Insight: “Evil people always support each other; that is their chief strength.” —Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

For the record: “I’m on his team. We have never talked about me leaving. … We just continue doing our job. … My portfolio is bipartisan by its very basis, and that is the protection of the United States. … I’ve never registered for any political party.” —Secretary of Defense James Mattis on Trump’s comments that he might leave and is “sort of a Democrat”

An exercise in futility: “Did [Elizabeth Warren] gain anything by putting out this DNA test’s results? … I think I might be just as Native American as she is.” —black MSNBC anchor Craig Melvin

Good question: “Argue the substance all you want, but why 22 days before a crucial election where we MUST win house and senate to save America, why did @SenWarren have to do her [DNA] announcement now? Why can’t Dems ever stay focused???” —2012 Obama campaign manager Jim Messina

Friendly fire I: “There are a lot of Democrats who had to wake up this morning and answer questions about Hillary Clinton’s bone-headed comments [about Monica Lewinsky] yesterday, and they’re not really happy with the fact Elizabeth Warren did this 22 days before the midterms and give Republicans a shiny object to keep talking about and fundraising over. It was really poor timing on her part.” —RealClearPolitics columnist A.B. Stoddard

Friendly fire II: “When we talk about abuse of power, it wasn’t just the age difference, it wasn’t just the fact that she was an intern and he was the president, although that was a big part of it. Because Bill Clinton didn’t come clean, Monica Lewinsky was hauled into a hotel in Pentagon City [and] threatened with jail time. Her parents were threatened with jail time. Her life was ruined. It wasn’t just the affair; it was her life that got ruined because of that abuse of power.” —CNN’s Amanda Carpenter

And last… “As much as I enjoy goofing on Elizabeth Warren, I don’t like Trump’s constant references to her as ‘Pocahontas.’ Not because it’s racist, because it’s not. He’s not the one who told her to lie about her ancestry. No, I don’t like it because he should be saying Fauxcahontas. That’s the joke. She’s a fake.” —Jim Treacher