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• “Boris Johnson’s friendship with Trump and their joint admiration society is a liability for him with the Europeans. The closer he allies himself with Trump, the more difficulty he’ll have going forward with the Europeans, from trade to security.”—Julianne Smith, former U.S. deputy national security adviser.
• “We’re in favor of trade peace.”—British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
• “Greenland is not for sale. Thankfully, the time where you buy and sell other countries and populations is over. Let’s leave it there.”–Greenland Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen.
• “Mr. Trump wants power over the world, not presence in it.”—Daniel Immerwahr, historian and author of “How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States.”
• “I think any Jewish people that vote for a Democrat, I think it shows either a total lack of knowledge or great disloyalty.”—President Donald Trump.
• “If Israel equals Trump, then there is a concern that opposition to Trump will transition, God forbid, into opposition to Israel. It is very dangerous.”—Rabbi Shmuel Herzfeld, who leads Ohev Sholom, an orthodox congregation in Washington.
• “It’s imperative that we loudly speak for ourselves because if we don’t, the loudest voices that claim to speak on behalf of Jews will be right-wing evangelical Christians.”—Sophie Ellman-Golan, former director of communications and digital outreach at the Women’s March organization.
• “On one level, I agree with President Trump that it would be nice to get to a new U.S.-Russia relationship. But he never seems to suggest that Russia has to make some changes to its policies to get to that point.”—Steven Pifer, former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine.
• “No, I don’t see a recession. … Let’s not be afraid of optimism.”—Larry Kudlow, Trump’s top economic adviser.
• “The Democrats are trying to ‘will’ the economy to be bad for purposes of the 2020 election.”—Donald Trump.
• “They know they aren’t the majority. They rely on establishing minority rule for power.”—New York Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on why the Republican Party is averse to abolishing the electoral college.
• “Presidents are almost always ill-served by true believers who do not know when to stop channeling the worst impulses of their bosses and when to start reassuring the American people that they have not elected an autocrat.”—John Nichols, author of “Horsemen of the Trumpocalypse.”
• “Despite what his enablers claim, Mr. Trump isn’t a conservative. He’s reckless on fiscal issues; he’s incompetent on the border; he’s clueless on trade; he misunderstands executive power; and he subverts the rule of law. It’s his poor record that makes him most worthy of a primary challenge.”—Joe Walsh, former Illinois Republican congressman and now an announced Trump re-election challenger.
• “I challenge my fellow Republicans to summon the nerve to speak out on the record against Trump. Defy the culture of fear he has created and go public with the concerns you readily express in private.”—Anthony Scaramucci, former Trump Administration communications director.
• “It has become increasingly clear that Trump’s belligerence about foreign trade isn’t a pose; it reflects real conviction. Protectionism seems to be up there with racism as part of the essential Trump. And the realization that he really is a Tariff Man is having a serious dampening effect on business spending, partly because nobody knows just how far he’ll go.”—Paul Krugman, New York Times.
• “No other political process in the modern world has so abandoned this critical vetting function of the political party in the nominating process.”—Elaine Kamarck of the Brookings Institute and the author of “Primary politics: Everything You Need to Know about How America Nominates Its Presidential Candidates.”
• “President Trump is a strong 2A President and supports our Right to Keep and Bear Arms?”—NRA Chief Executive Wayne LaPierre.
• “Nothing short of disarming America satisfies @democrats. Give them NOTHING.”—Willes K. Lee, second vice president of the NRA board.
• “(Slavery) is an evil part of America’s past—as well as that of nearly every nation on earth. The fact that slavery has a universal heritage does not absolve American slave owners, but it does provide a necessary, historical context.”—Joshua Lawson, the Federalist.
• “The worst thing we could do is go all white male. There needs to be a woman on the ticket. This election is going to go through women, and it’s going to be decided by women.”—Ione Townsend, chairwoman of the Democratic Party of Hillsborough County.

