TrueValueMetrics ... Impact Accounting for the 21st Century

Date: 2026-03-04 Page is: DBtxt003.php txt00029194

COMMENTARY THE COFFEE KLATCH ... NOVEMBER 15TH 2025 with Robert Reich and Heather Lofthouse Epstein’s Revenge PLAY YOUTUBE VIDEO Original article: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Dw1AY-_kng
Epstein’s Revenge \| The Coffee Klatch with Robert Reich Robert Reich Premiered Nov 15, 2025 1.38M subscribers ... 208,630 views ... 12K likes The Coffee Klatch with Robert Reich Epstein is dead but his ghost continues to haunt Trump. We discuss the new tranche of emails and the upcoming Epstein Files vote on today's Coffee Klatch. Peter Burgess COMMENTARY Peter Burgess Transcript 0:02 Saturday and it is the Saturday coffee clutch with Heather Loft House and yours truly Robert Rush. Heather, it has been quite some week. What what are we going to talk about? Let's get into have how and what's happening with the Democrats caving on the government shutdown. Let's talk about some wins from the week. Please, may we? Then we've got to get into Epstein's relationship with Trump. Jeffrey. Yes, Jeffrey. Um, and then the economy. Let's talk about the economy. Let's get started. This This sounds great. I'm ready to go. Okay. The cave-in. Let me just say the cave-in in terms of the shutdown. Democrats, you know, they have this extraordinary ability to grab defeat from the jaws of victory. And frankly, Heather, it pissed me off. It pissed you off. It pissed a lot of people. A lot of people were riding this 1:03 high. It felt like from the elections last Tuesday, right? Mdani, Virginia, New Jersey, all these other ones. And then it was and now and in DC, these six people really, this is what's going to happen. So why they do it? You just feel whipsawed. I mean, I I you know, it's like a being on a roller coaster. I mean, one one week with a Democrats are victorious. Uh, and then six Senate Democrats and an independent uh basically uh kind of convey the the established wisdom about the Democratic Party, the caricature of the Democratic Party, which is which is the Democratic Party are a bunch of wimps, you know, don't know how to stand up to Trump even when the Democratic Party is winning. I mean, this this is what is so aggravating because the public was really blaming the shutdown on the Republicans. Uh, and the pressure was mounting with the air traffic delays. 2:01 Uh, so something had to happen. Congress was ready. I think Trump was probably ready to actually negotiate with the Democrats on restoring the subsidies for Obamacare. And what happens? So why did they give in? Well, they say they gave in because a lot of people are hurting. And that's true. True. I mean, you know, they the the administration uh Trump did not want to provide as much food stamp benefits as people needed. 42 million people were actually uh in need. I mean, a lot of them literally hungry. Uh and so Democrats with soft hearts parents were saying eat more at school kiddos, you know, and it's we've talked about this, but it's a lot of veterans and it's a lot of people on, you know, the old caricature was Democrats have soft hearts and uh and Republicans have hard heads and hard hearts. Uh but this was a good a good caricature, a bad caricature I should say, of the Democrats having soft hearts 3:08 and soft heads. Do you agree? I do, but I don't love that analogy. Okay, we'll find find another analogy. Just being softies. I mean, but so Heather, are you the Affordable Care Act? I mean, wasn't the whole point of having to negotiate was obviously we do not want people hurting in the short term or the long term, but this is a big deal. healthare matters and it matters for all of these people who are taking advantage of the Affordable Care Act because it's what they have to have their health um looked after and to have health insurance and all these premiums are going to go up and then cave done. Yeah. Well, the premiums I mean now right now the premiums are set to go up for millions and millions of Americans who are dependent on Obamacare. Uh and they're going to go up starting in 4:01 January on average of about uh 30% uh in some places they're going to go up 50%. A lot of people cannot afford that. That means that people will drop out of Obamacare, the Affordable Care Act. Uh that means it, you know, the people left are going to have even greater uh needs with regard to health care. And that's a way of undermining and ultimately destroying Obamacare. That's what the Republicans, particularly Donald Trump, have wanted to do since the beginning. Get rid of Obamacare. This is their way of undermining it. And the Democrats understood that. And that's why Democrats were holding out uh and and not caving in. But now that they've caved in, I know, but one thing I want