Why Trump's Blatant Corruption Hurts Us All: Reich

The Daily Beast Podcast

The Daily Beast

News & Politics

4.6 • 7.9K Ratings

🗓️ 25 September 2025

⏱️ 53 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Robert Reich, Co-founder of Inequality Media and President Bill Clinton’s Secretary of Labor, joins the Beast’s Jaonna Coles to warn us that the U.S. is sliding into authoritarianism. He lays out how Trump’s White House distorts economic data, bullies CEOs, corrupts crypto markets, and undermines global alliances, while billionaires and media titans enable his rise. Reich also calls out cowardice among university leaders, corporate chiefs, and even Democrats who should be defending constitutional freedoms but instead bow to fear and greed. From Disney’s censorship of Jimmy Kimmel to the silence of Silicon Valley, he argues that ordinary citizens may have to step in where elites have failed. Can American democracy survive when its leaders refuse to lead, or is it up to the public to stop Trump’s march toward tyranny?

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