Quotes and Links

A week in review

ABC’s Jon Karl conducts an interview with Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley and New Hampshire governor Chris Sununu, Sunday, December 17, 2023.

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• “The Biden administration is the most authoritarian American administration of my adult lifetime, and it isn’t close. Nixon wishes he could have gone after his enemies list, censored and persecuted them, the way Biden has.” — Dr. Jay Bhattacharya

• “Nikki Haley is a brunette Liz Cheney. She hates free speech as much as she loves war and foreign aid.” — Republican Rep. Thomas Massie

• “[Trump] has been dabbling in Adolf Hitler his whole life, keeps Hitler’s speeches at his bedside. Mein Kampf seems to be the book that’s inspired Trump the most.” — MSNBC’s Doug Brinkley

• “Harvard Finds More Instances of ‘Duplicative Language’ in President’s Work.” — Headline from the New York Times. Calling plagiarism “duplicative language” is like calling stealing “unauthorized sharing.”

• “How will Harvard be able to punish any students found guilty of the same offense without inviting a lawsuit?” — CNN’s Jake Tapper

• “If Jack Smith is trying to get this case tried before the election, and he clearly is, that is political.” — CNN’s Elie Honig

• “I mean, when you look at someone like Greg Abbott, my governor, and his solution, his solution is to basically say, ‘Hey, we’re going to kill [migrants] who are trying to come in.” — Democratic Rep. Jasmine Crockett

• “You guys are exhausting. You’re exhausting in your obsession with him. The thing is, the normal people aren’t obsessed with Trump like you guys are.” — Nikki Haley, during an interview with ABC’s Jon Karl

• “White women despise unafraid, smart, competent Black and brown women way more than they hate their abusive, loathsome white husbands.” — Democratic activist Saira Rao

• “If you’re sitting in the White House right now, you’re like, ‘Please, Hunter Biden...please stop talking in public.’” — MSNBC’s Jen Psaki

• “Trump’s genius is he makes his enemies into what they accuse him of. To protect ‘democracy’ they violate democracy. To fight ‘racism’ they implement literal race quotas. To protect ‘norms’ they violate norms.” — Breaking Points co-host Saagar Enjeti

• “The reality is that the Times is becoming the publication through which America’s progressive elite talks to itself about an America that does not really exist.” — Former New York Times editor James Bennet

• “Our Misinformer of the Year is the legacy news media, which spent much of 2023 downplaying Trump’s incendiary remarks and hazardous policies.” — Media Matters’ Matthew Gertz

• “The Constitution is clear: [to be qualified for President] you must be 40 years old and not an insurrectionist.” — California Lt. Governor Eleni Kounalakis, who apparently doesn’t know that the minimum age is 35 years old

• “Senate staffer alleged by conservative outlets to have had sex in a hearing room is no longer employed.” — Headline from NBC News. Alleged by conservative outlets. The staffer filmed himself having gay sex in the Senate hearing room and then posted the video online. A person can be caught on video, identified from the video, and NBC News puts the burden of proof on conservative media outlets.

• “DEI has corrupted universities far more seriously than most people realize. In dictating hiring priorities, DEI limits what topics doctoral students will work on. It distorts the knowledge creation process. Fundamental problems receive no attention. Pseudo-science flourishes.” — Duke University professor Timur Kuran

• “What would you say is the starker indication of a tyrannical state: antler hat shaman guy taking selfies in the capitol, or our courts prohibiting the front runner opposition candidate from running against their leader?” — Venture capitalist Mike Solana

• “I would say to the judges, as I said to the Justice Department, you’re actually making it more likely that Donald Trump is elected next November by how you are pursuing this.” — Pollster Frank Luntz, during an interview on CNN

• “We don’t want the courts deciding the outcome of elections - this power must reside with and for the people. The Democrats should not rely on the courts as a mechanism to circumvent Brother Biden’s anemic poll numbers.” — Cornel West

• “What we’re seeing at the border…it’s not unusual.” — White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, who is pretending to be oblivious to the fact that more than 12,000 illegal migrants have crossed the border for three days in a row now, which is a record

• An Atavist magazine story about a father’s disappearance, dark family secrets, and the hunt for Bigfoot.

• “How the sun could wipe us out,” from UnHerd.

• An Economist piece on how “American journalism sounds much more Democratic than Republican.”

• “Claudine Gay’s DEI Empire,” from City Journal.

• “The shameless cover-up of the lab-leak theory,” from Sp!ked.

• A New York Times story about how “one of mountaineering’s most enduring mysteries has been given air and light” after a camera from a deceased climber was discovered.

• “A man is presumed murdered. In this town of 12, everyone is a possible suspect,” from Truly Adventurous.