to be careful about not giving in to this binary algorithm-driven sense where it's everything's good and then everything's bad and it's only one or the other. Right? So we had all the elections. The fact of the matter is Americans and 5:02 voters are mad. I mean they are not liking the current status quo. We saw that in all these different local elections, these big upset elections. And so I don't want to just say h well that was two weeks ago and now we're back here because we have to remember DC is not I mean the stock market is not the economy and DC is not the populace. politicians in DC 100% correct and I you know I have what I have to do and what I've been trying to do is check myself and say look at this is this is progress uh in a contentious time uh there going to be ups there going to be downs and uh you know if you compare what happened on election day uh two weeks ago or more than two weeks ago with what happened last week well you know election day was a much bigger deal uh November mber 4th was a really big deal. I mean, it set the trajectory of the nation in a different direction. Uh, 6:00 and last week was seven Democrats and an independent in the Senate, basically caving in it. But that but they're not equivalent. Right. Right. Right. Right. And then we had Katie Wilson who is the new mayor of Seattle. And so that was an interesting win this week. She's a big proponent of public transportation. She only decided to run for governor, excuse me, mayor nine months ago. I love her story. She's an organizer. I mean, this is she's been called the West Coast Manny. Uh she is she calls herself a socialist. Uh she was given the longest of odds. I mean, nobody thought she could really win uh against a very formidable well, you know, well well paid in terms of uh in terms of all the money coming in uh opponent uh who was the establishment and she did win. It is a very very big deal. She wants to raise taxes on the wealthy. Hello. Right. Right. And then she has um so that's happening and that felt positive 7:02 for the week. Let's just get a couple positives in here. Oh yeah. Well, the Starbucks I mean the Starbucks workers Exactly. That's what I was going to say. The Starbucks workers are I mean the baristas, a thousand baristas uh went out and they said to Starbucks, you have got to give us better pay, better working conditions, better hours. Uh and a lot of people are joining the boycott of Starbucks. This is a big deal. You know, I I think the uni the the theme that unites a lot of this uh Heather is young people, young uh activists, whether they are at the workplace or in politics, uh they are becoming more active uh and they are their commitment uh to a better society, to better, you know, better pay, better uh a better economy, a politics that is a you know, a true politics, a progressive politics is terrific. And they mean it when they say affordability. I mean, they really are running on affordability and trying to make things affordable. It's not 8:04 a campaign, you know, slogan. Sloan. No, but but they're living this. I mean, what what interests me is this this Katie Wilson, uh, the new mayor of Seattle, the mayor elect of Seattle, like Mandani, uh, like many of these Starbucks workers, they are living what they preach. They are practicing what they preach. You know, uh, Katie Wilson is she lives in a tiny little apartment. I mean, she is not wealthy. She's not one of these old political forces. She is really uh very very modest means like mom Donnie. Uh, and uh she is she's been fighting the good fight for for years. Yeah. And the Starbucks workers, they picked red cup day of course because they're smart and that's one of the biggest um profit winning days of the year for Starbucks. But there are 12,000, I think it is, unionized Starbucks workers. I mean, it's good on them striking and trying to get what they deserve. Well, it also has a multiplier effect 9:04 because if the Starbucks workers, the baristas uh are out on strike, other uh people, particularly young people who are in uh occupations in the service occupations, they also feel more more charged up. They feel like well if they can do it we can do it. Uh and you know you you find and this is certainly labor history. Uh you know there is a kind of a uh an encouragement that happens through the process of of strikes. It's not just the one establishment. It really does have this uh this multiplier effect around the country. And I hope this is happening because uh workers we're going to get in the economy. you want to get in the economy a little bit and I I don't want to I don't want to talk too much about it but uh working people are really getting shafted in this economy. I know big time. So e I feel like often 10:00 when we're having coffee cheers we um like to