* “The liberal idea has become obsolete. (It has) outlived its purpose.”–Russian President Vladimir Putin.
* “I think Trump may be one of those figures in history who appears from time to time to mark the end of an era and to force it to give up its old pretense.”–Henry Kissinger.
* “(Trump’s) savaging of American diplomacy (has left) our friends confused, our adversaries emboldened and the foundations of the international system we built and preserved for seven decades alarmingly fragile.”–William Burns, president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a former ambassador to Russia and the author of “The Back Channel.”
* “There’s no doubt that the Russians did interfere in the election, and I think the interference, although not yet quantified, if fully investigated, would show that Trump didn’t actually win the election in 2016. He lost the election, and he was put into office because the Russians interfered on his behalf.”–Former President Jimmy Carter.
* “Donald Trump’s campaign against journalists should concern every patriotic American. A free, fair, and independent press is essential to our country’s strength and vitality and to every freedom that makes it great.”–A.G. Sulzberger, publisher of the New York Times.
* “On the left as well as the right, we can get so caught up in our narratives that we lose perspective; nobody has a monopoly on truth. If Trump turns progressives into intolerant agents of incivility, then we have lost our souls.”–Nicholas Kristof, New York Times.
* “Both politics and the Christian witness are now made worse by people of faith actively involving themselves in politics.”–Peter Wehner, the “The Death of Politics.”
* “It is not constitutional, it is not legal, and it is not right to deny people the right to vote because you can’t pay. What this bill does is re-establish a poll tax.”–Micah Kubic, executive director of the ACLU of Florida, in response to Gov. Ron DeSantis signing a bill that requires all former felons to pay their financial obligations before being eligible to vote.
* “If the governor and Legislature would just pay attention to what the voters ask of them, citizen initiatives wouldn’t be necessary.”–Paula Dockery, former state Republican legislator–now NPA–from Lakeland.
* “I would say the most unpleasant part about my job when I was mayor was dealing with the Tampa Bay Rays.”–Former St. Pete Mayor Rick Baker.
* “If Mr. Sternberg is serious about this (shared-cities) idea or any other, it will require the re-establishment of a good working relationship with my office.”–St. Pete Mayor Rick Kriseman.
* “Look, if it comes to it and I have to do this with the next mayor, I’ll do it with the next mayor.”–Rays principal owner Stu Sternberg.