Chuck todd quotes

Like the others though,[Donald] Trump thrives when he has a clear enemy.

The White House is dismissing these fiery town halls as the result of professional protesters. Well, that`s exactly how President [Barack] Obama team`s and Democrats dismissed the 2009 town halls and Tea Party protests.

Senator majority leader, Mitch McConnell, slammed [Donald] Trump`s comments about burning the American flag which is protected under the first amendment should lead to jail time.

Democrats will say the money they give to Planned Parenthood does not go to abortions. That the money they give to Planned Parenthood only goes to other women's health issues, including mammograms and things like that.

I think that we may lose the argument, but I think we have to talk about gun control.

The White House is dismissing these town hall fireworks as AstroTurf movements which means it`s the opposite of a true grass roots movement.

If we have to have a real movement on this issue if you support gun control, it has to come from the Republican side.

Paul Ryan, was saying [on election 2016 "I don`t see any evidence of systemic fraud."

Essentially, how do you go after [Donald] Trump to have a real shot of taking back control of Congress in 2018? Democrats will need to energize not only their base, but also pick up actual swing voters who could be turned off from President Trump.

The first thing [Donald Trump] does on January 20th is take an oath to defend and adhere to the Constitution of the United States.

As the saying goes, when you`re a hammer, everything looks like a nail.

With Rudy [ Giuliani], [Donald Trump] will - the minute they push him too far and start manipulating, he will - he will lash out.

Hillary Clinton`s popular vote lead is now up to 2.3 million votes, but get this, [Donald] Trump`s percentage of the popular vote has now dropped to 46.4 percent.

What`s going to happen, really on one issue specifically, to their health care, among some other things. And right now, Republicans don`t have any legislative details or much in the way of answers, yet.

I don't get debate agains guns at all. Because we have it after every mass shooting. And now a terror attack. And the proposals that are talked about almost always have nothing to do with this specific event.

Media bias is one thing. Rejection of reality is another

We know broadly from research is that religiosity does not correlate with sympathy for terrorism. It's actually quite the opposite. The more religious someone is, the more often they go to the mosque, the more likely they are to actually reject attacks on civilians.

The question I have heard from some Democrats saying that "You know what? Push for gun control, but not now."

The idea now that we're going to fight terrorism through gun control I think is just utterly fatuous.

Tim Ryan does not look like the 21st century democratic party. And should that matter?

[Donald] Trump is most comfortable when he is hammering something.

[Donald] Trump`s business conflicts are big enough and have come up throughout various aspects of this transition.

Voters definitely believe Washington is corrupt - but most think its bipartisan.

This deep insecurity has been going on for a while. I mean I picked it up in 2014 sitting in focus groups of women who were feeling terrified, not just about that ISIS was coming, but terrified that their children couldn't be safe at school, terrified about what was happening in Ferguson and other places.

Hillary Clinton met with a lot of the mothers in Chicago, she has the endorsement of some of the moms. Bernie Sanders I think has one or two of the family members too. I'm a little uncomfortable with using the families of these dead children this way.

With [Donald's] Trump holdings all over the world, it would be very difficult, if not impossible, for him to be able to conduct business without there being either favors given to his companies or the appearance of favors.

It seems to me that this debate, whether Islam is a religion of peace or not, really, it's irrelevant for outsiders. It's for Muslims to decide whether it's a religion of peace or not.

Nobody likes to feel like they're on the losing side of anything.

Meanwhile, the Bush dynasty comes to an official end.

Some day, the public might actually revolt against the undemocratic system of seniority that allows Congress to keep the old ways of Washington ingrained into the culture of Congress.

The fastest growing political party is no party.

Once Donald Trump takes the oath of office as president of the United States, the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution makes it clear that he cannot accept those favors.

The Democratic lawmakers are still trying to figure out how to capitalize on this new wave of leftist anger, if you want to call it that.

America has a love-hate relationship with celebrity. We love to follow celebrities, but we also love to mock them. And secretly, we believe were better than they are.

If you`re in a safe Republican district, say Congressman [ Gus] Bilirakis,you probably don`t have much to worry about which is why you can get away with talking about death panels.

