* “The cause of America is the cause of all mankind.”–Essayist Thomas Paine.
* “The troika of tyranny.”–How national security adviser John Bolton characterizes Nicaragua, Venezuela and Cuba.
* “What the president hasn’t explained is how depriving quasi-failed states (El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras) of assistance will help them do better by us.”–Bret Stephens, New York Times.
* “The administration’s decision to announce a tax on every product coming from China puts America’s entire economy at risk. No product category will be spared if this latest threat materializes. …Americans entire shopping cart will get more expensive.”–Excerpt from a statement issued by the Retail Industry Leaders Association.
* “Like the new NAFTA, any deal with China would have to get through Congress. … When the Trump Administration demanded that China change their laws immediately, China balked. Why would they change their laws for a negotiated agreement that Congress has not even seen?”–Alan Green, economics department chairman at Stetson University.
* “There’s no question that both the U.S. and China have benefited from a trading relationship over the last 25 years. And there’s also no question that things about that relationship need to change. I think the issue now is tit-for-tat tariffs aren’t going to work.”–Carly Fiorina, former Hewlett Packard CEO and 2016 Republican presidential candidate.
* “The American people have a right to know whether the president has violated the tax law or acted on conflicts of interest, and whether the IRS has adequately policed any such violations. But because Mr. Trump, unlike every other president since Richard Nixon, has refused to release his tax returns, only Congress has the authority to investigate these questions. The courts should enforce this right.”–NYU law professor Lily Batchelder, a former majority chief tax counsel for the Senate Finance Committee from 2010-14.
* “If Trump doesn’t want a war, he needs to make that clear–not just to the Iranians but to Bolton and Pompeo as well. … We already have a trade war. I fear Trump may stumble into a real one.”–Eugene Robinson, Washington Post.
* “If part of your brand is that you’re not going to get the U.S. into unnecessary wars, why in the world would you hire John Bolton?”–Former Obama adviser David Axelrod.
* “Say what you want about Trump, he is not stupid. He is a smart man with a deep understanding of what stupid people want.”–Satirist Andy Borowitz.
* “House Democrats holding Barr in contempt isn’t a ‘constitutional crisis’ and it’s not ‘oversight.’ It’s a show.”–Sen. Marco Rubio.
* “If the people who are referenced in the Mueller report won’t testify, then we need to hear from the author of the report.”–Florida Democratic Congressman Ted Deutch, a member of the House Judiciary Committee.
* “I think Nancy Pelosi has already missed the moment on this.”–David Jolly, Former Florida Congressman–and former Republican–on the U.S. House Speaker’s impeachment strategy.
* “Indulging in ideological purity is great until you actually want to solve the problem.”–Paul Bledsoe, strategic adviser at the Progressive Policy Institute.
* “Mark (Zuckerberg) may never have a boss, but he needs to have some check on his power. The American government needs to do two things: break up Facebook’s monopoly and regulate the company to make it more accountable to the American people.”–Chris Hughes, Facebook co-founder.
* “You just said to my daughter … ‘You don’t matter in the state of Alabama.'”–What Alabama Senate Minority Leader Bobby Singleton said to Republican legislators after Alabama passed the harshest anti-abortion bill in the U.S.
* “Whether purposefully or not, (DeSantis) is not letting people figure him out. No one knows what his next move is. Guess what? That makes him powerful.”–Democratic strategist and lobbyist Screven Watson.
* “For the time being, I’m comfortable with where we are (on Europe flights), but we are looking at Latin America and the Caribbean markets, and Bogota is actually our top target.”–Kenneth Strickland, TIA’s director of research.
* “Our vision for Midtown is to create a unifying place for hospitality, living, working and shopping designed around four acres of common public spaces.”–Bill Haines, chairman of the Bromley Companies, master developer for the $500 million, mixed-use Midtown Tampa project under construction at I-275 south N Dale Mabry Highway.