The Patriot Post® · Thursday Short Cuts

Insight: “No one understood better than Stalin that the true object of propaganda is neither to convince nor even to persuade, but to produce a uniform pattern of public utterance in which the first trace of unorthodox thought immediately reveals itself as a jarring dissonance.” —Leonard Schapiro (1908-1983)

Political futures: “If you’re part of a secret cabal to contain the president’s erratic behavior, it seems counterproductive to notify the erratic president about it. What better way to fuel his paranoia and his persecution complex?” —Jonah Goldberg on a White House official’s “resistance” op-ed in The New York Times

Broken clock: “I don’t see people migrating from the capitalist system to socialist systems. … I vote for capitalism.” —Warren Buffet (“Maybe he’s voting for capitalism, but will Warren Buffett end up funding Democratic Socialism?” —Ed Morrissey)

Nancy Pelosi seen nodding in agreement: “Pass [single-payer health care] and then figure out how to fund it.” —actress and New York governor aspirant Cynthia Nixon

Braying Jenny: “If Brett Kavanaugh becomes a Supreme Court justice, will he help gut or overturn Roe v. Wade, which legalized abortion in America? Yes, of course he will.” —Hillary Clinton

Belly laugh of the week: “The Iran nuclear deal, I say this straightforwardly, is the strongest, most intrusive, most accountable nuclear agreement that we have anywhere on the planet.” —John Kerry

Non Compos Mentis: “It has become clear … that for decades, the president led a vast criminal enterprise that went on to engage in criminal activity during the 2016 campaign for the White House and has engaged in criminal activity since the president took office.” —Rep. Luis V. Gutiérrez (D-IL)

And last… “The best thing about the Internet is that it connects us to so many other people! The worst thing about the Internet is that it connects us to so many other people.” —Jim Geraghty