talk about are the judges who are maintaining what's called the rule of law. Here's to the rule of law here to the judges to the judges. But so each week we find some judges who are either, you know, making decisions that feel rational and based in the constitution, including during this Trump regime, ones who are either appointed by Trump and are making decisions that don't benefit him as such or don't just salute to him. But so this week we had a judge resign, right, who had been appointed by Reagan and he's interesting. Do you want to talk about him? Well, his name is Mark Wolf. uh district court uh in Massachusetts. Uh but I what was interesting to me is that he resigns in protest. A lot of people in government in my experience uh they do resign out of principle but they don't make a big deal of it. They just resign quietly. But he resigned and this is very rare for a judge to actually resign 11:01 in protest and enumerate why he's resigning and saying that he feels like the judiciary is fundamentally being compromised under Trump. He doesn't want to be part of it. He doesn't want to be complicit. Uh now, you know, part of me, Heather, honestly says we need judges like this to stay. We don't want them to resign. Uh but by resigning and making a big deal about it and putting his his reasons out there, I think he helps the public focus on what Trump uh and the Trump regime are doing to our system of justice. That's it. And he was very anti-corruption. I mean, he spoke out a lot about um Clarence Thomas and the lavish gifts that he had gotten. He had a real record of saying corruption is not okay. you know, through his rulings. And it's interesting that he said, 'I'm not comfortable staying. This just doesn't work for me. What I'm being, you 12:00 know, what I'm what we're being we're being pigeonholed over here.' And that's not the point of it all. It's very important, I think, that the public now sees what Trump and his justice department are doing to our system of law. Uh they're making it a lawless system. I mean, if you look at the pardons, uh, you know, the the I mean, extraordinary pardons for now all of the people who were unindicted co-conspirators, uh, for the riot on the capital and the attempt by Trump to overturn the 2020 election, uh, Trump is pardoning all of them, uh, as he did pardon all of the,600 people who were involved in the riot itself. And then on top of that, you've got the Justice Department at Trump's demand going after particular enemies that Trump has. People who tried to hold Trump accountable. Well, this is a travesty of justice. This is a 13:00 travesty of the rule of law. This undermines what we all should be and I think have until now prided oursel on as a country in terms of what law represents. Uh, I don't. This is far worse than Richard Nixon. Someone sent me a a short film, short video to look at yesterday, and it had so much of the January 6 footage and I had forgotten. I hadn't seen it in a while. Remember how visceral it felt to watch it watch it when the hearings were going on? It was I mean it was I remember at the time I remember the seeing it live, right? I I and and I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I mean I it just seemed you know I know the capital I know those corridors I know those offices uh and to see them defiled in that way and the uh you know police officers I mean I couldn't see at the time but we learn uh that 145 145 actually police officers are injured five people are uh there are 14:05 five deaths as a result of this uh and it's easy to forget I mean Donald want us to forget. I know. So then it made me want to have it playing somewhere 24 hours a day cuz they have so much footage. I feel like it could be playing 24 hours a day somewhere so we don't Heather, how how about my idea uh that when Trump is gone uh as he will be uh that that there be a uh a kind of anti-memorial uh of the that that memorializes what Trump did to democracy. uh you know what's it going to look like? Is it a video? Is it a statue? Well, no. It would be kind of a muscle like concrete structure on the White House lawn after the ballroom is demolished. Did you write this on Substack? You're saying this is my Okay, this your idea. Okay, forgive me. Of course. Of course you wrote it on Substack. No, no, but in the last five minutes, the No, no, no. The notion is that you put, you know, in this structure, it's 15:06 called, you know, treason or Trump treason. You put in this structure all of the records, uh, and all of the videos. Will they all fit in there? Well, they we'd make them fit. They would thousand Epstein emails. A thousand emails. They will all be memorialized in this one place. and the names of all of the people who helped Trump, all of the people, not just the rioters, but all