Hot Air

“We’ve got about seven, eight years to cut ourselves in half of what we use of fossil fuels. … There would be no climate crisis if there was no racism. There would be no climate crisis if there was no patriarchy.” —Jane Fonda

Non Compos Mentis

“I think the Republicans’ obsession with work requirements are offensive to poor people, assuming that people want to be poor and don’t have the fight inside of them to work hard.” —CNN’s Ashley Allison

“We’ve seen reams of data that show that when you put these work requirements in, they’re really just administrative red tape that prevent the people who need help from getting help.” —Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal (D-WA)

Political Futures

“The 2024 Republican presidential primary is shaping up to become a grand battle royale between an eccentric, larger-than-life Baby Boomer who obsesses over relitigating the last election and is constantly distracted by self-imposed wounds and personal grievances, and on the other hand an extremely disciplined, mission-oriented Gen X conservative who single-handedly made the nation’s largest swing state ruby-red and has overseen the implementation of the most transformative right-wing agenda in modern American history. That is the basic choice.” —Josh Hammer

For the Record

“Some in the political chattering class claim Ron DeSantis’s ‘Great American Comeback’ slogan is ‘borrowed’ from Trump’s MAGA slogan. In fact, if you recall, Trump ‘borrowed’ ‘Make America Great Again’ from Ronald Reagan.” —Mark Alexander

Observations

“If Florida were really a hotbed of antagonism toward minorities, Americans would have noticed and wouldn’t be moving there en masse. The state has gained some 700,000 people since the 2020 census. The U-Hauls are coming because Florida has a well-earned reputation as an open place full of opportunity. If the NAACP were truly concerned about the welfare of African Americans instead of trying to score points against a Republican potentially on the rise in national politics, it would issue travel advisories about going to Chicago or Baltimore, poorly governed cities where it is affirmatively dangerous for young Black men to live. Such places could learn from Florida. If the NAACP were thinking clearly and didn’t have an agenda, it wouldn’t be denouncing the state but considering moving its headquarters there.” —Rich Lowry

“Media always covers negotiations over spending as if the organic center, the endpoint, the only reasonable place to be, stands not between the desires of two competing political parties or two competing branches of government but rather wherever Democrats happen to reside. One side is trying to save the nation from default and economic ruin; the other is a reckless ‘hostage taker’ intent on rolling back progress.” —David Harsanyi

Insight

“All lawful authority, legislative, and executive, originates from the people.” —James Burgh (1714-1775)