• Call it a lose-lose: inflamed politics in two, closely allied countries. That’s the unnecessary and unconscionable upshot we have as a result of President Donald Trump pressuring Israel to bar two controversial, Israel-criticizing congresswomen from entering the country. And Israel shamefully complying. In so doing, it underscored that shared values—as in free speech—mattered much less than self-serving, shared right-wing, political agendas. Even the pro-Israeli lobbying group AIPAC disagreed with the Israelis.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces a tough re-election next month. President Trump faces formidable re-election, possibly impeachment, opposition next year. Being sovereign, if hard line, soul mates plays well in both countries, even as existential issues such as “two state” and Palestinian rights remain unaddressed. Israel is armed and aided by the U.S. and really appreciated it when America unilaterally moved its embassy to JerUSAlem and further sanctioned Iran. Trump then called in the favor, knowing that further demonizing and humiliating Reps. Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib packed political advantage by portraying—by extension–the Jewish-favored Democratic Party as anti-Israel. As if criticism of Israel, which is not without vulnerability on sovereign issues, can be partisan-spun as anti-Semitic.

• Amid talk of recession, it’s typically expected—and prudent—for an Administration to wax relatively cautious but optimistic about the state of the economy. But there’s a difference between market assurance/bully-pulpit presidential optimism—and hyperbolic White House bragging where narcissism trumps nuance. For those needing further clarification—from tariff implications and Chinese currency manipulation to domestic wage erosion and a trillion-dollar deficit–here’s Trump’s inimitable take on the U.S. economy: “I don’t think we’re having a recession,” he states. “We’re doing tremendously well. Our consumers are rich. I gave a tremendous tax cut, and they’re loaded up with money.” Bill Maher couldn’t have said it more in character.
• “Donald Trump has a central message,” underscores Sen. Elizabeth Warren in a cut-to-the-chase focus on leading by scapegoating. “He says to the American people, if there’s anything wrong in your life, blame them—and ‘them’ means people who aren’t the same color as you, weren’t born where you were born, don’t worship the same way you do.” It’s a loathsome playbook that has been referenced across the centuries by authoritarians who know how to play the demonization and scapegoat cards.
• “The United States is now, by far, the Biggest, Strongest & Most Powerful Economy in the World, it is not even close! As others falter, we will only get stronger.”—That was Trump blustering on again about an economy that must still account for variables such as the necessity of global trade and partnerships and the inevitable, protectionist impact of uncertainty and chaos.
• There’s no lack of scenarios and rationales for the re-election or rejection of Donald Trump in 2020. But a certain rule of thumb still applies for next November. Given that Democratic demographics and never-Trump independents outnumber their Republican counterparts, Trump can’t win without Democratic complicity in the form of unforced errors: internal pique/divisiveness and voter-base laziness. There’s recent precedent, as we know all too well. Plus, we know about Russian cyber strategies and whom Trump’s Moscow handler still wants in the White House.

When it comes to the Trump base–however loud, Duck Dynasty-congruent and media-galvanizing–it is not the ultimate difference maker. That’s more the purview of the 1 percent greed heads and the incumbent GOPsters in Congress. The former can have outsized impact with their money and networks; the later will spinelessly support Trump to avoid being primaried. The former is fixated on tax cuts, stock buy-backs and anyone who reminds them of Arthur Laffer and his supply-side curves. The latter unpatriotically prioritize career over country—and won’t take a serious stand against Trump until they’re no longer in office.  

And, BTW, irony and karma scenariosshouldn’t be precluded for Trump’s greedy, 1 percent enablers. The road to autocracy and white nationalist authoritarianism can’t ultimately be good for business.

• It’s been reported that Trump had been interested in making an offer for Greenland, but Denmark wasn’t buying. Maybe the Danes were taken aback when Trump proposed a brand name change. Or maybe the starting price point was the real non-starter as Trump likely analogized Greenland with Manhattan Island, which sold for $24 (60 Dutch guilders) back in the day.
• That Donald Trump is a pathological liar has been self-evident for decades. Whether it’s alternate facts or something personal. The former—as when contradicting the intelligence community on the Russian electoral attack—is part of his existential threat. The latter are mere signs of disturbing vanity, such as falsifying crowd sizes and lying about his (6’2”) height—to add an inch so that his body mass index would not label him as obese. Thatand a too-long tie have worked so well in masquerading his girth. Fat chance.
• For those wondering what Rudy Giuliani is still doing around the White House besides being a double-edged sword to the media, maybe it’s because he still thinks he’s going to get the job he really wanted with this Administration: secretary of state. Reportedly, he has turned down attorney general, Department of Homeland Security and director of national intelligence. Secretary of State? Mike Pompeo never seemed so diplomatic.
• Bill Clinton. Sarah Palin. Barack Obama. Mitch McConnell. They have all had an impact on Donald Trump’s narrow election. From indirect and inadvertent to purposeful.