of the unindicted co co-conspirators, uh, and the records, all the legal records, so that and it would face Pennsylvania Avenue. This is my, you know, my vision. So that I'm getting so that Do you like this? I'm getting it. Yeah. So the people people you know the 350th anniversary of the founding of this country uh you know you have school buses and and everybody goes there you know it's it's just a place to to remember the threat to democracy what happened. Wow. And do you wear black when you see 16:02 it or do you wear Yes. Well you you can do you wear color? Are you vibrant because it's in the past? I wonder. Well it's it's a somber monument you know. It's like the Vietnam, but it's but it's as somber as the Vietnam War monument, which I I don't know if you visited. It's it's it's just heartbreaking. Maya did it. Th this this moselium like monument. I don't want to go on too long. I want you to keep going on this, but but it would be it would be sobering. It would be sad. Uh it would be um not not intended to make us angry but to make sure we remember uh and and memory history is critically important. Uh you know we we have to remember what happened what the what the attacks on democracy actually entailed for sure. Okay. Should we get into Epstein on that note? I want I want people watching this to to let us know if they support this idea. I mean do you maleum? Well, let's call it a I mean, 17:02 let's it's it's a Trump traitor. It's a treachery uh monument or museum. Uh do you I mean, can we I'm going to talk to people out there. If you like this or if you don't like it, just let us know in the in the comments, will you? Yeah. And also, I'm going to find your Substack on it and see what people said in those comments and we can bring it back next week. But so we have to talk about Epstein because every I'm sure while we've been sitting here I don't have my phone out. Should I look on my phone? Did anything new come out on social and everywhere else? Um so uh why is I mean I have so many questions for you on this for me? I mean you think I know I never met Jeffrey Epstein. No for us to ponder. For us to ponder. Yeah. Um so here we are. Emails are coming out. Right. Finally, it's been so interesting to so we let's talk about Washington process blah for a while if you don't mind. So Adalita 18:02 Grihalva sworn in finally. I mean she was voted in in September and then oh conveniently the government shut down Arizona. Oh Arizona. Did I say did I say another state? I forget what I said or did I representative? Right. And so then we have Mike Johnson taking his sweet time swearing her in because we knew she was going to be the 218th signature and there was going to be a discharge petition and we were so so in other words you need a majority just a bare majority of the house to get what's called a discharge petition which is a way around the leadership. The leadership doesn't want to put something give something up to a vote in the house. Forces a vote. It forces a vote. And this discharge petition is all about releasing all of the material about Jeffrey Epstein, at least to Congress, because it's the Epstein Files Transparency Act. Thank you to Representatives Kana and Massie who have been pushing ahead on this bill. And so next week in front of the House is going 19:05 to say, do we agree with this act? Can we get everything everything out there? little things, big things, correspondence in the DOJ about it, not just from the Epstein estate, right? And so then if that's a yes, which it will likely be, we think, right? Then it'll I think a lot of I think a lot of Republicans are going to vote for this, right? So then it goes to the Senate, then what's going to happen? Well, can I just say parathetically? I mean this with Lauren Boowbert uh you know representative right-wing Lauren Lauren Bobbert she is hauled into the White House uh the White House this is what happened this last week and the White House is trying to get her to resend or at least not vote in favor of this discharge petition. I mean, can you imagine the situation room? She goes and she's there with the attorney general and she's there with all kinds of top brass in the 20:01 administration in this regime and they're all trying to convince her and and she says effectively, 'No, my name is going to stay on that discharge petition.' But Bob, so first of all, the power she must have felt must have been electric. I mean, she must have levitated. Her feet probably didn't even touch the ground walking into the situation room. I mean, to feel that power, but also that they are so desperate for these and think they can manipulate and have the power because they have had the power over these, you know, MAGA um devotees. This is a real MAGA revolt, Heather. And I don't know why. I