Insight: “The older I get the more wisdom I find in the ancient rule of taking first things first. A process which often reduces the most complex human problem to a manageable proportion.” —Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890-1969)

“Certainly, in the United States, with today’s condition, you can easily have an authoritarian. In many ways, you’re already in the authoritarian state. You just don’t know it. Many things happening today in [the] U.S. can be compared to [the] Cultural Revolution in China. Like people trying to be unified in a certain political correctness. That is very dangerous. … You just think you’re purified by certain ideas that you agree with it. That is posing dangers to … an extreme[ly] divided society.” —Chinese dissident Ai Weiwei

“Six months from now, if you have two shots, you are going to be considered unvaccinated. They will deny that now. I understand that. But just remember they said it was only going to be 15 days to slow the spread, and look where we are.” —Governor Ron DeSantis

“More and more people tell me that they’re not even able to fill their pickup truck tank up for the entire week. They’ve got to fill up half a tank and hope that the price comes down by the end of the week. That, in particular, is the intended effect of Joe Biden’s energy policy. It’s not unintended or some accident. They want gas to cost $4 a gallon because they want all of us to get out of pickup trucks and SUVs and get into small electric compacts or bicycles or scooters or whatever else Pete Buttigieg takes to work.” —Senator Tom Cotton

“You cannot print trillions of dollars in money on the one hand and also pay people not to work and not to produce the stuff that we need to buy and on the other hand not expect the price to increase as fast as it has in 30 years. At this rate, people are losing a penny on every dollar of their savings every month. So in three months, if you had $100 in your savings account, it’ll be worth only $97 in just three months. That is going to continue to worsen as long as the Democrats pursue their reckless inflationary policies.” —Tom Cotton

For the record: “I think the odds are that we’re going to have inflation of a kind we haven’t seen in 30 years, until either the Fed takes some significant move with respect to monetary policy, or until there’s some kind of accident that disrupts the economic growth we’re enjoying. I think it’s possible but quite unlikely that inflation will recede back to its normal 2% level without some significant change in the path … we’re now on. I think the Fed has made a significant mistake in the approach that it’s taking by doubling down on the massive fiscal stimulus we had at the beginning of the year with really easy monetary policy.” —Obama’s National Economic Council director Larry Summers

Grand delusions: “Here in Washington, we’ve heard countless speeches and promises on infrastructure. Today, we finally got it done. America is moving again. And fifty years from now, I truly believe they will say this was the moment we won the competition for the 21st century.” —Joe Biden (“Fifty years from now not a single person will think of this infrastructure bill. Not one.” —Ben Shapiro)

Nope: “Inflation is high right now and it is affecting consumers in their pocketbook and also in their outlook for the economy. But those concerns underscore why it’s so important that we move forward on the Build Back Better legislation. This, more than anything, will go at the cost that Americans face.” —National Economic Council director Brian Deese

Braying jenny: “While nobody likes to pay more, on average we have the money to do so.” —NBC’s Stephanie Ruhle (“The core problem here is the lack of appreciation for those not in the same class as her. There are a lot of middle class Americans struggling now and the left keeps condescending to them telling them how much better off they are now.” —Erick Erickson)

Non sequitur: “Seventeen Nobel Prize winning economists said that Build Back Better will ease longer-term inflationary pressures and lower costs for American families. We can get this done.” —Joe Biden (You could just as easily find 17 “experts” to tell you there are more than two genders. But that doesn’t make it true.)

Race bait I: “[Trucking] is an industry populated by a lot of white men over the age of 55. This group of people overwhelmingly voted for Trump. Some people have talked about aggressive truck drivers cutting them off or not being helpful. So, obviously, the more populated it is with people of color I think you’ll see less of that.” —MSNBC’s Tiffany Cross

Race bait II: “[Kenosha] was reminiscent of the civil rights movement when you had young white people that participated in the sit-ins and the protests and they were subject to beatings, they were subjects to shootings, many of them were killed as well, and it’s as though the judge is taking that very lightly.” —Congresswoman Karen Bass

Non compos mentis: “You lose the right to self-defense when you’re the one who brought the gun.” —Kyle Rittenhouse prosecutor Thomas Binger

Clown world: “This [Rittenhouse] kid has the great good fortune of a de facto defense attorney on the bench.” —David Axelrod

The BIG Lie I: “When we marched in Ferguson, white supremacists would hide behind a hill near where Michael Brown Jr. was murdered and shoot at us. They never faced consequences. If Kyle Rittenhouse gets acquitted, it tells them that even 7 years later they still can get away with it.” —Congresswoman Cori Bush

The BIG Lie II: “Here you have a 17-year-old boy … with an automatic weapon. … He walks across with his automatic weapon.” —Karen Bass

The BIG Lie III: “[Christopher] Steele did reveal that the Russians were trying to help elect Donald Trump. That turned out to be all too true.” —Congressman Adam Schiff

And last… “[Voters are] tired of the black against white and the Asian against Latino. They’re tired of it, and they’re tired of politicians who won’t let the wounds of the past heal.” —Virginia Lieutenant Governor-elect Winsome Sears