When the Clinton White House reneged on President George H.W. Bush’s pledge not to take advantage of the humiliating Soviet devolution, it stoked the sort of Russian nationalism that helped give rise to Vladimir Putin, who would seek national revenge as only a former KGBer would. And because Clinton had his women issues, as it were, his wife’s 2016 candidacy was restrained from maxing out on the historic run to be the first female president. Having enabled, in effect, a predator can erode a lot of the moral high ground when going after Trump, the disgusting misogynist.

When John McCain put Sarah Palin on his 2008 ticket, he normalized knowing nothing. Alas, that is also part of his legacy. Her lack of preparation for anything other than her own reality TV show was shameful and alarming. Palin could have been but a heartbeat away from the presidency. She helped pave the way for the ultimate show business charlatan.

As we’ve seen, the election of Barack Obama did not signal an end to racism in this country. Not even close. Ironically—and tragically—it only embittered a white demographic that was affronted and blind-sided that those they looked down on were now represented by one of their own in the (not) White (enough) House. The resentment smoldered until it was rekindled by the racist flame-thrower, “populist” candidate.

When Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell lived down to his promise to not allow President Obama to fill the Antonin Scalia seat on the U.S. Supreme Court, he gave the Republican nominee a chance to play the non-liberal justice card. In so doing, it also provided cover for certain Republicans—from feckless establishment sorts to hypocritical evangelicals. The Federalist Society took it from there with its vetted list of alternatives to Obama’s Merrick Garland.

• “Give me your well-educated, your entrepreneurs. Your would-be innovators yearning to breathe unregulated success.” You’d think, sometimes, that this is actually what Emma Lazarus had crafted as words of welcome on the Statue of Liberty.
• “A terrible human being.” That was former GOP Congressman Mick Mulvaney in 2016 referencing the president for his “disgusting and indefensible” conduct around women. But that was then—and this is now Trump’s chief of staff. It’s what craven, career-first Republicans do when someone so shockingly unprepared and unethical winds up imperiling America from the White House. Just ask Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, Rick Perry and Lindsey Graham.

• Florida NRA lobbyist Marion Hammer is, of course, against any state assault weapons ban—but she doesn’t need to channel the Founding Fathers for her rationale. It’s economic. Any serious ban would put gun shops out of business. “Gov. Rick Scott and Enterprise Florida solicited and offered significant financial incentives to gun manufacturers to come to Florida to bring more jobs,” explained Hammer. Oh. And that campaign—representing warped priorities more than pro-business marketing–is what prompted Colt Manufacturing Co. and Kalashnikov USA, among others, to take advantage of our notorious gun culture and NRA fealty to relocate here. As if that wasn’t incentive enough. There are now more than 700 firearms manufacturing license-holders in the Gunshine State.  

And as for the economic hit, what of the impact occasioned by a mass shooting? What of the medical costs and police-response expenses and lost wages? But more to the point, what of the sheer cost of human lives—and the terror toll exacted on communities, such as Orlando and Plantation? That’s who really need lobbyists, not the gun manufacturers industrial complex.

