The BIG Lies

“On the first day in office, President Biden sent a legislative proposal to Congress to fix what everyone agrees is a broken immigration system. … What we are doing is enforcing our laws.” —DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas

“I don’t have time for politics. We’re focused on solutions.” —Alejandro Mayorkas

Belly Laugh of the Day

“I think Mayorkas is doing the best job that he can, to be quite frank.” —Congressman Marc Veasey (D-TX)

For the Record

“While Biden is inviting millions of illegal immigrants across our border, offering free housing, education, and healthcare, among the 600,000 Americans citizens who are living on the streets, 35,000 are veterans.” —Mark Alexander

Braying Jenny

“For weeks, both I and the institution to which I’ve devoted my professional life have been under attack. My character and intelligence have been impugned. My commitment to fighting antisemitism has been questioned. My inbox has been flooded with invective, including death threats. I’ve been called the N-word more times than I care to count. My hope is that by stepping down I will deny demagogues the opportunity to further weaponize my presidency.” —former Harvard President Claudine Gay

“The campaign against me was about more than one university and one leader. This was merely a single skirmish in a broader war to unravel public faith in pillars of American society.” —Claudine Gay

“At a congressional hearing last month, I fell into a well-laid trap.” —Claudine Gay

“I have never misrepresented my research findings, nor have I ever claimed credit for the research of others.” —Claudine Gay

“Those who had relentlessly campaigned to oust me since the fall often trafficked in lies and ad hominem insults, not reasoned argument. They recycled tired racial stereotypes about Black talent and temperament. They pushed a false narrative of indifference and incompetence.” —Claudine Gay

“It is not lost on me that I make an ideal canvas for projecting every anxiety about the generational and demographic changes unfolding on American campuses: a Black woman selected to lead a storied institution.” —Claudine Gay

“At tense moments, every one of us must be more skeptical than ever of the loudest and most extreme voices in our culture, however well organized or well connected they might be.” —Claudine Gay

Touché

“Claudine Gay is like a ‘Scooby Doo’ villain in real life: I would’ve gotten away with it — and been respected while doing it — if it hadn’t been for you lousy kids.” —Nate Jackson

“It’s only plagiarism if it comes from the Plagiare region of France. Otherwise it’s sparkling academic corruption.” —Ilya Shapiro

Race Bait

“This isn’t about plagiarism or antisemitism. This is about racism and intimidation. This makes no one safer. The only winners are fascists who bullied a brilliant & historic Black woman into resignation. 2024 will be a battle for truth, democracy and our shared humanity.” —Congressman Jamaal Bowman (D-NY)

Baghdad Bobs

“Instead of entering this year with a new approach to deliver for the American people, House Republicans are prioritizing baseless impeachment stunts.” —White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre

“Republican tax cuts are responsible [for] about 90% … of the increase in the debt as a share of the economy over the last two decades, excluding emergency spending. … [Biden] signed a legislation to lower the deficit by $1 trillion.” —Karine Jean-Pierre

“[Biden] believes in having a democracy that works, on having a free and fair election.” —Karine Jean-Pierre

“Americans are waking up every day and they’re thinking about how they’re going to put food on the table. They’re thinking about … how they’re going to take care of their kids; the schools that they’re going to send their kids to. And … when [Trump] was president, he did everything he could to make those things harder. … We have to remind [Americans] that those things can be taken away by somebody who’s already done it before. … Joe Biden [and] Kamala Harris got to work bringing this country back from the brink of destruction that Donald Trump left it in.” —Deputy Biden Campaign Manager Quentin Fulks

“We believe that [Republicans] pose an existential threat to democracy, and over the last four years that threat to democracy has only grown.” —Quentin Fulks

Political Futures

“With deep voter concerns about his age and his record, Biden simply cannot make the election about himself. That has been clear for quite a while. And so the president has signaled for more than a year that he intends to make the election about what he calls ‘MAGA extremism.’” —Byron York