mean, what's your theory? Why is MAGA so intent? And by MAGA, I'm talking about the base, Trump's base, and the members of Congress who are responsive particularly to that base, like Lauren Boowart. Why do you think they are so intent on getting the Jeffrey Epstein files and making them public or at least getting a 21:05 hold of them? What's going on? Well, so I mean, on the one hand, pedophilia is the worst of the worst of the worst. I mean people think that and society has built it that way, right? And so there's that. Then there's also the fact that all of these I mean the MAGA the when Trump ran he was the anti-establishment candidate, right? And so elitist he's anti allegedly I mean come on here but I'm just just stick with me for a second. And so they are saying we are not going to let these rich people get away with that. That was a that was a mag thread. That was a you know part of their identity is this thing. Now they let it slide on a lot of stuff but they don't on this particular thing. Question and that's the interesting question. I mean, I remember Pizzagate, remember? I mean, the whole the whole notion of pedophilia uh is for some 22:03 reason, and I think I understand it so central to the MAGA uh mythology uh and fear and the the notion of evil and the notion of the devil uh you know, stalking America. Uh and so this MAGA mythology about again hellfire and brimstone and the devil uh and uh and and pedophilia all merge into uh this notion this conspiracy theory. Now how does Donald Trump deal with this? Well, at first you remember during the 2024 campaign he insists that uh the files have to be open because this is what Donald Trump does, right? He he whatever he is implicated in he feels he he has to get on the other side to show that he's not implicated and JD Vance was very big proponent but Trump was squirly on it. He was on Fox News and they said would you declassify 9/11 file? Oh yes. Would you declassify 23:07 JFK? Oh yes. Would you declassify Epstein? I mean you got to be careful with that one. He said but he's got to be very careful. I don't but he did say let's you know reveal the files. I don't think he anticipated the degree of intense interest uh in Epstein. It won't die. I mean, he must be so frustrated uh and perhaps a little bit worried uh because this this is this ghost uh of Jeffrey continues to haunt the administration and every time it try the Trump and others try to bury it, it comes back. But can I complain for a minute, Mayor? Sure. Of course. So, okay. So, we're studying all of this and it's on my newsfeed and it's on the New York Times and it's in the Washington Post and so much of the focus is on what is Trump saying? How is he 24:03 blaming the Dems? Does this mean it's a rift for MAGA? Political, political, political, political. Isn't the role of the press and press I think it should be your role, thank you very much, to call out the truth, to say the context of things. this man who what what is his character as a leader? What is who is he as a human being? We're not talking about that. We're talking about Lauren Boowbert in the situation room. We are not talking about the fact that he was I mean there's the Access Hollywood tapes. There are the credible accusations from many women. There are um um his felonies but also Eugene Carol. He was con he was held liable of sexual abuse which Judge Kaplan in his ruling says is akin synonymous with rape. I mean this man who is he that he's in a thousand emails. Why is there people the press isn't 25:01 talking about it? But Heather, are you I want to make sure I understand what you're getting at because uh are you suggesting that somehow uh Donald Trump as a uh as a as a harasser of women and a and a rapist is is somehow uh worse or at least as bad uh as Donald Trump as a potential pedophile? Uh and and you're maybe you're asking why isn't the MAGA base as concerned about him as a harasser and a rapist uh as they are as him as a pedophile? I mean, is that what you're getting at? I mean, I'm getting at that, but I'm more angry at the press that the way this is all covered is allowing him to dictate what's coming across the airwaves. So you have on CNN, you know, it's we're going to discuss the Epstein, but I mean, it's all alleged and we're not sure. And Trump hasn't I mean, he doesn't and he I mean, there's lots of caveats and explaining and he's defining 26:01 the narrative. Nothing's been proven yet, but the fact that he he gets away with being this horrific human being, which has been proven numerous times, and that's not brought up is maddening. I think the press isn't doing its job in creating the full picture. Well, there's no question about it. And the press is not even talking about how crazy he's becoming. I mean, really, he his dementia uh is is more