• Talk about sustainable travel options. The new Visit Florida “eco” web page is now informing visitors of Florida’s eco-friendly attractions—and how to help with more than their direct economic impact. As in a hands-on, eco-friendly volunteer stint. The message couldn’t be more timely, pragmatic or progressive. Helping to preserve the environment helps to preserve the tourist-dependent economy. And while this is Florida’s economy, it’s everybody’s environment. If it isn’t sustainable, everybody loses.
• Rep. Shevrin Jones, D-West Park, was spot on in his inclusive take on America’s deadly shootings. “The conversation we are having about gun violence is so important,” he said, “but it is my sincere hope that we as a country will also give a damn about what is happening in communities of color when it comes to gun violence.” It’s a valid point, and one easily glossed over when the news cycles are dominated by high-profile, racist and anti-immigrant mass murders. As if what happens in certain inner cities is just another day at the urban battleground. To wit: Two weekends ago there were 32 separate shooting incidents—leaving seven dead—in Chicago. The victims and shooters were black. It was largely the work of gangbangers—not neo-Nazis and other white nationalists. It was all-too-familiar inner-city carnage and disfunction. Maybe “Black Lives Matter” can take up the cause—and not be selective about context.  
• Somebody, presumably, has to co-chair Trump’s Hispanic outreach campaign; too bad it’s Florida Lt. Gov. Jeanette Núñez.

• Universal Pictures has canceled next month’s release of “The Hunt” in the wake of recent mass shootings. The $18 million production, starring Oscar-winner Hilary Swank and directed by Craig Zobel, depicts liberal “elites” hunting people in red states for sport. “We understand that now is not the time,” explained a statement from Universal. Two begged questions: When is it ever the “time” to put something like this out? And is this what happens when the likes of a back-in-the day studio such as Universal Pictures finds it increasingly difficult to compete with Netflix, Amazon and HBO?
• “He’s off the rails. … The behavior is nihilistic. If it continues, responsible people will have to speak up.” That was former White House communications chief Anthony Scaramucci, reminding us why he’s now more welcome on CNN and MSNBC than Fox.

• “Destabilizing behavior.”—How Defense Secretary Mark Esper characterized China’s aggressive moves in the South China Sea.
• “(Trump) is obsessed with China’s persistent trade surpluses with America, even though economists keep telling him those are driven by more than just China’s trade barriers. They’re primarily driven by U.S. fiscal policy, interest rates and America spending more than we produce, and importing the difference.”—Thomas L. Friedman, New York Times.
• “While the United States is still the most powerful country on the planet, it has little leverage left in Afghanistan.”—Retired Maj. Gen. Richard S. Haddad, a fellow at the American College of National Security leaders.
• “The way global economic weakness will most impact the U.S. is primarily through our manufacturing sector. That is the indicator to keep an eye on.”—Wells Fargo senior economist Mark Vitner.
• “Assault weapons—military-style firearms designed to fire rapidly—are a threat to our national security, and we should treat that as such. Anyone who pretends there’s nothing we can do is lying—and holding that view should be disqualifying for anyone seeking to lead our country.”—Former VP Joe Biden.
• “Donald Trump believes climate change is a hoax. Donald Trump is an idiot.”—Sen. Bernie Sanders.
• “He revels in conspiracy theories because he knows it gives him quick and easy traction with the masses.”—Trump biographer Timothy L. O’Brien.
• “Let me assure you that this case will continue on against anyone who was complicit with Epstein.”—Attorney General William Barr.
• “I have always been an active participant in the democratic process.”—New York developer—and Miami Dolphins’ owner–Stephen Ross’ response to those criticizing his recent mega-bucks fundraiser for Donald Trump.
• “When stocks go up, Trump claims full credit; when they go down, it’s the Fed’s fault.”—Catherine Rampell, Washington Post.
• “There is potential for a U.S. recession … because of the lunacy of trade policy and the damage it’s doing.”—Ian Shepherdson, chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics.
• “They can throw whatever kinds of grenades and fire at me, if they like. I’m confident in who I am and what I stand for. I’m going to preach all the great things that I see the Trump Administration has done.”—Florida Lt. Gov. Jeanette Núñez.
• “Central Florida is the new breadbasket for the state in terms of job creation and economic growth. If you look at Tampa (Bay) and Orlando combined, that’s more than 80,000 jobs created.”—UCF economist Sean Snaith, on Florida’s strong job growth—with an unemployment rate of 3.3 percent in July.
• “My job’s pretty clear. Do what’s right for the university, and that means all three locations.”–New USF President Steve Currall.
• “I can’t really hold back anymore. I’ll be honest with y’all. We are teetering on the edge of water war.”—Tampa Bay Water board chairman Sandy Murman.
• “How fitting for our evolving brand to return to an evolving city.”—Lisa Lutoff-Perlo, president and CEO of Celebrity Cruises, which will return to Tampa next year for the first time in a decade.

