The Patriot Post® · Thursday Short Cuts

For the record: “Rachel Maddow of MSNBC broke away from South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem’s speech because Maddow felt it was ‘very wrong’ to say that cities have been hit hard by crime and looting. She brought on Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan to dispute the claim. Earlier this week, Seattle rioters tried to seal police officers inside a building using quick-dry cement, in order to kill them.” —Mollie Hemingway

Political futures: “Republicans are pitching optimism, opportunity and the limitless possibilities of the individual in America, regardless of background, religion, race, ethnicity or the obstacles that have existed and continue to exist. Democrats are pitching anger, hatred, victimhood, resentment, class and racial warfare, and self-loathing. If there is any hope, it lies solely in the hands of an ever-larger government — led, it must be noted, by the same people who have presided over the devastation and catastrophic failures noted above.” —Laura Hollis

Observations: “The DC crowd thinks when they call Donald Trump a nationalist, they’re insulting him. As if the American president isn’t supposed to base foreign policy on America’s national interests!” —former Acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grennell

Touché: “Joe Biden had the audacity to say if you don’t vote for him, ‘You ain’t black.’ Well to that, I say, if you do vote for Biden, you don’t know history.” —civil rights activist Clarence Henderson

The political winds are shifting: “Burning down communities is not protest — it’s needless violence. Violence that endangers lives, violence that guts businesses and shutters businesses that serve the community. That’s wrong.” —Joe Biden

D'oh! “The simple reality is that we are seeing more and more chaos and violence under the Trump presidency, and there’s no reason to expect that it would get any different or any better if he were reelected.” —Pete Buttigieg, giving away the Democrats’ game plan if they lose

Non compos mentis: “Madison Cawthorn made it a point to stand [for the national anthem], suggesting that all Americans to [sic] should stand during the pledge of allegiance & national anthem. It was a direct rebuke of actions by ppl — including black athletes who are currently sitting out games — protesting police brutality.” —"PBS NewsHour" correspondent Yamiche Alcindor (“How on earth could you possibly turn the rather moving act of a FREAKIN’ PARAPLEGIC rising for the national anthem into some weird BLM trip?” —National Review contributor Jeff Blehar)

And last… “The point of the mob is to wipe out what it cannot create. It topples what it can neither match nor even comprehend. It would erode the very system that ensures it singular freedom, leisure and historic affluence. The brand of the anarchist is not logic but envy-driven power: to take it, to keep it, and to use it against purported enemies — which would otherwise be impossible in times of calm or through the ballot box.” —Victor Davis Hanson