* “We now live in a time in which the eyewitnesses of this terrible period (World War II) of German history are dying. In this phase, it will be decided whether we have really learned from history.”–German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
* “Diplomacy cannot be done in tweets.”–French government spokesman Benjamin Griveaux.
* “The biggest problem is the trust issues.”–White House trade adviser Peter Navarro, on trade negotiations with China.
* “Brexsh*t.”–British short hand for the sloppy departure of the UK from the European Union.
* “The inner workings of the Mueller investigation are a total mess. They have found no collusion and have gone absolutely nuts.”–President Donald Trump.
* “At this point, it may be more prudent to view what comes from the Mueller probe as fodder for the 2020 presidential campaign. It may not pave the way for an impeachment conviction by the Senate, but could well pave the way for an electoral ‘impeachment.'”–Charles Blow, New York Times.
* “Business conflicts of interest that violate the Emoluments Clause, obstructions of justice and illegal hush-money payments comprise three ‘high crimes and misdemeanors’ mandating impeachment…. Congress should not condone the president’s crimes. The House is honor-bound to impeach. If the Senate decides to acquit, then the people will have the final word in the elections of 2020.”–Eric Orts, University of Pennsylvania professor of legal studies and business ethics.
* “There is no reason for these massive, deadly and costly forest fires in California except that forest management is so poor.”–Donald Trump.
* “When people get in line that have absolutely no right to vote and they go around in circles. Sometimes they go to their car, put on a different hat, put on a different shirt, come in and vote again. … It’s really a disgrace what’s going on.”–Donald Trump.
* “Believing in massive voter fraud is on a par with climate change denial, and sadly both show the Trumpized GOP’s willingness to depart from reality.”–Jennifer Rubin, Washington Post.
* “There’s no sign of the vast investment boom the law’s backers promised. Corporations have used the tax cut’s proceeds largely to buy back their own stock rather than to add jobs and expand capacity.”–Paul Krugman, New York Times.
* “It’s nothing scientifically proven, but I do feel women legislators have a very different dynamic when they’re working together. I have a network of women members, and when we have ideas we bounce them off each other and no one’s worried about someone stealing credit.”–U.S. Rep. Grace Meng, D-N.Y.
* “I think to older baby boomer women, (Nancy Pelosi) represents change. To younger (House) members, she represents the status quo.”–Democratic pollster Celinda Lake.
* “Trump is the Democrats’ biggest fundraiser.”–Kathleen Parker, Washington Post.
* “While there is a sprinkling of good professionals in the Trump Administration, they are there by accident, not by intent. Many of those staffing the White House could not get a job in any normal Republican administration, which selected people according to any traditional criteria of excellence.”–David Brooks, New York Times.
* “I expect to see a number of people running (for president) as if this is the Kentucky Derby with 17 stalls to fill.”–Democratic political consultant Jerry Austin.
* “The concentration of young people, poor people and people of color who used to sit on the sidelines because Democrats have not inspired them, will upend the (2020) map.”–Tory Gavito, president and co-founder of Way to Win, a coalition of mostly female donors.
* “Labeling someone as an ‘-ist’ who believes in an ‘ism’ because of the person’s policy preference is just a shortcut to playground-style name-calling, cloaked in political terminology. It’s also generally a good indication that the attacker doesn’t have a solid counter-argument and needs a way to end debate before it has even begun.”–Dan Crenshaw, former Navy SEAL and Republican representative-elect from Texas. He recently appeared on Saturday Night Live’s “Weekend Update” to receive an apology from cast member Pete Davidson.
* “The reality of running a company of more than 10,000 people is that you’re not going to know everything that’s going on.”–Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s chief executive and chairman.
* “I don’t think it’s a huge stretch to suggest that Donald Trump could only get elected in a country that thinks comic books are important.”–Comedian Bill Maher.
* “Humans are generally not good at counting a large number of things. Humans get tired. We’re talking about people who’ve been working, at this point, incredibly long days and for well over a week.”–David Becker, executive director of the Center for Election Innovation and Research.
* “We have been the laughing stock of the world election after election, and we chose not to fix this.”–Tallahassee federal Judge Mark Walker.
* “The law is an ass.”–Ion Sancho, former supervisor of elections in Leon County, on Florida law that mandates signature mismatches be “cured” by 5 p.m. the day before an election.
* “Right now a lot of people, and I’m talking Republicans as well as Democrats, see (Ron DeSantis) as an appendage of Trump. We all know very little about him. His platform during the campaign was virtually nonexistent. So I hope he’s serious when he talks about reaching out to all Floridians.”–State Sen. Jose Javier Rodriguez, D-Coral Gables.
* “You’re never going to win a war of attrition with Rick Scott.”–Democratic strategist Steve Schale.
* “To all Floridians, whether you voted for me or for my opponent or you didn’t vote at all, I ask that you never give up this fight.”–Sen. Bill Nelson.
* “I don’t see any reason why that trend won’t continue at least through the middle of 2019.”–Gus Faucher, chief economist at PNC Financial Services Group, on news that the state added 17,800 jobs in October–with an unemployment rate of 3.4 percent.
* “Everyone wants the actual perpetrator caught and no one wants an innocent person to go to prison. We have an imperfect system. And wrongful convictions, although rare, do exist. And this is why it’s important to have a system in place to fix and minimize wrongful convictions.”–Hillsborough State Attorney Andrew Warren, on his office’s establishment of a Conviction Review Unit.
* “You can’t regulate stupid.”–Tampa City Council member Mike Suarez, on what could possibly go wrong as a result of a proposed ordinance allowing motorized scooters on certain sidewalks.
* “That’s just the tip of the iceberg.”–Tampa Bay Rays 2020 co-founder Ron Christaldi, on the amount of new corporate support–$16 million–pledged for a new Ybor ball park.