• Iran’s economy—inflation reaching 50 percent and GDP down 6 percent–has been hammered by sanctions as its oil exports have dropped from 2.5 million barrels a day to 500,000. Now its biggest—sanctions notwithstanding—customer is China. No surprise, and no lack of irony. The U.S. unilaterally withdraws from the Iran nuclear deal and unilaterally initiates a trade war with China. And China winds up helping out Iran.
• Amid all the turmoil of a trade war—and consequent roiling markets–is there little doubt now that the U.S would have been better off staying in the Trans-Pacific Partnership? A free trade agreement, the TPP would have aligned all the major Pacific economies—minus China—around America’s trade standards—and interests—and lowered tariffs on a ton of American products. Having the leverage of partners, including European Union countries that (still) respect us, would make eminently more sense than a base-pandering, vanity confrontation between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping.
• Jon Huntsman, the U.S. ambassador to Russia, is leaving, effective Oct. 3. Questions will trail him. Foremost: Why did he take the seemingly no-win position in the first place? Did he take one for his country—the diplomatic counterpart of Gen. Jim Mattis at Defense—to counterbalance a volatile, unhinged president? Or as a former Utah governor, former ambassador to China and former Republican presidential candidate, did he want back in the game at any cost? His resignation letter offers few specifics, but does resonate with realpolitik. “No reset or restart is going to help,” notes Huntsman, “just a clear understanding of our interests and values.”

And why exactly is he leaving? Was working around the beyond-bizarre Trump-Vladimir Putin relationship—in the context of Russian election assaults, Ukraine-related sanctions, Syrian civil war sides and “golden showers” tales—too much for any human being outside the true Trumpster orbit to endure? Was it a visceral desire to just delouse himself—and preserve what’s left of his reputation? Was it another run for Utah governor next year? A combination?

And what was Huntsman’s impact? Did he unduly lend unearned credibility to an unconscionably unprepared Trump? And while you can’t ultimately prove a negative, was his experience and professional presence actually a behind-the-scenes brake on bilateral scenarios that could have been even worse?  

• Who better to urge “Red Flag” laws than a “Red Flag” president? As for removing guns from those who pose a “public safety threat,” that should mean that Trump can’t carry.
• And speaking of “background checks,” too bad the Trump base paid no mind to what had been public record for decades about Trump—from filing bankruptcies and lying pathologically to bullying the vulnerable, fostering racism and preying on women. Or were they just that enamored of “The Apprentice” and that smoldering in their resentment to an Obama presidency?
• “It’s CRITICAL that we STOP THE INVASION.”—A recent Trump campaign Facebook ad. Timing is everything.
• “I refuse to be a prop.”—That was Texas Congresswoman Veronica Escobar, whose district includes El Paso, on why she declined to meet with President Trump. Too bad Mike Pence doesn’t feel the same way.
• “Trump the Healer”? As if. Then how about “Putin the Peacenik” or “Kim the Kibitzer”?
• Try Googling “Trump and Kim.” Both Khardashian and Jong Un come up. Says volumes.
• It’s bad enough that George Wallace is back in the conversation, but now we’re seeing references to Nathan Bedford Forrest, a founder of the KKK.
• “We’re better than this.” If we have to keep saying it, are we? We’ll have a come-to-Jesus answer in 2020. Either America will have rebelled against the revolting and expunged Trump from the Oval Orifice—and mitigated the damage. Or America will have doubled down on despicable—with collateral damage far into the future. Not exactly a Hobson’s choice.
• Thanks to more sanctions on Venezuela, John Bolton, Trump’s national security adviser, remains prominent in the news cycle. Speaking of the foreign policy neo-con, here’s an outtake from Michael Wolff’s “Fire and Fury” that is a reminder of how a couple of Trump insiders assessed Bolton. It’s a post-election, pre-inauguration exchange between Roger Ailes and Steve Bannon:
• Ailes: “(Bolton’s) a bomb thrower. And a strange little f—er. But you need him.”      
• Bannon: “Bolton’s mustache is a problem. Trump doesn’t think he looks the part. You know Bolton is an acquired taste.”                                                                                        
• Ailes: “Well, he got in trouble because he got in a fight in a hotel one night and chased some woman.”                                                                                                     Bannon: “If I told Trump that, he might have the job.”  

