Insight: “A man’s admiration for absolute government is proportionate to the contempt he feels for those around him.” —Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-1859)

Political futures: “If it feels now as though the post-Trump GOP will never arrive, American politics moves quickly. Richard Nixon resigned in 1974, leaving the GOP in utter disarray — and yet Reagan won a landslide six years later. The Tea Party sprang to life from nowhere in 2009 and had disappeared by 2016, subsumed into the Trump phenomenon. … The temptation to splinter from the GOP might be alluring to elements of both the populists and the Republican traditionalists, but this a dead end. The Republican Party is the only plausible electoral vehicle for any sort of right-of-center politics in America. It is worth fighting over, and it will be. That struggle is sure to be toxic and unpredictable — except for the fact that at the end of the day the Grand Old Party will still be standing.” —Rich Lowry

Observations: “Do you know who the most conspicuously absent critics of this transgender madness are? America’s fathers. Where are they? Where are the fathers who are willing to stand up and fight for their daughters to be able to compete in school sports with other girls? So far they’re AWOL. But unless millions of fathers — and mothers — unite in their anger, in five years there’s liable to be no female sports at all in our public high schools or colleges.” —Michael Reagan

For the record: “[Marjorie Taylor] Greene’s treatment stands in stark contrast to how Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the Democrat majority dealt with Rep. Ilhan Omar’s (D-MN) repeated anti-Semitic outbursts. You may recall that even after a series of outrageous statements, House Democrats were unwilling to condemn Rep. Omar directly. They passed a meaningless resolution that condemned hate generally and never actually referenced Omar by name or her offensive statements. Anyone reading the resolution would have had no idea why it was even necessary. To be clear, intolerance and bigotry have no place in Congress. Period. But justice must be fair and equal. There should be no double standards.” —Gary Bauer

Upright: “The system of government that we have in this nation is not systemically racist; in fact, it is not racist at all. To say that this is a racist nation — that is not true. And when we write standards that point to that direction in any way, we are doing our students a disservice.” —Mark Robinson (R-NC), the state’s first black lieutenant governor

Non sequitur: “We know now we must confront and defeat political extremism, white supremacy, and domestic terrorism. For so many in our nation, this is a dark, dark time. So where do we turn? Faith.” —Joe Biden (Except “wokeness” and political theater don’t mix with faith.)

Fox guarding the henhouse: “I know sometimes we get consumed by numbers. It’s going to be $2.1 trillion, $1.9 trillion, $1.7 trillion. That is not the issue.” —Senate Budget Committee Chairman Bernie Sanders

Non compos mentis: “Even after vaccination social distancing, wearing masks are going to be essential.” —White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki (“The 15 days to slow the spread somehow turned into the rest of our lives.” —Lisa Boothe)

And last… “Just ask Brian Williams if AOC was at the Capitol. He was there with her!” —Ryan Fournier