and more evident. Uh his loss of of kind of uh you know, frontal lobe control is more and more evident. Why isn't the press talking about that? I I think that, you know, part of the answer must be that the prince that the the people who control the press in America, the the media are intimidated by Donald Trump. I mean, they're obviously they areact. We know that that's been going on. Yeah. And worried about being sued constantly, but the framing of it all has been fascinating. And it often So, I'm on Eugene Carol's Substack, but I think about her often. I mean, she I 27:04 remember when the New York Times said, you know, that she had won these cases, defamation and sexual abuse. Um, it was such an interesting time and I just it feels like it should be mentioned more. Well, I think you're doing it singleandedly, you're doing it, but but talk about But how about um you know this this poor woman who took her own life uh who the Epstein, you know, emails show that Donald Trump Yeah. that Donald Trump spent time with her uh after she was part of the That's one email. Yeah. One of the emails says that that was released from Epstein's estate. Yes. Pardon me. And that was from Epstein. Mhm. Uh I mean it's I mean he he there's more more and more evidence. I don't want to minimize you know his his his harassment 28:00 and his rapes and his his uh you know groping. Uh but we have more and more evidence that he was there with victims of Jeffrey Epstein. Uh and this is this is again it's significant partly because as you say this is a a vile human being but also because the MAGA base really can't stand for good reason cannot stand this kind of notion of trafficking and pedophile trafficking girls and the powerful elites getting away with it all. not only getting away with taxes and things like that, but getting away with the biggest, most obscene, you know, wrong that you can do. And so I think there's a real This is getting at people in terms of fairness and corruption and power being abused. Exactly. Exactly. This is the elites who are immune from accountability and 29:02 responsibility. and to make it clear that Donald Trump is part of this, you know, this this elite that will not be responsible, that feels itself above accountability, can do anything they want. Uh that is going to not only bring Trump down, but it could bring down a lot of Republicans. It could make it very easy, maybe maybe easier, I shouldn't say very easy, but maybe easier for the Democrats to take back the House and the Senate in the midterm elections and uh and generally hopefully contribute to a blue wave. If Democrats know how know what's going on, right? Exactly. Uh and don't cave on certain things. But so we have the vote coming up in the House, then there will be a vote in the Senate. You're talking we're talking about the discharge to the epste right exactly back files transparency act I I think the the real point here is yes you have a vote in the house next week and then you have it has to go to the 30:03 senate uh and then Trump could even veto it I mean he has the power to veto this is like any piece of legislation uh and then if Trump I think it would be very difficult for him to veto it particularly if there are a lot of Republicans who are on board in terms of getting this discharge petition. Uh well then let's just say that this discharge petition does become law. Even then uh the House has got to and the Republicans all have to vote on getting the Epstein files. I mean but the the important point is that this keeps Epstein and the files uh it keeps it going, keeps it as a story. This is what the White House and Trump can't stand about it. It won't die. It will just go on and on and on and on. Yep. And they're on their heels. I mean, it's Can you imagine in the White House right now? I mean, it is not a calm, never been a calm place, but this must be particularly 31:03 unnerving because Trump is not I mean, you see him shouting on True Social and saying, you know, it's the Dems and it's a hoax and it's, you know, all of that constantly. And at the same time, Heather, you've got the House Oversight Committee that, you know, that's both the Democrats and the Republicans are leaking what they have already. Mhm. So, so this is another piece that keeps on keeps the keeps the issue alive. Yep. Yep. Yep. Yep. Um, can we talk about the economy a little bit? Not that we know much because the government has been shut down and so all our classic ways of data crunching and putting out reports and studying and comparing over time have not been happening which of course this is an excuse for the Republicans and Trump and everyone else to say well you know the number I don't know how they're going to use it towards themselves but the data was never right and now we don't