• I hadn’t been sleeping that well for a while. But there were a few non-Rx approaches at the ready. Subtract some coffee, add some Melatonin, work in a diffuser. Didn’t help enough. But there was one remaining option. I turned the TV off early, read for a longer period, walked my adorable, senior Peekapoo Zeek on last call and called it a night. Zzzzzzzzz. There’s a reason why it’s advised that you knock off the screen time well in advance of going to bed. It otherwise leaves you too wired. Especially when screen time inevitably means screed time–from cable political analysis and TrumpSpin. 

As we know all too well, a few votes one way or another can make or unmake a president-elect. Ask Al Gore and Hillary Clinton. Recently the Democratic Socialists of America gathered in Atlanta for their biannual convention. Among its feistier members: Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Besides the usual “Bernie or Bust” optics, progressive fealty and targeting of the loathsome Donald Trump, there was this sobering resolution. “Bernie or Bust” is meant literally. The DSA will not officially endorse anyone other than Sen. Bernie Sanders as the party’s nominee in the general election. Deja vu all over again? 

• Yes, this is still “Flori-duh.” Republican Congressman Ross Spano of Dover is still a climate change denier. The Chairman of the State Board of Education, Andy Tuck, is still an evolution denier. And Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody still denies the common sense inherent in going after assault weapons. But yes, we no longer have the climate-denying Rick Scott for governor—and there’s no denying that it should help to have a chief science officer (Thomas Frazier), a chief resilience officer (Julia Nesheiwat) and an environmental secretary (Noah Valenti). But this just in: The Republican Party of Florida went ahead and held a two-day registration drive at a Pembroke Pines gun show. Would that we were shocked.
• While security upgrades get most of the attention about what’s new for Florida public schools this year, there are some other significant changes as well. For instance, curricula will now include a ½ credit elective in financial literacy. Good–but not good enough. First of all, don’t mandate an “elective.” Make it, uh, mandatory. It’s that important in this economy. Second, add another ½ credit for the mandatory instruction of media literacy—and its obvious implications for a vulnerable, 21^st century democracy.
• “Talk of economic embargoes may play well among the Cuban community in Florida, but people in Venezuela will be asking themselves if they will have to live through this for the next 60 years.” That was Geoff Ramsey, head of the Venezuela program at the Washington Office on Latin America, noting that increased U.S. sanctions on Venezuela amounts to foreign policy built on Cold War tactics and rhetoric.

• Miami Dolphins owner Steve Ross, the New York real estate developer who also owns Equinox and SoulCycle, recently hosted a fund-raiser for Trump at his home in Southampton, New York. It includes $100,000 for a photo and lunch—with Trump. The Glazers never looked so prudent and classy.
• More than a few brows were arched when Rays Manager Kevin Cash made the controversial move to take out Ryan Yarborough one out shy of a complete-game shutout against Seattle on Sunday. All about “matchups” and all that. But had Yarborough actually completed the 1-0, 3-hit win, it would have been the Rays first complete game since 2016—more than 570 games ago. It’s the way of the modern game that prioritizes pitch counts. Back in the day, complete games were not such a rarity. In fact, former USF baseball coach (1977-85) and Philadelphia Phillies Hall of Famer Robin Roberts threw more than 300 CGs in his career—including 28 in a row once. That was then; this is not—even close.

