Insight: “We are the showcase of the future. And it is within our power to mold that future — this year and for decades to come. It can be as grand and as great as we make it. No crisis is beyond the capacity of our people to solve; no challenge too great.” —Ronald Reagan

For the record: “Logically, it seems impossible to deny that the lockdowns are a major cause of these once-in-a-generation nationwide protests.” —Timothy Carney

Upright: “Riots aren’t a tool for fighting oppression, they are an oppression.” —Michael Brendan Dougherty

Friendly fire: “This is not a protest. This is not in the spirit of Martin Luther King Jr. This is chaos. A protest has purpose. When Dr. King was assassinated we didn’t do this to our city.” —Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms

Village idiot: “After stoking the fires of white supremacy and racism your entire presidency, you have the nerve to feign moral superiority before threatening violence? ‘When the looting starts the shooting starts’??? We will vote you out in November.” —Taylor Swift

Non sequitur: “I can tell you this, and this is the blunt truth: The president of the United States helped to create this atmosphere, and that’s the tragedy here. It doesn’t matter what your party affiliation is, doesn’t matter what you think of President Trump; there’s been an uptick in tension since he came along. It’s just a fact. And it’s not the reason for any specific act, but it has helped to poison the atmosphere.” —New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, whose daughter was arrested over the weekend

Braying jenny: “There really was also many people who chose to demonstrate and not abide by the curfew, who felt like they also were terrorized by the presence of tanks, by the presence of the National Guard and a militarized police.” —Representative Ilhan Omar

Demo-gogues: “[Past presidents] have seen their responsibility to be the president of the United States, to unify our country and not to fuel the flame.” —House Speaker Nancy Pelosi

Non compos mentis: “One of the largest forms of theft in the US today is wage theft.” —Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, whose socialist policies would involve all sorts of tax theft

And last… “The protestors deserve justice — more than ‘we feel bad’ with no substantive measures taken. The rioters and other people just trying to make things worse deserve justice against them. More importantly, the people hurt by this need help. We can manage all of this if we want to.” —Frank J. Fleming