have data we'll be hearing Trump continues to say that the economy 32:01 is fabulous you know He he in capital letters shouting you know grocery prices are down. Uh well the trouble is you can't tell people what they see every day. Uh and they you can't tell them that they are blind that they are wrong. I mean they see that grocery prices are going up. they see that the what what they're they're spending more and more for things that they were uh you know just just 6 months ago or nine months ago were no not nearly as expensive. Uh, and so even without the data, the official government data and with even with Trump shouting, you're wrong, everything is great, everything's affordable. Um, people understand uh that he doesn't know what he's talking about. He's out of touch at the very least. Uh, and I think the reality, Heather, you know, I've looked at all of the private there is there are private data sources. They're not nearly as good 33:02 as the Bureau of Labor Statistics or the Commerce Department's Bureau of Economics. Uh but they are good uh sources. I mean, this is what uh right now the Fed is relying on. The Fed in terms of making decisions about interest rates, the Fed has got to use what's available. And the Fed is using the same private sources I've been looking at. Uh and those private sources say job growth is almost zero. I mean this is there's no jobs are not being created in this economy. In fact, jobs are being lost in this economy. Uh number two, uh inflation is really picking up. I mean we we see inflation about uh you know prices are about 27 or 30% higher than they were uh at the start of the pandemic just to take one baseline. Uh and thirdly, we see that wages are not keeping up with prices, which means that people are actually most people are getting poorer. And finally, number 34:06 four, what the data show is that inequality is widening because you've got people at the top, you know, the top 10%, the richest 10% of Americans are doing pretty well because they are the ones that own shares of stock. They own 92% of the stock market, the richest 10%. uh they're doing well because the stock market is doing so well. But everybody else, the bottom 90% of Americans are really not doing well. Uh they don't have shares of stock. Uh their wages are lagging behind. Uh they're nervous. They're This is even before the shutdown. And the shutdown of course made a lot of them even uh even even more desperate. Uh this is a shitty economy. Uh the Trump economy is a a really shitty economy. Let's be clear about it. Uh, and this is probably the biggest I mean, put Jeffrey Epstein, you know, every everything else is important, but this is what's going to 35:01 bring Trump down in the midterms. But people are in there's such despair and to have this man who runs the country looking and saying everything's fine. I mean, talk about gaslighting on a massive scale. He's so out of touch. And I know we say it's the economy stupid, but it really feels like it's the economic feeling, right? It's the feeling people, how are people feeling? And it's awful. And then to so to not be able to spend and then all of snap, you know, we had that whole issue and working people are suffering and to be told that's not the case. Yeah. Well, it shows that he's not in in touch. But also remember uh we have Mdani in New York. We have uh Kate Wilson in in in Seattle. We have these Democrats who are young Democrats who are regardless of whether they call themselves Democratic socialists or not, they are talking about affordability and they are making commitments to raise 36:03 taxes on the rich in order to make other things more affordable for the middle class and the working class and the poor. I mean, this is big news. This is a big movement. Uh and we've got to make sure that uh we encourage it, all of us, and we understand it and we make sure that the Democrats, the official, the democrat democratic establishment doesn't stop it. And the longer it goes on, it's harder to for them to rest on these ridiculous tales like I saw JD Vance saying, you know, we have inherited this the worst the worst from Biden. I mean, it's a lot of this stuff is going to take a long time for us to fix. at the same time where you have Trump saying everything's amazing. So the discrepancies, but also that it's like you can't keep using that these lines that you know 10 months into your administration, you own it, right? Exactly. Um, anything else we want to hit on? God, I don't want to 37:04 stop having coffee. What else? Well, I don't No, I I want I want to talk about, you know, I have a favorite movie. Oh, I think I might know this. And this is my favorite movie of all time. Uh I talk about it in my book, my memoir, coming up short. Um this is uh and it the the movie had a big