* “What is history but a fable agreed
upon?”–Napoleon Bonaparte.
* “We are a country that is fighting to get
away from a legacy of populism that has failed.”–Marcos Pena, chief of cabinet ministers under Argentinean President
Mauricio Macri.
* “The United States is not seeking war with
the Iranian regime, but we are fully prepared to respond to any attack, whether
by proxy, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps or regular Iranian
forces.”–National security adviser John
Bolton, in addressing the Trump Administration’s message with its
deployment of the USS Abraham Lincoln
Carrier Strike Group and a bomber task force to the Middle East.
* “It is John Bolton, not Iran, who poses the
greatest threat to American national security today.”–Scott Ritter, the American Conservative.
* “I believe that Kim Jong-un fully realizes
the great economic potential of North Korea and will do nothing to interfere or
end it. He also knows that I am with him and does not want to break his promise
to me. Deal will happen!”–President Donald
Trump.
* “Trump promised a disruptive foreign policy
that would deliver results, but instead is alarming Americans with impulsive
and erratic decisions that leave us less safe and less respected.”–Jeffrey Prescott, senior Middle East
policy director at the National Security Council during the Obama
Administration.
* “(Beijing poses) a new kind of challenge; an
authoritarian regime that’s integrated economically into the West in ways that
the Soviet Union never was.”–Mike
Pompeo.
* “Tariffs will make our Country MUCH STRONGER,
not weaker. Just sit back and watch!”–Donald Trump.
* “We appear to be in a slow motion train
wreck, with both sides sticking to their positions. As is often the case,
however, the losers will not be the negotiators or presidents, but the
people.”–William Reinsch,
trade analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
* “The question is how do you use U.S.
leadership? Do you use it to try to force a major counterpart to capitulate and
do it in a humiliating way? Or do you use your moral leadership, which has
driven the process forward in the past?”–Former Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, who served in the Obama
Administration.
* “It will not be indefinite.”–Acting
Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan,
on the status of those 4,364 military troops on the Southwest border.
* “The House’s most appropriate response to an
attorney general who has dissembled about the Mueller report, refused to
produce the report for Congress and defied a duly passed contempt citation
would be impeachment. Impeachment of a cabinet secretary (the first since
Reconstruction) would be a fitting capstone to a career that will be defined by
William Barr’s rabid partisanship and disdain for the Constitution.”–Jennifer Rubin, New York Times.
* “Why do rural areas support Trump? A lot of
it has to do with cultural factors. In particular, rural voters are far more
hostile to immigrants than urban voters… . Rural voters also feel
disrespected by coastal elites, and Trump has managed to channel their anger.”–Paul Krugman, New York Times.
* “Sexual violence is a national crisis that
requires a national solution. We miss that point if we end the discussion at
whether I should forgive Mr. Biden.”–Anita
Hill.
* “There’s a lot of hate out there on the internet.
Violent extremists around the world have access to our local communities to
target and recruit and spread their messages of hate on a global scale.”–Mike McGarrity, the FBI’s top
counterterrorism official.
* “My career in the CIA was cut short by partisan
politics, but I’m not done serving our country.”–Valerie Plame, the former CIA officer whose cover was blown in a
leak that touched off a political scandal during the George W. Bush
Administration, in announcing that she plans to run for Congress as a Democrat
representing New Mexico.
* “Silicon Valley’s touted utopia helped
deliver our current dystopia.”–Maureen
Dowd, New York Times.
* “Senate Bill 168 (“Federal Immigration
Enforcement Act”) is a solution for a problem we do not have in Hillsborough
County. It has long been our practice in Hillsborough to cooperate with federal
law enforcement and that will not change.”–Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister.
* “My position is that we’re too big of an area
to lose a professional sports team. I believe there are spots throughout the
area that would work. If it turns out to be in Pinellas County, that’s fine. We
want the team to stay in the area, and I believe that’s what the Rays want
too.”–Tampa Mayor Jane Castor.