• “Xenophobic and racist discourse breeds hate crimes.”—Martha Barcena, the Mexican ambassador to the U.S.
• “It worked in Panama, it worked in Nicaragua once … and it will work in Venezuela and Cuba.”—John Bolton, President Donald Trump’s national security adviser, on the imposition of a full economic embargo on Venezuela.
• “Repression must end. The Cuban people deserve freedoms of press, expression, association and more.”—Mara Tekach, chief of the U.S. Embassy in Havana.
• “We should say to the Chinese: ‘You now are our economic equal.’ Give them that dignity. And tell them we want to restart these negotiations on the basis of total reciprocity. We should both have the same rules of access to each other’s economies.”—Jim McGregor, chairman of APCO China.
• “Puerto Rico needs assurance and stability.”—Justice Secretary Wanda Vazquez, Puerto Rico’s new governor, the third within six days.
• “We are not helpless here. But until all of us stand up and insist on holding public officials accountable for changing our gun laws, these tragedies will keep happening.”—Former President Barack Obama.
• “Perhaps even more than the morally bankrupt Trump, Mitch McConnel is the worst among us. He sees evil and does nothing but permit it to flourish. He and his profit at the expense of others. He closes his heart to what is right and good about America.”—Ann McFeatters, Tribune Content Agency.
• “We can’t fix a problem if we refuse to name it: white nationalism. An ideology emboldened by a president who stokes the flames of hatred and coddles white supremacists with messages of support.”—Former Vice President Joe Biden.
• “We need to call out white nationalism for what it is—domestic terrorism. And we need to call out the president himself for advancing racism and white supremacy.”—Sen. Elizabeth Warren.
• “(Trump’s) a moral arsonist.”—Frank Bruni, New York Times.
• “President Trump is serving up to our adversaries an ever more divided and weakened America, one that is animated by suspicion, rived by hatred of the “other” and increasingly incapable of uniting in the face of external threats. … Dictators around the world encounter no opprobrium from our government and are comforted to find a fellow traveler in rhetoric and policies that demean his own people.”—Susan E. Rice, former U.S. ambassador to the UN and former national security adviser to President Barack Obama.
• “Most of the time, mass shooters aren’t driven by delusions or voices in their head. They are driven by a need to wield their power over another group. They are angry at the perceived injustices that have befallen them at the hands of others. … It’s not an altered perception of reality that drives them; it’s entitlement, insecurity and hatred.”—Amy Barnhorst, Psychology Today.
• “The white supremacist terrorists and the white supremacist policymakers are bound at the hip.”—Charles M. Blow, New York Times.
• “We live in a precarious moment in this Trump era, in which a seat on the federal bench demands a prerequisite fealty to an expansive reading of personal gun rights under the Second Amendment.”—Robert Spitzer, chair of the political science department at SUNY Cortland and the author of “The Politics of Gun Control.”
• “The Mueller report may turn out to be more of a film noir than anything else. The detective successfully uncovers the plot, only to discover that the society around him is too rotten to do anything about it.”—Quinta Jurecic, Lawfare.
• “Every single person in the Justice Department … knew that (Jeffrey Epstein) was a suicide risk, and that his dark secrets couldn’t be allowed to die with him.”—Nebraska Republican Sen. Ben Sasse, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
• “Bigger is better if you’re going after digital reach.”—Doug Arthur, Huber Research analyst, on the merger of Gannett and Gatehouse Media, America’s two largest newspaper publishers.
• “We die. That may be the meaning of life. But we do language. That may be the measure of our lives.”—The late Nobel Laureate novelist Toni Morrison.
• “You are too intelligent to believe in God.”—The very first words of Ayn Rand upon meeting William F. Buckley for the first time.
• “We don’t really see an end to the uncertainty at any time soon.”—Sameer Samana, senior global market strategist at Wells Fargo Investment Institute.
• “The stability of food supply is projected to decrease as the magnitude and frequency of extreme weather events that disrupt food chains increases.”—United Nations report.
• “We need to listen to scientists on the climate crisis. Not Ted Nugent.”–Congresswoman Kathy Castor, chair of the U.S. House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis.
• “This is a great opportunity to engage the community and promote the values that make this country strong, prosperous, safe and great!”—Republican Party of Florida email announcing that the party would be holding a voter registration drive at a South Florida gun show.
• “Where we think the world’s going is … how do you curate the experience when you’re there? To us, that’s kind of what makes a great place.”—Nicholas Harris, CEO of Bromley Cos., the developer of the $500 million, mixed-used Midtown Tampa project.
• “I think the conference is going to put Tampa on the map as an absolute welcoming place for LGBT business to occur.”—Justin Nelson, president of the National LGBT Chamber of Commerce, on the impact of Tampa hosting the International Business & Leadership Conference, the largest LGBT business gathering in the world.