effect on me for a variety of reasons. But it turns out that Pope Leo uh has just said when he was asked his favorite movies, this is his favorite movie. Heather, it's a Wonderful Life. Yes. I do love how in your book you talk about it and how it's processed in your brain and how you think you think about inequality and you think about Pottersville and it really had an effect on you, but also you just liked the acting and the whole movie and it's part of a you're grow When did you first see it? When I was three months old. No, but 38:01 No, it came out in 1946. Right. And uh the FBI, you know, went crazy. the FBI because it it portrayed uh the capitalist Mr. Potter uh as the evil person. Uh and you look at that movie today and you know I have to confess I do watch it maybe once a year. Uh and and Mr. Potter played by Lionol Barrymore uh is Donald Trump. Donald Trump is Mr. Potter. I mean they're the same person. and uh and and and and what the movie does is it contrasts what Bedford Falls would be uh under the power of Mr. Potter uh Donald Trump with what Bedford Falls has become because Jimmy Stewart playing the lead uh has been so generous and his father has been so generous as bankers who really are making sure everybody has housing. Uh and then what happens at the end, this 39:01 is a spoiler, spoiler alert. What happens at the end is the the entire town comes together uh to rescue Jimmy Stewart and the bank, the savings and loan bank uh and affirm that what they want is their vision and Jimmy Stewart's vision of Bedford Falls and not Mr. Potter, Donald Trump's Bedford Falls. I mean, this is this is people coming together uh to stop the bully. I know. And Pope Leo, he's so fascinating reading what he's said over the months that he's been Pope and how he sees the world. I think it's so terrific. And did you see this week that the Conference of Catholic Bishops came together and spoke out against how the Trump administration is treating immigrants? I mean, the the faith-based community is has been interesting to watch in the past, I don't know, couple months around things. I know there's lots of protests in Chicago, right? 40:05 It's absolutely fascinating because you've also at simultaneously got the part of the faith-based community, the very, you know, the the evangelical Christian Protestants who uh are very conservative. Uh well, you have them who are worried about trafficking young girls and and Trump's possible involvement uh in all of this. Uh so yes, you have these two aspects of of religion simultaneously. But let me ask you, do you think that uh Pope Leo should come to Chicago, Heather? Of course. I mean, I think that's his hometown. And I think he should go and make do a mass and yeah, I think that would be fantastic if he did that. Well, what but I mean he could come to Chicago uh particularly when Trump's troops uh are occupying Chicago and scaring immigrants and and bullying 41:02 people and pulling people out of houses uh in the middle of the night. Uh, I mean, I think Leo could come to Chicago and and make a make a statement about I know it about about morality. I know. I mean, I'm not going to be the one to ask him, but maybe you just did. I don't know. Um, well, thank you for coffee this week. Well, thank you, Heather. The topics are intense, but I'm glad to be discussing them with you and all of our coffee clatches, our clutchers. Well, clutchers, let me just say community. Let me let me make a final uh just a final point with regard to all of you out there, our clutch community, as Heather just put you. Um it's been a tough week. I mean, I was furious as many of you were with the Democrats u or the six Democrats, seven Democrats and the independent and the Senate who caved in. Uh I thought the shutdown was 42:00 important. It was one of the few times Democrats have had some bargaining leverage. Uh and I feel like many of you feel, you know, just whipsaw by by what's going on. But but I urge you uh to keep the faith in terms of understanding that there are so many indications. There's so much evidence of real progress and our fight against Trumpism, our fight for democracy, the rule of law and social justice that those that those indications of progress far outweigh uh our frustrations. And so rather than be whipsawed as I was and I felt uh I urge you uh to join me and Heather I think you as well uh in continuing the fight and making sure that we are doing everything we possibly can uh to guard and rescue our 43:01 democracy, the rule of law and an economy that really should be working for everyone and is Not. So, Heather, thank you. Thank you. And and Inequality Media Civic Action, thank you for all of the work you're doing behind the scenes. And all of you out there, thank you. We will see you next week.

SITE COUNT