The State Department has been your beat for so long. It has always smelled like Bob Corker was the in case of emergency, the easy guy.

In the end, Ted Kennedy was a politician, plain and simple. Yet he embodied how politics and public service can be successfully intertwined. You cant be a good public servant without being a good politician. Kennedy was both.

Barack Obamas official nomination as the Democratic Partys standard-bearer was a very poignant moment for millions of Americans. As the first non-white major party nominee, Obama is carrying a big load on his shoulders. Hes holding the hopes and dreams of a lot of folks who thought the presidency was only reserved for white men.

There’s nothing like music to teach you that eventually if you work hard enough, it does get better. You see the results.

Not only can [business conflicts] not be ignored, it needs to be dealt with really front and center before he can conduct [Donald's Trump] presidency.

I'm wishing every Saturday had primaries, because welcome to an amazing Sunday, where everything seems a tad bit clearer this morning.

[Donald] Trump still thinks he`s in a campaign.

The Emoluments section shares with the Constitution. That`s not a law that Congress could change or the president could ignore.

I`m obsessed with how the press handles Donald Trump and how Trump handles the press.

We`ve seen Senator Corker who had indicated to me,that he didn`t think he was still in the running but might now be a fallback position if this Mitt Romney versus Rudy Giuliani dispute is that serious.

We`ll go here on [Donald] Trump`s temperament. Trump`s reckless approach could lead to war. That really resonated with Democratic swing voters.

I mean, you know, presidents of the United States can`t randomly tweet without having check - - having somebody check it out.

Donald Trump does not stick to Republican orthodoxy, which, you know, and this is always supposed to have been his downfall. Maybe it's his strength.

More Americans, and I have my own anecdotes of people that have a friend that never would've had a gun, thought about, and now is thinking about it.

You can't say Hillary Clinton is not evolving as a candidate. And boy is she trying very hard to move to where the Democratic base is.

Republican Michigan Congressman Justin Amash said, no president is allowed to burn the first amendment.

[Hillary] Clinton, she conceded. [Donald Trump] beat her.

It's hard not to get down on the government when you see dysfunction play out on our TVs every day. Frankly, sometimes at every level of government.

President-elect Donald Trump is not happy that he lost the popular vote. And this stat is probably not going to make him feel any better.

The president-elect [Donald Trump] finds himself in an unfamiliar and, perhaps, uncomfortable position. The enemies he`s been fighting against are gone.

House majority leader, Kevin McCarthy, slammed [Donald's] Trump`s wild claims about election fraud, saying, quote, "The election is over, let`s move on."

Alternative facts are not facts. They're falsehoods.

The president-elect [Donald Trump] himself in the interview with "The New York Times" says there is no law that governs conflict of interest in - with the president.

There are potential policy consequences to a president who doesn`t believe in our election system and believes that there`s rampant voter fraud.

One could argue [Bob] Corker has been more supportive of [Donald] Trump`s foreign policy skepticism of the establishment than anybody else.

From the Medicare prescription drug plan to the creation of the Department of Homeland Security and the passage of No Child Left Behind, President Bush presided over a major expansion of the reach of government.

A lot of Democrats ask and a lot of people ask, "Why is it necessary for people in this country, who are not in law enforcement, to have assault weapons?"

The establishment? Well, guess what? Donald Trump now is the establishment. His primary opponents, many of them are interviewing for White House gigs.

The problem is sitting in the birthplace of Islam, in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, where this interpretation of Islam has gone out into the world over the last four decades, creating militancy groups from Indonesia, to now, San Bernardino, California, vicious attack. We have to take back the faith. And we have to take it back with the principles of peace, social justice, and human rights, women's rights, and secularize governance.

I would say that ISIS wants us to think so. And I think that's the real danger here. It's that what ISIS wants the narrative to be is that they are the true Muslims.

There isn`t but this is, in some ways, perhaps, a useful distraction from other things, giving [Donald Trump] more space to make his decisions as unusual the process is because he`s making them in public.

