Economist Robert Reich on April 17, 2025 (Phil Pasquini/Shutterstock.com)
As the U.S. celebrates its 250th birthday, the "ideals that this country began with" are under assault by President Donald Trump, prompting commentator and economic equality activist Robert Reich to plan a symbol "mourning" to mark this year's Fourth of July.
Reich is a veteran lawyer who previously served as the first Secretary of Labor under former President Bill Clinton, and he remains an outspoken liberal political voice. In the latest edition of his "Coffee Klatch" video series, he revealed the surprisingly mournful way he intended to mark the country's 250th on Saturday, in order to convey the gravity of damage done by Trump and his allies.
"Well, this is a pretty special 250th," Reich told co-host Heather Lofthouse. "I'm going to wear a black armband, because it's mourning... in America, with regard to the ideals that this country began with, and I think it's important to recognize this is not just a celebration today."
Reich also added that he planned to read aloud the Declaration of Independence in a small town square in California that he is "very fond of," with the public welcome to join him.
Speaking further about this year's historic Fourth of July proceedings, Lofthouse and Reich mourned as well the degree to which Trump has stolen the spotlight of the momentous occasion away from the country, and put it on himself.
"He takes the oxygen out of whatever room, whatever celebration," Reich said. "You know, there was originally going to be, Congress set aside years ago... some money for a special commission that would do all of these Fourth of July on the [National] Mall and every place else, and he supplanted it, and he created his own 'Freedom 250'... It's all just gaudy and gilded, but it's all about Trump... It's a big campaign celebration of Donald Trump."
Lofthouse argued that Trump must now be fuming, given how badly the Freedom 250 events are "failing," rendering him and his plans a global "laughingstock." Reich suggested that Trump is too surrounded by "sycophants" to ever hear about how poorly his plans are going over with voters.
"He really learned from his first term," Lofthouse said. "He learned to get rid of people who had opinions and strength and obligation to some kind of moral code."