Observations

“By a continuing process of inflation, governments can confiscate, secretly and unobserved, an important part of the wealth of their citizens. There is no subtler, no surer means of overturning the existing basis of society than to debauch the currency. The process engages all the hidden forces of economic law on the side of destruction, and does it in a manner which not one man in a million is able to diagnose.” —John Maynard Keynes (1883-1946)

“[Biden is] angry because he hasn’t accomplished anything. It’s going to be a bloodbath at the midterms, and Biden’s going to have to explain to the American people why he hasn’t done anything. He’s put himself in a box and has to fight his way out. … It’s hard to be the guy who brought positive change to Americans when you can’t get anything done, so what else does he have besides being angry about it?” —Republican strategist Jim Keady

“The president, who once insisted he would be the nation’s unifier, has discovered the license of rage politics — the same license shown by those who chased Sinema into a bathroom last year. … In the age of rage, civility is repulsive and intolerable. Sinema made herself a reference point that exposed how unhinged many of her fellow Democrats have become. Remove that reference point, and only rage remains.” —law professor Jonathan Turley

“There’s no shortage of real crises Democrats might consider tackling. The worst inflation in 40 years. A seemingly endless pandemic. Soaring homicides. A border crisis. Russia flirting with war in Europe. But the Administration and this Senate majority are focused on none of it. Instead, they’ve been consumed by a fake panic over election laws that seems to exist only in their imaginations. … This is not some modest bill about ballot access. It’s a sprawling takeover of our whole political system. It was never even intended to attract bipartisan support. This partisan Frankenstein bill that House Democrats slapped together was intended to do one thing only: Give the Senate Democratic Leader a pretext to break the Senate. … [Chuck Schumer] is not trying to conclude an unending discussion that he cannot stop. He is trying to short-circuit a debate that he cannot win.” —Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell

Grand Delusions

“The president delivered a powerful speech about the protection of people’s fundamental rights in this country, which is their right to vote — their right to vote for anyone they choose, whether it is him or someone else. It was not a partisan speech. It was intended to lay out for the public exactly what’s at stake and lay out for elected officials what’s at stake. And he stands by everything he said in that speech.” —White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki

“If [Republicans] win the midterms, they will never peacefully concede power again.” —Congressman Eric Swalwell

Leftmedia Intraparty Squabbles

“[Senator Kyrsten Sinema] needs to resign or be removed from office immediately. Rather than decreasing ‘division’ in this country her action guarantees it. For whatever reason, [Sinema] has become a menace to the continuation of American democracy.” —Keith Olbermann

“Sinema delivers the Senate’s stupidest speech by a Democrat in an edge of tears voice to give childish words a melodramatic effect.” —MSNBC’s Lawrence O'Donnell (“Rules of Discourse: If you’re a male pundit, you may mock a female politician for delivering a speech using ‘an edge of tears voice,’ call it ‘stupid’ and ‘childish,’ and ridicule her ‘melodrama,’ if and only if she is an enemy of Democrats. Otherwise, it shall be misogyny.” —Glenn Greenwald)

“How do the staff of [Sinema] not resign at the shame of being handmaidens to the death of Democracy? Are they actually Democrats or are [they] Trump lobbyists?” —MSNBC’s Malcolm Nance

“Sinema is effectively asking the authors of Jim Crow and vote-rigging to give their permission for her to stop it. This is worse than incoherent or cowardice. It’s a moral disgrace. Ask the segregationists for permission to vote for Civil Rights Act?” —The Washington Post’s Jennifer Rubin

“Non Compos Mentis” Awards

“I’m hiring 3 people for a new CNN team dedicated to covering misinformation.” —CNN Business Managing Editor Alex Koppelman (“CNN to create a team dedicated to covering CNN.” —Candace Owens)

“We’re changing our endorsement criteria to reflect our commitment to the freedom to vote. Going forward, we won’t endorse any U.S. senator who doesn’t support changing the Senate rules to pass voting rights legislation. Our democracy is on the line.” —NARAL (“All these groups should just merge and call themselves the Democratic Party.” —Ben Shapiro)

“We have to start doing things for the greater good of society and not for idiots who think that they can do their own research, or that they are above the law and they can break the rules.” —CNN’s Don Lemon (“Yes, Don Lemon just denounced ‘idiots who think they can do their own research.’ He has people who do research for him." —Tim Graham)

And Last…

"If we let ‘wokeism’ define everything we do in America, China will surpass us militarily, diplomatically and economically.” —Mike Pompeo