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    Watch now   Unconditional Surrender? Really? | The Coffee Klatch for March 7, 2026 With W. Kamau Bell and yours truly, Robert Reich Robert Reich Mar 7   Friends, Heather is traveling. I’m delighted that our friend Kamau Bell has stepped into the breach. Today, Kamau and I take a deep dive into Trump’s War — his shifting rationales for it, his changing goals, his ambiguous endgame, the human costs of the war so far, the American public’s unhappiness with it, and what Trump is trying to deflect attention from (spoiler: Trump’s shitty economy and his connections to Jeffrey Epstein). We then turn to Kristi Noem’s brief and ignoble tenure as secretary of Homeland Security, why Trump really sacked her, and whether her successor is likely to do any better. Finally, we look at this past week’s primary elections and ask what they portend for Democrats in the midterms and beyond. All this and more on today’s Klatch. Please pull up a chair, grab a cuppa, and join in the dis...

  View in browser   BY  LISA KASHINSKY STUDY IN CONTRASTS —  Two contests that were supposed to be bellwethers for the direction of the state GOP produced two different results. Donald Trump-endorsed Geoff Diehl’s  11-point victory   over more moderate businessman Chris Doughty in the Republican gubernatorial primary put a hard number behind the state party’s perceived right and Trumpian turns. Massachusetts GOP gubernatorial primary campaign results for 2022. | POLITICO screenshot Yet North Shore voters powered C.J. Fitzwater, a moderate Republican who supports abortion rights,  to victory   over Samson Racioppi, the   leader of conservative activist group "Super Happy Fun America" who organized buses to Washington, D.C., ahead of Jan. 6, 2021, in a highly unusual state representative race. Fitzwater and Racioppi were running as write-in candidates  for the seat vacated by GOP state Rep. Jim Kelcourse, who left the Legislature for a Par...

  View in browser   BY  LISA KASHINSKY DONE DIEHL —  It’s Maura Healey versus Geoff Diehl in a  governor’s race that will be a referendum  on former President Donald Trump's legacy and rhetoric in a historically anti-Trump state. Trump-backed Diehl  clinched the Republican nomination   over more moderate political newcomer Chris Doughty, setting up a November clash between the conservative former state representative and the two-term attorney general who burnished her profile by repeatedly suing the Trump administration. Republicans will “bring Trumpism to Massachusetts,”  Healey declared in her victory speech, delivered before the GOP primary was called. She painted her Republican rival as someone who will “oppose abortion rights” — Diehl says he’s “pro-life” — and is generally “out of touch with the values we stand for.” Diehl, in turn, cast Healey as “the people’s worst nightmare” in his speech. “  We are going to be redefining politi...