Quotes of the Week

Plus links to some of the best articles and essays.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Iowa Democratic Party Chair Rita Hart speak at a town hall in Des Moines, March 14, 2025. | Iowa Public Radio

Note for new subscribers: On Fridays I send out a post with a list of notable quotes from the past week, along with links to some of the best longform essays and articles that I’ve come across. You can opt out of these posts by clicking “manage subscription” on the top right.

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• “Among the American public overall, the Democratic Party’s favorability rating stands at just 29% — a record low in CNN’s polling dating back to 1992 and a drop of 20 points since January 2021.” — CNN’s Ariel Edwards-Levy

• “My uncles all fought in World War II so that we would not have a fascist in the White House and this is what we’re getting right now.” — The View’s Joy Behar

• “Retired FBI agents with more than 120 years of combined experience told our investigation the legendary FBI Quantico Training Academy was dubbed the ‘Participation Academy’ because of headquarters’ pressure to ‘push through’ poorly performing candidates to meet DEI objectives.” — Catherine Herridge, former senior investigative correspondent at CBS News

• “When my mother came from Guyana, she realized [America] is not a land of opportunity for people like us.” — Joy Reid, during a conversation with Ta-Nehisi Coates held at Xavier University¹

• “This election I think for a lot of people was a surprise that shouldn’t have been a surprise. I know it was for me. I think I allowed myself the 107-day delusion that it was possible for this incredible black and Asian woman to win.” — Also Joy Reid

• “Why are old, white men the only ones who are allowed to be felons?” — Actress Ellen Pompeo, during an appearance on The View

• “People love AOC. People love Jasmine Crockett. People love Eric Swalwell. And the like. And I think the Democratic Party should put the people out there who the people want.” — Don Lemon

• “Let’s be honest, there’s a huge faction of the MAGA movement that is really fucking racist…and even if they’re not, you have to overlook a lot of that in order to support Donald Trump, which I think is maybe even more egregious than just saying ‘I’m a racist.’” — Also Don Lemon

• “I don’t think that you can be black and be a rational MAGA person.” — And also Don Lemon

• “If we continue to observe norms, if we continue to engage in business as usual, this democracy could be gone. I don’t think we have a year to save American democracy.” — Democratic Senator Chris Murphy, speaking on MSNBC

• “If that doesn’t seem like a lot, the last time it cracked 40%, you gotta go back to 2012. The last time it actually hit 44% or higher—January 2004.” — NBC News political data expert Steve Kornacki, regarding an NBC poll showing that 44% of Americans say the country is headed in the right direction under Trump, up from just 27% in November

• “There’s nothing conservative about an unelected South African nepo-baby firing people at the VA…Can you imagine if President Barack Obama had brought his unelected African friend to cut — you know what I mean.” — Tim Walz, speaking at an Iowa town hall

• “If you need a little boost during the day, check out Tesla stock.” — Also Tim Walz²

• “We narrowly dodged having this bumbling sitcom dad as vice president. The archetype is the weak father, who indulges the latest ideological fads—‘protect trans kids’—to win the approval of his children. Being the ‘white male ally’ relieves him of the responsibility to lead and provides a simple script to follow. Hence, the barking seal routine and the applause from the audience. He even has to pretend that he doesn’t quite know how the stock market app works on his phone. He can’t convey competence or confidence, which is now associated with the Right and Musk, and, therefore, associated with evil. Walz is what happens when white men adopt DEI not only as a politics, but as a personality.” — Christopher Rufo

• “Wokeness is dying. We might miss it.” — NYT’s Michelle Goldberg

• “Democratic senators should listen to the women. Appropriations leaders Rosa DeLauro and Patty Murray have eloquently presented the case that we must have a better choice: a four-week funding extension to keep government open and negotiate a bipartisan agreement. America has experienced a Trump shutdown before - but this damaging legislation only makes matters worse. Democrats must not buy into this false choice. We must fight back for a better way. Listen to the women, For The People.” — Nancy Pelosi, regarding the government funding bill

• “You just gotta keep your eyes open, y’all. Because if they can just come up and take somebody because they’ve made a decision that you’re supposed to be that person, any one of us could find ourselves being deported to some country when we’ve never been there.” — The View’s Whoopi Goldberg

• “From what I understand, Teslas will fall apart if you just leave them alone anyway. Yeah, there’s nothing really anybody really needs to do about it. Just drive them enough. Eventually the things will start to fall apart.” — CNN’s Josh Rogin, during a discussion about Tesla vehicles being vandalized and destroyed

• “The reality is if all registered voters had turned out, then Donald Trump would’ve won the popular vote by 5 points [instead of 1.7 points].” — David Shor, head data scientist at the Democratic consulting firm Blue Rose Research

• “This is the establishment of Jim Crow 2.0. I said that before we ever had the election, and it’s coming true.” — Democratic Rep. James Clyburn, speaking on MSNBC

• “Fuck this evil bitch! We are in an ongoing pandemic and these policies of forced infection will kill and disable countless NYers, mostly the most vulnerable.” — Taylor Lorenz, in response to New York Governor Kathy Hochul pushing for a partial ban on face coverings

• “What was hiring like in government and in the private sector before the Civil Rights Act, before these executive orders? Because it wasn’t a meritocracy. What it was was an exclusive hold that specifically white men had on America. And so undergirding this is a very dark idea that to be competent is to be a white man and to be a straight, heterosexual white man.” — NYT’s Mara Gay, during an appearance on MSNBC

If you need to get past a paywall, try Archive Today, 12ft.io, or Wayback Machine.

• The New Yorker: “Crush Point”

• The New Yorker: “City of Water”

• Atavist: “The Girl in the Picture”

• The Atlantic: “Columbia’s Last Flight”

• Vanity Fair: “The Body in Room 348”

• The Wall Street Journal: “All-Robot Assault Opens New Chapter in Front-Line Warfare”

• The Guardian: “Seven stowaways and a hijacked oil tanker: the strange case of the Nave Andromeda”

• Los Angeles Times: “Man in the Window”

1. The average monthly salary in Guyana is $430 to $720. Joy Reid’s MSNBC salary was $3 million a year.

2. Records from the Minnesota State Board of Investment show that as of 6/30/24, the state of Minnesota had 1.6 million shares of Tesla in its retirement fund, and 211,000 shares of Tesla in its non-retirement fund. So, Tim Walz is essentially cheering against the financial interests of his own constituents.