Verbatim Archives - Page 16 of 614

— President Trump, on Truth Social, Dec. 25, 2025

— President Trump, speaking to a 4 year old and a 10 year old on Christmas Eve.

The Three Steps to Affordability

December 23, 2025 Buck Banks

“Three things, I learned by speaking with campaign operatives, pollsters, economists, think-tank types, and a lot of teed-off voters from across the political spectrum. Stop making things worse. Provide immediate relief. Then do the hard work of getting the most important prices down.”

“I’m old enough to remember when CBS News would never have surrendered to a demagogic president. But that was when CBS News — the home of Edward R. Murrow (who also revealed to America the danger of Joe McCarthy) and Walter Cronkite — was independent of the rest of CBS. And when the top management of CBS felt they had independent responsibilities to the American public. … America can survive without a 60 Minutes it can trust, just as we can survive without trustworthy editorial pages of the Washington Post. But at some point, as Trump continues to repress criticism of him and his regime, American democracy is compromised beyond repair.”

— Robert Reich

Vance Is Apparently Running on the White Supremacist Ticket

December 22, 2025 Buck Banks

“In the United States of America you don’t have to apologize for being white anymore.”

— Vice President JD Vance, speaking at the Turning Point USA summit.

Most Loathsome President Ever

December 22, 2025 Buck Banks

“Though I tend to think it’s usually a waste of space to devote a column to President Trump’s personality — what more is there to say about the character of this petty, hollow, squalid, overstuffed man? — sometimes the point bears stressing: We are led by the most loathsome human being ever to occupy the White House.”

— Bret Stephens

It’s Still the Kennedy Center

December 19, 2025December 19, 2025 Buck Banks

“Perhaps the board isn’t aware that the Kennedy Center is the memorial to the president of the United States, John F. Kennedy. Would they rename the Lincoln memorial? The Jefferson? That would be an insult to great presidents. This too is an insult to a great president. Notwithstanding their short-sighted action, it is and will remain the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.”

— Tim Shriver, nephew of President John F. Kennedy, quoted by Deadline.

Trump’s ‘Unhinged’ Second Term

December 19, 2025 Buck Banks

“It all might make more sense if he actually were drinking. By all accounts, President Trump doesn’t touch the stuff. So when his own chief of staff said that he has ‘an alcoholic’s personality,’ she was talking about his larger-than-life nature rather than his consumption. … Yet in some ways, it may be an apt description for a president who seems even less inhibited than ever in a way that has many in Washington and beyond shaking their heads or even wondering if the leader of the free world has lost it. The word often whispered by Republicans and shouted by Democrats and Never Trumpers is ‘unhinged.’”

— New York Times

No, the President Can’t ‘Be Presidential’

December 16, 2025 Buck Banks

“I’d expect to hear something like this from a drunk guy at a bar, not the President of the United States. Can the president be presidential?”

— Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE), on CNN, talking about President Trump’s reaction to the murder of filmmaker Rob Reiner.

Massie Calls Out GOP Over Trump’s Comments About Reiner Murder

December 16, 2025 Buck Banks

“Regardless of how you felt about Rob Reiner, this is inappropriate and disrespectful discourse about a man who was just brutally murdered. I guess my elected GOP colleagues, the VP, and White House staff will just ignore it because they’re afraid? I challenge anyone to defend it.”

— President Trump, on Truth Social, Dec. 25, 2025

“We want to make sure that he’s not infiltrating, that we’re not infiltrating into our country and ban Santa.”

— President Trump, speaking to a 4 year old and a 10 year old on Christmas Eve.

“Three things, I learned by speaking with campaign operatives, pollsters, economists, think-tank types, and a lot of teed-off voters from across the political spectrum. Stop making things worse. Provide immediate relief. Then do the hard work of getting the most important prices down.”

— Annie Lowrey

— Robert Reich

“In the United States of America you don’t have to apologize for being white anymore.”

— Vice President JD Vance, speaking at the Turning Point USA summit.

— Bret Stephens

— Tim Shriver, nephew of President John F. Kennedy, quoted by Deadline.

— New York Times

“I’d expect to hear something like this from a drunk guy at a bar, not the President of the United States. Can the president be presidential?”

— Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE), on CNN, talking about President Trump’s reaction to the murder of filmmaker Rob Reiner.

“Regardless of how you felt about Rob Reiner, this is inappropriate and disrespectful discourse about a man who was just brutally murdered. I guess my elected GOP colleagues, the VP, and White House staff will just ignore it because they’re afraid? I challenge anyone to defend it.”

— Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), on X.

Poetic Justice

Verbatim

“One woman at a rally in New Jersey told me last week that she was ‘nauseously optimistic.’ That may capture a lot of people’s last-minute jitters.”

— Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), quoted by Axios, on what Democrats feel ahead of the midterm elections.

“I think Congress made a mistake not protesting turning the Rose Garden into what looks like the entrance to Liberace’s bathroom.”

— Former President Bill Clinton, quoted by The Wrap.

“Boy, they are scraping the bottom of the barrel. It feels like a real desperation play to me, because it has got zero basis in the law.”

— Republican election law expert Ben Ginsberg, quoted by Politico, on the Trump administration’s effort to invalidate Alaska’s election results.

Numerati

3,824

$1.4 billion

-35 points

31%

63% to 38%