else, but it could it could be it could be that they are a white straight male. Uh, and they could also be uh caught up in this in this drag net. Uh, I love that. This is what it takes. It's like Camal was kind of talking about that at the it took Jimmy Kimmel. It took Jimmy Kimmel for us that he was the litmus test like that guy who would have been fine. I mean, I agree with you, but it's I mean, it's such a it's a horrific 38:00 time what it's taking for so many of us to pay attention and wake up. And I do think that one pe reason people are going to see the film if you haven't seen it the last film.com is because coming together is that the lastass film all one word.com yes you're good at it but so people coming together and this one man kyboyd who runs one of the theaters we showed the film in he said he talks about the first there's the home and there's the work and there's a third place and the third place is your community spots it's your movie theater, it's your synagogue, it's your local coffee shop, which happens to be you're my local coffee shop. But this this notion that to remind ourselves of what solidarity feels like. There's something about being in community. And I think that's why peaceful protests where you're meeting new people and there are QR codes out there and you're scanning what is this group doing and what is this group doing. It provides it's gives some buoyancy when everything is so heavy and you feel like and it is a slog. And so, three cheers for getting together with 39:03 people in person, like-minded, otherwise, and moving forward because we can't stop. Well, three cheers for for you, Heather, for the movie, for um for every one of you out there who is engaging in solidarity. Uh it is through solidarity that we gain confidence. And as we gain confidence, uh we gain courage. And as we gain courage, we gain the ability to uh stand up to this regime and the authoritarianism uh and the uh if you like to use that word fascism behind that authoritarianism uh and the oligarchs who are behind the fascism behind the authoritarianism. We can stand up to it because there are many more of us than there are of them. uh and we are all united in our view and our values and our understandings of the importance of democracy and the rule of law and social justice. And we don't want to live in a 40:07 country in which any one of us can be pulled out of our houses late at night and arrested on the basis of nothing other than Donald Trump's whims. So, thank you. And thank you, Heather, for everything. Thank you, Bob. And Michael Lahannes Calderon, thank you for being behind the scenes today right over there. Uh, and Jordan Alport, thank you. Uh, and thank everybody who is involved. There's a just a wonderful team. Uh, and but mostly you watching. Thank you. your tenacity and your values and your I know it's try it's hard to find them sometimes your optimism will get us through. Take care. [Music]

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