A Democratic strategy firm is trying to help them out. They did a new poll from - it`s a global strategy group. And they did a poll of both base Democrats and swing voting Democrats, trying to determine how to best harness this energy [ of leftist anger]. And maybe more importantly, how to message it.

In the 1990s, there was [Bill] Clinton derangement syndrome. Then, we had [George W.] Bush and [Barack] Obama derangement syndromes, back in the first 16 years of this century.And now, we might be seeing [Donald]Trump derangement syndrome? By that, we mean this. The feeling that no matter what the president does, the left or right or whoever is out of power, is alarmed, outraged and distraught and they`re going to let you know no matter what.

[Donald] Trump`s hunt for a cheap enemy right now comes as journalists and members of Congress are looking at potentially serious conflicts of interest at Trump`s sprawling multinational business empire.

Newt Gingrich called it [Donald] Trump`s biggest mistake since he won the election, these crazy accusations about voter fraud.

I think the worst thing [Donald Trump]did was the tweet the other night about illegal votes.

[Muhammad] Ali had [Jo] Frazier , that man had the joker, Coke had Pepsi and [Donald] Trump had [Barack] Obama, or 16 primary opponents or the entire political establishment.

This feels like a Steve Bannon whispering in [Donald Trump's] ear.

Barack Obama was better as a campaigner than as a - as a president sometimes in this same position. It is easier when you have a foil.

Does the terror threat we're facing grow out of a perversion of Islam, or does it represent and extreme, but durable, strain of the religion.

At the moment, the extremists have significant financial popular and theological backing in the Middle East. And that is an enduring phenomenon. And it's one that is going to require a long, ideological war to win.

It`s hard to beat something with nothing. Republicans across the country are feeling the burn from an energized and angry segment of the electorate which is descending on GOP town halls and these folks want answers.

We're in a political depression - a great political depression

[Barack] Obama, he`ll be out of office soon and, frankly,[Donald] Trump relies on him .

Therefore, the only way Donald Trump can protect himself is to set up a blind trust or to divest in these holdings. It`s the only way.

You`ve got David Petraeus and whatever the pushback might be against [Donald Trump].

I mean, [tweeting] just - it makes you wonder about whatever else Donald trump is doing. It undermines much more than just a single tweet.

When Dylann Roof walked into a black church, he wanted to start a race war. We didn't let him do that because we didn't cast him as a representative of the white race. We didn't give into his narrative. We did the exact opposite. And I think that we have to be careful not to give into the apocalyptic narrative of ISIS that wants to start a war between Muslims and everybody else.

No Republican has ever won South Carolina and Iowa or New Hampshire, as Trump has, without going on to win the nomination.

I include Rudy Giuliani here who, in many ways, is more comfortable as a neocon.

[Donald Trump] even quoted a tweet from a self-identified 16-year-old as a way to justify crazy unsupported claims about the popular vote.

[Donald] Trump seems to be begging for a fight or is it begging for a distraction?

Any terrorists that have come here and committee acts from 9/11 have come here in some form of a visa.

There's no way you are going to get rid of the Second Amendment, there's no way you're going to get rid of the First Amendment, and people have to understand how important this is. But I think when they see more and more killings, we have to figure out, of course what we are going to do about it. And I don't think the criminal justice system has an answer.

The democrats are a coastal party.

[Donald] Trump continues to dismiss those concerns though, even as some Republicans, like Lindsay Graham, are making the case that Trump`s business ties deserve the scrutiny.

[Sean] Spicer`s message echoed what President Trump tweeted.The so-called angry crowds in home districts of some Republicans are actually, in numerous cases, planned out by liberal activists. Sad.But underneath those dismissals, lies and urgency inside the White House to figure this out, and quickly.

[Donald] Trump`s pension for distractions is starting to frustrate members of his own party.

It's funny how the history of Jeb Bush is going to be rewritten.

[Donald Trump] has got his own controversies to deal with. The business conflicts are a big one. But he`s creating new ones. There`s no precedent for it.

Americans are going to see that as the more religious a Muslim is, the more likely they're going to end up somehow fighting for ISIS' cause.

