* “Iran’s scientific and defense policies won’t change because of the assassination of one scientist or general.”–Iran government spokesman Ali Rabiei.
* “We’re lucky our authoritarians are so incompetent.”–Historian Jon Meacham.
* “It will be hard to reassure allies that America is back for good if there is a real prospect of Trump–or some other neo-isolationist–reclaiming the Oval Office in 2024.”–Max Boot, senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.
* “We, in effect, have three parties now: the Democratic Party, the Anti-Democracy Trump Party, and the Pro-Democracy Republican Party. If Pro-Democracy Republicans want to recover their party, they should consider primary challenges to pro-Trump authoritarians, independent runs for state and federal office, and even formation of a new party or movement.”–Jennifer Rubin, Washington Post.
* “It wasn’t a conspiracy that cost Trump the White House but a terrible combination of bad timing—the vaccines he promised were announced a fortnight too late for them to impact voting—and bad polling.”–Hugh Hewitt, conservative radio talk-show host on the Salem Network.
* “Trump didn’t kill the Republican Party. He formalized its transformation and solidified it as the party of rural, non-college educated whites. And this base will be enough to make the party highly competitive as a national party in the near term, even as its total vote share in the population shrinks.”–Jonathan V. Last, the Bulwark.
* “What we have seen is a resounding personal repudiation of Donald Trump. He hit the heretofore unachieved presidential trifecta of election with a minority of the popular vote, impeachment and re-election rejection, and this by one of the largest popular vote margins suffered by an incumbent in the country’s history.”–Veteran Republican strategist Mac Stipanovich, who is now registered NPA.
* “Deliberately ignoring Trump’s crimes would signal that a president is not subject to equal justice under the law. … It is no more permissible to conclude that former presidents should be excused from criminal culpability than it should be for former corrupt judges or pederast priests or bribe-taking television personalities.”–Philip Allen Lacovara, former counsel to the Watergate special prosecutor.
* “Voters, not lawyers, choose the president. Ballots, not briefs, decide elections.”–Third U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Stephanos Bibas, a Trump appointee who wrote the opinion rejecting the Trump campaign’s contention of voter fraud in Pennsylvania.
* “Now that (Biden’s) won, leaders of the defund-police movement hope to keep expanding their power in the halls of Washington. They want his administration to spend more money on health care and housing, and much, much less on law enforcement.”–Samantha Michaels, Mother Jones.
* “If the Senate refuses to tackle the major issues, then the president will—and he’ll just issue executive orders. Just saying ‘no’ doesn’t enhance our power. It’s a way to cede power.”–Utah Republican Sen. Mitt Romney.
* “Even as cases have exploded across the country, Congress and the president have not yet passed much-needed relief for people.”–Colorado Democratic Gov. Jared Polis, in calling a special legislative session to address the COVID-caused emergency.
* “The economy is going to be very uncomfortable between now and when we get the next fiscal rescue package. If lawmakers can’t get it together, it will be very difficult for the economy to avoid going back into a recession.”–Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics.
* “She’s pretty pro-fiscal stimulus, and she’s able to effectively work with people across the aisle.”—Lindsey Bell, chief investment strategist at Ally Invest, on Joe Biden’s selection of Janet Yellen, the former Federal Reserve chair, as treasury secretary.
* “There are more and more people extending helpful hands to do a kindness to their neighbors. … Keep the faith.”–Beloved Jeopardy host Alex Trebek, in a Thanksgiving video taped shortly before his death.
* “Current expectations are that leisure driving vacations will recover first, and then—in order—business travel, domestic air travel and international travel.”–Florida Legislative Budget Commission report.
* “It’s very dangerous. And the smart move is to put this off awhile until we get some people vaccinated.”–USF epidemiologist Dr. John Sinnott, on the postponement of the Gasparilla Parade of Pirates from Jan. 30 to April 17.
* “A widespread aversion to COVID vaccination could risk a lamentable squandering of one of the most remarkable chapters in the history of medical technology and vaccine development. The solution is simple: Pay people to take a COVID vaccine. … The timing couldn’t be better: Money would go into Americans’ pockets just when the U.S. economy can begin fully reopening with a vaccinated population that can go about their daily lives without fear of catching the disease or infecting others. To that end, the federal government should pay every American $1,500 to get vaccinated.”–John K. Delaney, former Democratic Congressman from Maryland—and a former 2020 Democratic presidential candidate.
* “I was really drawn to it from the sustainability side of it, making it safer for people to walk and bike and leave their cars behind.”–Alana Brasier, recently hired to serve as Tampa’s Vision Zero coordinator, where she will work to find ways to reduce traffic deaths.