[Donald] Trump has many and one of the most obvious is right here in Washington.

We have to be focused on not just who is in [Donald's Trump] favor and who is in his good graces and who looks right or what the palace intrigue is.

Every president since George Washington has respected this clause in the Constitution. We want to avoid that Constitutional potential crisis. And the way to do it is for Donald Trump - it`s not about him.

We [americans] have earned the moral authority, at least compared to anybody else in the world.

Despite the fact that David Petraeus is now very highly regarded in foreign policy circles because of his record in both Republican and Democratic circles. It`s all pretty extraordinary.

Donald Trump is a president in crisis. His governing agenda is going nowhere, his credibility shattered with many, his public approval is mired in the thirties and low forties, and an escalating Russia crisis is threatening to undermine the president's ability to persuade even Republicans that he can bounce back.

We do know that they are foreign missions today that are using Trump Towers, they say, why wouldn`t we want to show favor to the president of the United States? It would be offensive if we stayed at his competitor`s hotel.

At least on the domestic side of things that you`re seeing, [Mike] Pence has that influence big time. But when it comes with what political fights to have?

[Donald] Trump appears to be searching for an enemy. Is it flag burners, recounts, the press, the popular vote? Trump has gone after them all at times, using wild experience theories even as president-elect to do it.

Jeb Bush is the new John Connelly.

There's no worse crime in journalism these days than simply deciding something's a story because Drudge links to it.

I've had my own anecdotals with old friends, here's a gentleman quoted in the Times about, "I believe my government is suppose to protect me but it has let me down. I resent having to defend myself; I shouldn't have to but at this point I don't feel like I have a choice."

If you`re in a Republican district that is leery of President [Donald] Trump,then, you might feel a little bit more exposed.Of course, if you`re in a swing district, then this town hall tension has to worry you which is why we haven`t seen many Republicans from swing districts actually hold these kinds of town halls.

Jeb Bush is conservative governor,his record as governor is more conservative than any current republican governor in the country.

The more there is scandal and corruption in Washington, the better it is for McCain, so he`s at a high point right now.

As soon as a Democrat or a liberal organization opens their mouth and says "We want to see this," it's going to go over the heads. And same way on the abortion debate, if they want to make a change, it is not going to come from a Republican, it's going to have to come from a Democrat.

Since 1900, only three other [than Donald Trump ] presidents have won the White House with a smaller percentage of the popular vote. Woodrow Wilson in 1912, Richard Nixon in 1968, and Bill Clinton in 1992.

Why is it so many political parties never learn that lesson? There was an obsession on the right to get [Hillary] Clinton. There was an obsession on the left to get - frankly, look at - look at the liberals in the early 1980s with [Ronald] Reagan. They got so caught up in the personality that they could n`t see the forest.

We're all living under the threat of violence and terror these days.

I think [Newt] Gingrich who`s been the - among the truth tellers to [Donald] Trump, I think, in public, take a listen.

[Donald Trump] needs to take action today before he becomes president so he doesn`t violate the Constitution.

Folks, some of these town halls are clearly organized. But, regardless, there are potential warning signs that Republicans perhaps shouldn`t ignore.We heard Democrats dismiss this anger at their town halls back it 2009 as, oh, that`s right, AstroTurf movements. And then, they lost the House in a big way.

[Barack Obama] was comfortable when he had the foil.

Trump's inability to control his own emotions is standing between himself and the presidency.

Women are still chronically underrepresented in U.S. politics at both a local and national level... But there is one city where those three top jobs will be filled by women for the next year. And that city is Washington D.C.

California has rules against assault weapons. It's just those rules are inherently so technical and have to do with cosmetic features, you can easily get around them with any sort of semi-automatic rifle.

It couldn`t be clearer, any person who holds an office of trust is not allowed to accept favors or gifts from foreign governments.

South Carolina put George H.W. Bush into the White House. But George W. Bush into the White House and sent Jeb Bush back to Miami.

T.V. style pageant of people parading through Rudy Giuliani, now on the phone, if he doesn`t come in person today to get his two cents in.